I think they're too big a part of how dnd players define their characters to actually get rid of without losing much of the audience's interest.
You are correct. However, it requires you to have an idea of what sort of person that another person you're imagining being is. And in D&D ability scores are a part of determining that. I am really don advocating any one specific rigid interpretation here, merely that the ability scores actually say something about the character.
Eww. So you want to completely disconnect the fictional reality from mechanical results?Which is why my proposal is not to get rid of ability scores, but to relegate them to being purely descriptive, replacing their mechanical function of providing modifiers to certain rolls and derived traits to class, proficiencies, and level.
Generally, if someone says something that I interpret as absurd, I step back and say "How am I misunderstanding their position?" rather than "Ewww, how you can you like something completely absurd?"Eww. So you want to completely disconnect the fictional reality from mechanical results?I literally cannot understand why anyone would want to do that, and a game designed with such a paradigm would be something I wouldn't want to touch with a ten feet pole.
Generally, if someone says something that I interpret as absurd, I step back and say "How am I misunderstanding their position?" rather than "Ewww, how you can you like something completely absurd?"
Generally, if someone says something that I interpret as absurd, I step back and say "How am I misunderstanding their position?" rather than "Ewww, how you can you like something completely absurd?"
It would be a logical move to make if the purpose of ability scores is only to help the player define their role (the fictional they will be imagining themselves as in the fictional scenario). Clearly, if it is important to you that there be a direct connection between these scores and the character’s mechanical capabilities, there must be a desire for those scores to serve some additional purpose beyond just defining the player’s role. Which, to be clear, is fine, I’m just pointing out that such a connection is not required for roleplaying. Therefore, the argument that getting rid of ability scores would remove the roleplaying from D&D doesn’t really hold water.Eww. So you want to completely disconnect the fictional reality from mechanical results?I literally cannot understand why anyone would want to do that, and a game designed with such a paradigm would be something I wouldn't want to touch with a ten feet pole.
And with 6 intelligence, on a single intelligence check contest, you still have a faire chance against a character with 18 intelligence. Fantasy ape are really smart.In the Monster Manual an ape has an intelligence of six. Non-human great apes have intelligence roughly equivalent to a four year old human, suggesting that a PC with int six would be about equally smart... Then again, perhaps fantasy apes are just smarter than real apes...