Now if only we could decouple skill proficiency from level!
My basketweaving elf can't get better at basketweaving without gaining levels!
I think it's a great idea--and I think you could do a LOT worse than look at 4e for how to go about it. That is, both 4th edition D&D proper and Gamma World 7e did things in this direction, just in somewhat different ways.Your wizard could be an intelligent scholar, or they could be a natural and are just figuring it out (or maybe you'd want to require a mental stat prerequisite for magic for a certain flavor, up to you).
But, the end result is level determines power, your ability scores determine how you flavor and differentiate your character.
It would be a very different edition, but what do you think?
A straight skill system does this. I liked the 3e skill system better than 5e because you could have different skills and raise them up separately but it relied too mush on stats and it wasn’t a straight skill system. Games like Fate have no levels but skill trees. Your highest skill is limited by your ‘level’ in a way but levels don’t have the same meaning in that game. You can play an entire campaign at the same ‘level’.Now if only we could decouple skill proficiency from level!
What if your to hit and damage bonuses were determined by your class level?
Sure, but the idea isn't only to prevent accidental bad builds. It's also to empower deliberate playing against type (I want to play a fighter who's good at History instead of Athletics), and/or to allow more freedom if random or procedural generation of stats is used.The only thing it DOES do is stop some players from having their attacks be bad because they accidentally put a low number in their main ability score.
But then again... if players actually read the character creation section of the PH/Basic Rules... it makes it pretty clear what your primary stat is supposed to be and even says in the Quick Build section to make X ability score your highest score. If players don't read the book to learn how their character should work... that's not something WotC necessarily has to change the rules in order to avoid.
I think this would work better if there were useful, player-driven ways to use skills in combat for each ability score. As of right now it's really just Athletics and sometimes Stealth (environment permitting).Str still, it's a skill check? Make it skill vs a save; no one cares if they're not good at initiating grapples if they don't want to be, but they care about being able to get out of grabs reasonably (so proficiency in all saves to help keep the differences more bounded).
Deception. Again, this is your choice of skills. There may be a few other skills that could be used similarly (perception to look for a weak spot, knowledge to know a creatures weakness, deception to feint ...).
Sounds like a nifty curse. I hadn't initially said remove con from hp but we'd have to otherwise everyone would just have high con.
Conan and Inigo have access to different maneuvers, different skills, and use different kinds of weapons.
How do they differ now if they're both fighters? One has a greatsword, full plate, and high str, the other has rapier, shield, studded leather, and high dex. They have the same to hit and AC, and same HP if their con is the same. One has 2d6*+5, the other has 1d8+7 and +2 AC ... all these differences would be maintained even if you didn't add in a nifty maneuver or feat system.