D&D General How do you like your ASIs?

[Minigiant]

Hey now! No going and be reasonable. That's not allowed on the internet.

I'm too cool to follow trends

I think if you showed that to any of the lead D&D designers from years past they would have a heart attack from the incaluable cost of even trying to balance around this system.

It's actually easier to balance.
Balance is not the problem. It's aesthetics.

A STR 20 DEX 6 level 1 orc fighter isn't unbalanced.

 

[Maxperson]

I'm too cool to follow trends

Can I hang out with you? I never get to hang out with the cool kids.

 

[Charlaquin]

That's the issue right there. There is a fundamental disconnect between the original mind-set the game was designed for and the one that has emerged in the decades since then. Under the old philosophy, envisioning your character exactly as you want them was simply not that important. The character creation system was not designed to create the hyper-individualized PC people want now. It was designed, as mentioned above, to create a representative member of a fantasy race with a particular profession. You have adventures with that person and try to keep them alive as long as possible. If they die, you sigh and quickly roll up another one. The new paradigm bears practically no resemblance to this, and the cognitive dissonance is maddening.

Seems like we’re on the same page there. The game as it’s played today simply isn’t the same game that was played then. Racial ASIs are getting in the way of how folks these days are actually playing the game, which in my opinion means it’s time for them to go the way of THAC0.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Seems like we’re on the same page there. The game as it’s played today simply isn’t the same game that was played then. Racial ASIs are getting in the way of how folks these days are actually playing the game, which in my opinion means it’s time for them to go the way of THAC0.

See, I think we should try to accommodate as many styles as possible. I would be happy with a sidebar for us ancient folks.

 

[Maxperson]

Racial ASIs are getting in the way of how folks these days are actually playing the game, which in my opinion means it’s time for them to go the way of THAC0.

Not that this site is representative of the player base as a whole(though it very well could be here), but the poll here shows that to be iffy. 21 are now for some form of fixed ASIs, 21 for some form of floating and 14 for none.

 

[Minigiant]

See, I think we should try to accommodate as many styles as possible. I would be happy with a sidebar for us ancient folks.

I agree. But I think it should be tied to setting, genre, and theme.

A major botch WOTC has made is not create a new setting in over 10 years.
They shoulda made a super traditional setting where PCs are classic stereotypes and a new modern setting where PCs are unique beings altering the setting's destiny.

 

[Charlaquin]

Not that this site is representative of the player base as a whole(though it very well could be here), but the poll here shows that to be iffy. 21 are now for some form of fixed ASIs, 21 for some form of floating and 14 for none.

Yeah, this site is definitely not representative of the player base as a whole, so that’s not really relevant. And that’s also more than a two-thirds majority against any form of fixed ASIs.

 

[Maxperson]

Yeah, this site is definitely not representative of the player base as a whole, so that’s not really relevant. And that’s also more than a two-thirds majority against any form of fixed ASIs.

You can't count those that don't want any ASIs. These are three distinctly different categories. I mean two-thirds also don't want floating, and two-thirds also don't want none.

 

[Charlaquin]

You can't count those that don't want any ASIs. These are three distinctly different categories. I mean two-thirds also don't want floating, and two-thirds also don't want none.

Folks who want floating and folks who want none both don’t want fixed ASIs. The only disagreement between them is how best to replace them - with floating ASIs, or with something else. The folks who want fixed ASIs and the folks who want no ASIs have less common ground. Same for the folks who want fixes and the folks who want floating.

 

[NaturalZero]

You can't count those that don't want any ASIs. These are three distinctly different categories. I mean two-thirds also don't want floating, and two-thirds also don't want none.

If you're playing with point buy, no ASIs is effectively the same as floating ASIs. This survey doesn't tell us anything about that though, so we only know how many are against fixed ASI.