D&D 5E Why do you use Floating ASI's (other than power gaming)? [+]

[Scribe]

Well, you had me fooled for a while. ¬.¬

I'm the guy who's weirdly fine with a 14 vs a 16.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

Interesting. I don’t see it that way. With point buy and a a racial +2 and +1 you can reliably get a 16, two 14s, and either a 12, a 10, and an 8, or three 10s, and you may even have one point left over. That to me is plenty for competence in a primary stat and at least one side-stat. Two if you’re willing to risk putting one of your lower scores in Constitution.

Of course, all this relies on either picking the right race/class combination or having floating ASIs, so I can see why point buy would seem overly restrictive to folks for whom floating ASIs are out of the question. In that sense, I guess I agree with you, I just think ASIs are the problem rather than point buy.

I think it is pretty noticeable if you try to emulate literary/movie characters. In D&D terms they often have multiple decent stats. James Bond, Indiana Jones, Aragorn; what are their poor stats? They're above average at everything, yet not necessarily hyper competent in one thing . D&D characters tend to be weirdly min-maxed.

I think fixed ASIs often encouraged you to make your Race's +2 stat your side competency if it already wasn't your main stat. Like, eh, I get +2 in this so I might as well throw 12 in there so it is 14 and worth something. But yes, I actually agree that in theory floating ASIs help making characters whose side competence does not align with their racial bonus. It just isn't really something a lot of people suggest doing, the +2 always goes to get that class stat to 16.

 

[TwoSix]

And please don't take it wrong, but you came as tone deaf: "Oh, the thing you want about meaningful weaknesses is not possible with this game where you can have minuses with the wrong -right?- score, but sure you can have them on a hypothetical one where they are impossible because competence is tottally divorced from individual choice and thus enforced across the table!" n_n

I'll take it with the intent with which it is intended.

Again, I'm sure you can find groups which support your desire to roleplay characters with deep, demonstrable weaknesses (my group does have the 4 Wisdom druid, after all, so I know those groups exist), but challenge oriented play is common enough in D&D circles that it may take a while. My groups tend to be heavily characterization and thespian oriented, but I've played enough to realize that isn't the norm.

 

[Charlaquin]

Now, reading through the PHB just now, I've discovered that 15 is the highest score you can get for an attribute through point buy. I thought it was 16. Even so, I think my point still stands.

15 before racial bonuses though, that’s crucial. For better or worse, 5e assumes a racial bonus in the prime requisite. It’s also worth noting, through the entirety of the open playtest, races granted +1/+1 instead of +2/+1, and classes gave +1 to their prime requisite, or in some cases a choice between one of two abilities (such as fighter getting to choose between +1 strength or +1 dex and monk getting to choose between +1 dex or +1 wis). In that iteration, any character could start with a 16 in the prime requisite for their class, regardless of race. If this was still how it worked, I think a lot fewer people would take issue with fixed racial ASIs.

 

[Vaalingrade]

I think it is pretty noticeable if you try to emulate literary/movie characters. In D&D terms they often have multiple decent stats. James Bond, Indiana Jones, Aragorn; what are their poor stats? They're above average at everything, yet not necessarily hyper competent in one thing . D&D characters tend to be weirdly min-maxed.

Con/Wis (Bond is easy to knock out and always falls into trap), Con (Indie lacks stamina), and Int (Aragorn has to be told literally everything).

 

[Minigiant]

Most content wasn't based around healer checks, in my experience.

DPS Checks...yep.

And that's kinda the point.

A lot of the D&D "feels bad" ASI front comes from damage dealing. Most of the ASI angsts comes from wanting to up your damage via your primary score or your AC via your primary score.

Since there is no core rules defender in 5e and most of the classes are strikers, getting that +3 from a 16 is so tasty.

But if you are a life cleric or a sentinel polearm fighter running around in +2 plate armor

What is Stats?
Monsters dont hit me.
Don't hit me.
No more.

 

[Baron Opal II]

Can you point to where this is demonstrated?

Under what conditions is this assumed?

I've seen the math, I've compared the math, I see no reason to believe one needs a 65% hit rate, to be effective.

It's not about being actually effective, it's feeling effective and contributing to the team.

 

[Charlaquin]

I think it is pretty noticeable if you try to emulate literary/movie characters. In D&D terms they often have multiple decent stats. James Bond, Indiana Jones, Aragorn; what are their poor stats? They're above average at everything, yet not necessarily hyper competent in one thing . D&D characters tend to be weirdly min-maxed.

I think fixed ASIs often encouraged you to make your Race's +2 stat your side competency if it already wasn't your main stat. Like, eh, I get +2 in this so I might as well throw 12 in there so it is 14 and worth something. But yes, I actually agree that in theory floating ASIs help making characters whose side competence does not align with their racial bonus. It just isn't really something a lot of people suggest doing, the +2 always goes to get that class stat to 16.

But with the way point buy works, you can get a 16 and a 14 in the two stats your race (or floating bonuses) increase regardless of which one is +2 and which one is +1.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

A lot of the D&D "feels bad" ASI front comes from damage dealing.

Which is just weird. Is it a common problem that monsters don't die fast enough?

 

[Scribe]

It's not about being actually effective, it's feeling effective and contributing to the team.

I'm looking for something objective here. This is similar to a lot of thing things which are non-answers in this thread.

Actually effective, is anything above 50%.

Feeling effective? Is a personal evaluation.