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

[BookTenTiger]

If you feel that it isn't an option to play the game with your highest stat a 15 then you are a power gamer.

Are you really telling people how to feel and how they play? Are you a mind reader? Have you read my journals? Do you know something about me that I don't?

Power gaming is not the reason I like Floating ASIs, even if I want to start with a 16! Furthermore, that's the entire premise of this + thread, so if you're going to continue to accuse folks of Power Gaming please start your own.

 

[Azzy]

If you or anyone else has a link to that, I'd love to see it, because yes that would be quite an interesting confirmation.

Unfortunately, I can't find the Legend & Lore articles from the D&D Next playtest, but it would have likely been in one of those.

 

[Scribe]

Unfortunately, I can't find the Legend & Lore articles from the D&D Next playtest, but it would have likely been in one of those.

On Wizards site?

 

[ad_hoc]

Are you really telling people how to feel and how they play? Are you a mind reader? Have you read my journals? Do you know something about me that I don't?

Power gaming is not the reason I like Floating ASIs, even if I want to start with a 16! Furthermore, that's the entire premise of this + thread, so if you're going to continue to accuse folks of Power Gaming please start your own.

I have never said any of that.

And the whole purpose of this thread is to crap all over people who don't like Tasha's rule.

You can't create a + thread if it is about how bad other people play.

 

[Azzy]

On Wizards site?

It was, but is no longer. Like someone else said, you could try the Wayback Machine. I'm too lazy to do so.

 

[BookTenTiger]

I have never said any of that.

And the whole purpose of this thread is to crap all over people who don't like Tasha's rule.

You can't create a + thread if it is about how bad other people play.

It's fine if folks don't want to use Floating ASIs, or want to use them for Powergaming.

But because another thread was dominated by those discussions, I started this one to collect all the other reasons folks use Floating ASIs.

If you want to talk about Powergaming, please start your own thread.

 

[Baron Opal II]

70% success is WILDLY successful...

They do, and it tracks to a success rate of 65% if you start with a 16, and increase ASI throughout your leveling process...

This is where I start to stumble. "A certain attribute range as foundation..." this is what I want to know.

I can do the math, I've seen it. I know what happens as we add extra attribute bonus, and I know what the game expects you to face, as designed.

The fundamental issue I have, is: What is expected to start? +1? +2? +3?

70% doesn't feel wildly successful due to our biases, expectations, and tendency to remember poor results over successful ones. It's good, though. It feels successful, even reliable, but still to be cautious about.

Well, the goal is to get to a +4 or +5 bonus by the sweet spot. I would say that 16 is your target at first level. There's diminishing returns here, if you assume that feats are available and 20 is the maximum.

What do you think? If you've done the math what conclusions have you reached?

 

[Scribe]

What do you think? If you've done the math what conclusions have you reached?

That a +2 is sufficient, and a +1 with your proficiency is 'balanced'.

 

[Arilyn]

I vastly prefer feats over stat bonuses, so it's not uncommon for my characters to max out at 16. I've only rarely had an 18 and 20? Maybe once. So for me being able to start with a 16 is nice because it's probably not getting any higher.

But it does depend. As mentioned earlier I've had characters with 14s in their main stat. Floating ASIs give me some extra flexibility.

 

[Faolyn]

So if you're cool with forgoing bonus in favour of flavour now with custom lineage vs other races, why weren't you with cool with doing that with race selection pre-Tasha?

Because an ASI has no flavor whatsoever. It's just a bland mechanical bonus that once you add to your stat, you forget about it. No fun whatsoever. I don't look at any of my non-floating-ASI characters and say, wow, that +2 bonus is really cool.

Also, the vast majority of feats, except for the racial feats from XGE, are designed to enhance your class, not your race. If I'm playing an elf, I want to play an elf, someone with fey ancestry and trance and and keen vision and the ability to hide behind a raindrop. I don't want to play a +2 and a class-based feat. If I wanted that, I'd play a Vhuman--which I've actually never played before. (Actually, I don't think that anyone at my table has ever played a human of any sort.)

I'm sure they are equally cool. Or I'd think so. So I was just wondering why people inclined to optimise wouldn't do this?

Because despite what you might want to think, people who are "optimizing" by putting a +2 in a different stat are not actually min/maxing or powergaming. They're just trying to be good in their class--which is absolutely no different than playing a race that gives +2 Strength as a fighter or paladin.