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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Salamandyr" data-source="post: 6941369" data-attributes="member: 40233">All that's fine...I think you're overstating how many women were alienated by it; it exists on exactly one page in one version of the game;  More people know about it now than people did then (because people keep bringing it up to attack old D&D) it's got about as much impact on the game as the rule that one in 6 attacks were aimed at the head, which is also a rule only mentioned once in one easily missed place in the rules .  And the hard cap as opposed to a penalty is important...in AD&D you didn't decide your class and race first.  You rolled your stats first.  Nobody had to play something affected by the cap unless they chose to--assuming you were actually playing a game that used the cap--which I doubt was all that often (never happened at any table I ever played at)--probably less often than speed factors and weapon vs. armor penalties.The thing I saw more than the actual hard cap was the, so common it got made into t-shirts "-1 Strength, +1 Charisma" (used to see those about as often as you see the "Yes these are natural" D20 shirts on nerdy young ladies at cons) so many teenage boys thought was in the rules, but wasn't.   Even this rule didn't alienate the lady gamers I knew at the time.  Most of them thought it made complete sense that men should have higher Strength scores than women.  A lot of them thought they should get the aforementioned charisma bonus, or constitution bonus (women have higher pain tolerance) or dexterity bonus--which they usually got if they really wanted--young men really like having young women interested in their hobby.You're absolutely right though; it's an unnecessary rule and I'm glad it's gone away.  I preferred B/X D&D anyway, which never had the rule.  It's definitely not something worth bringing back, even in a "Hey, let's all play Old School!" way--especially since Old Schoolers didn't really use the rule.</blockquote>

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