Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Jer" data-source="post: 8519272" data-attributes="member: 19857">I actually think that ASIs stopped being necessary once you get rid of rolling stats as the default mechanic. Which means they actually became unnecessary sometime during 3e's lifecycle, though I will admit I didn't realize it until sometime after 5e came around.&nbsp; 3e introduced ability score adjustments to replace the idea of ability score minimum/maximums to nudge people into playing archetypes because that mechanic was widely disliked, frequently ignored, and newer mechanics had come around that were considered more fun.&nbsp; The max/min mechanic is an example of preventing or punishing people from deviating from an archetype while the bonuses were a way to reward people who played into the archetype instead.&nbsp; A cookie instead of a brick to the head.But once you assign scores by array or point buy instead of random roll, the bonuses become a kind of punishing mechanic instead of a reward mechanic - punishing people who want to play against archetype instead of rewarding people who want play to the archetype because its no longer adjustments to a random distribution of scores but instead adjustments to a choice you're making.&nbsp; What's more they aren't really needed - a player who is playing to the archetype will arrange their scores to play to the archetype and the player base has shifted since the 90s to the point where rewarding people via bonuses to their rolls for playing to an archetype is maybe not actually important anymore anyway.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Jer, post: 8519272, member: 19857"] I actually think that ASIs stopped being necessary once you get rid of rolling stats as the default mechanic. Which means they actually became unnecessary sometime during 3e's lifecycle, though I will admit I didn't realize it until sometime after 5e came around. 3e introduced ability score adjustments to replace the idea of ability score minimum/maximums to nudge people into playing archetypes because that mechanic was widely disliked, frequently ignored, and newer mechanics had come around that were considered more fun. The max/min mechanic is an example of preventing or punishing people from deviating from an archetype while the bonuses were a way to reward people who played into the archetype instead. A cookie instead of a brick to the head. But once you assign scores by array or point buy instead of random roll, the bonuses become a kind of punishing mechanic instead of a reward mechanic - punishing people who want to play against archetype instead of rewarding people who want play to the archetype because its no longer adjustments to a random distribution of scores but instead adjustments to a choice you're making. What's more they aren't really needed - a player who is playing to the archetype will arrange their scores to play to the archetype and the player base has shifted since the 90s to the point where rewarding people via bonuses to their rolls for playing to an archetype is maybe not actually important anymore anyway. [/QUOTE]

Verification