Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Fanaelialae" data-source="post: 5861333" data-attributes="member: 53980">There's still the modifier cascade. Dexterity damage, in 3e, didn't just affect your skills but also modified your Reflex saves, AC, Touch AC, Initiative, and possibly other numbers as well (such as your attack bonus if you had weapon finesse). If something was hitting you with ability damage every round, that meant a fair bit of recalculation, much more than you'd have with a (non-stacking) flat penalty. Feasible (though nonetheless annoying) for an experienced player, although even they would occasionally forget to note some aspect of the penalty, but utterly nightmarish if you're dealing with new players. I speak from experience. It's one of the biggest reasons I dislike ability damage.It also makes things too easy mode. Either every creature has well balanced stats, or you can one-shot a t-rex with an intelligence draining spell. Admittedly, some powers precluded the capacity for reducing an ability score below 1, but that really should have been the rule IMO and it wasn't. Ability damage was potent enough without being able to effectively insta-kill targets.There might be room for it in the game, but unless they can find a way to fix those issues, I think it should remain completely optional. From my experiences, it's more of a nuisance than it's worth.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Fanaelialae, post: 5861333, member: 53980"] There's still the modifier cascade. Dexterity damage, in 3e, didn't just affect your skills but also modified your Reflex saves, AC, Touch AC, Initiative, and possibly other numbers as well (such as your attack bonus if you had weapon finesse). If something was hitting you with ability damage every round, that meant a fair bit of recalculation, much more than you'd have with a (non-stacking) flat penalty. Feasible (though nonetheless annoying) for an experienced player, although even they would occasionally forget to note some aspect of the penalty, but utterly nightmarish if you're dealing with new players. I speak from experience. It's one of the biggest reasons I dislike ability damage. It also makes things too easy mode. Either every creature has well balanced stats, or you can one-shot a t-rex with an intelligence draining spell. Admittedly, some powers precluded the capacity for reducing an ability score below 1, but that really should have been the rule IMO and it wasn't. Ability damage was potent enough without being able to effectively insta-kill targets. There might be room for it in the game, but unless they can find a way to fix those issues, I think it should remain completely optional. From my experiences, it's more of a nuisance than it's worth. [/QUOTE]

Verification