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General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Ability scores - How intrinsic are they to D&D?
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<blockquote data-quote="LurkAway" data-source="post: 5725785" data-attributes="member: 6685059"><p>How about D&D with fighting styles that used different synergies? So a strong whip-smart warrior might duel with Str+Int attacks, switch to Str+Dex when throwing a handaxe, and then Str+Str when intoxicated or smashing a slow lumbering golem. By the time he's epic level, he might be combining Str+Dex+Int when his sword technique is so efficient and in tune with body and mind. For sake of simplicity, a character may be adept at up to a few fighting styles at a time, which I think is also believable. So you don't have a scenario where Str is arbitrarily the default attack modifier for every hero all the time without a special feat (arguably, some balance of all 6 ability scores might be used to hit at any one context). From the point of view of simulation, the fluff explanation is that 1 or 2 ability scores act like a bottleneck for any one fighting style.</p><p></p><p>Or a contrary view: modifiers from ability scores are already built into the concept of hero levels and attack bonuses, so you don't really need to ability score attack modifiers, and you can fluff it however you want (much like how hit points are abstracted). You choose a class with certain ability score prerequisites and bake the modifiers into the combat bonuses.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="LurkAway, post: 5725785, member: 6685059"] How about D&D with fighting styles that used different synergies? So a strong whip-smart warrior might duel with Str+Int attacks, switch to Str+Dex when throwing a handaxe, and then Str+Str when intoxicated or smashing a slow lumbering golem. By the time he's epic level, he might be combining Str+Dex+Int when his sword technique is so efficient and in tune with body and mind. For sake of simplicity, a character may be adept at up to a few fighting styles at a time, which I think is also believable. So you don't have a scenario where Str is arbitrarily the default attack modifier for every hero all the time without a special feat (arguably, some balance of all 6 ability scores might be used to hit at any one context). From the point of view of simulation, the fluff explanation is that 1 or 2 ability scores act like a bottleneck for any one fighting style. Or a contrary view: modifiers from ability scores are already built into the concept of hero levels and attack bonuses, so you don't really need to ability score attack modifiers, and you can fluff it however you want (much like how hit points are abstracted). You choose a class with certain ability score prerequisites and bake the modifiers into the combat bonuses. [/QUOTE]
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