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Are high attributes more fun then low attributes?
- Thread starter Crothian
- Start date
Celebrim
Legend
Which do you have more fun with in D&D? And there is no other options. I did that on purpose, it's what people like as a none answer and I don't think they help. So just pick which you have more fun with.
Without knowing what 'high stats' and 'low stats' mean, I can't really answer your question.
I would in general say, "D&D is a game about going from zero to hero, and acting out the heroes of myth and fiction, and as such it lends itself well to high stats for PC's and low stats for NPC's."
But, I also know that what I call 'high stats' (say 32 pt. buy) others call 'low stats'. I certainly know that my 'high stats' also means stat demographics lower than probably any other DM you'll ever play under. I really will stat out NPC's with no stats higher than 10 and point buys that are equivalent to 0 or less. Most DMs in my experience routinely build NPCs at higher than 32 pt. buy, which I consider bizarre and counterproductive.
I played in a game and enjoyed it with truly high stats once using a complex random method that (with generous cheating by some of the players) translated to something like 64 pt. buy.
S
Sunseeker
Guest
Considering that "success" most RPGs are based on the of a modified roll of any given type of die, and higher modifiers lead to more successful rolls, and successful rolls usually make people happy, and happy people tend to have more fun, I would say that high attributes are better than low attributes.
Ya know, except for games where there's a cap or some sort of bell-curve to success.
Ya know, except for games where there's a cap or some sort of bell-curve to success.
Mishihari Lord
First Post
The poll's defective. High, medium, or low stats is irrelevant to my enjoyment.
Crothian
First Post
That does not mean the poll is defective, it means you are not part of this discussion. There is nothing wrong with that.
S
Sunseeker
Guest
I would also like to point out that the poll and the OP doesn't distinguish if we're working within a fixed, or variable comparison here.
If we're playing a low-magic, dark-ages, grim and gritty system, we're shooting not only for a lower bar, but also an entirely different goal post here. Low numbers work because it's more representative of how difficult and cruel life is. You live or die by the chance of any given die, but are more likely to come home beaten, broken and bruised than outright dead, then you get some horrible disease, linger for a few weeks, possibly infect your family/town and then die horribly anyway.
If we're playing a high-magic, super-heroic setting with all sorts of powerful and incredible beings, we most likely have a higher bar, but again it's a different goal post. Here high rolls represent how awesome and incredible you are, how much above the prior example you the hero(heroine) you really are! You can call forth lightning from your fingertips, engage in great duels of honor with legendary warriors. You are less a subject to the die as one who has mastered it and uses it to their advantage.
In the first, low numbers are good because they are fitting, just as high numbers are good in the latter for the same reason. You wouldn't want huge numbers in the former because it would take all the style and grit out, and you wouldn't want low numbers in the latter as it would take away from the awesomness.
If we're playing a low-magic, dark-ages, grim and gritty system, we're shooting not only for a lower bar, but also an entirely different goal post here. Low numbers work because it's more representative of how difficult and cruel life is. You live or die by the chance of any given die, but are more likely to come home beaten, broken and bruised than outright dead, then you get some horrible disease, linger for a few weeks, possibly infect your family/town and then die horribly anyway.
If we're playing a high-magic, super-heroic setting with all sorts of powerful and incredible beings, we most likely have a higher bar, but again it's a different goal post. Here high rolls represent how awesome and incredible you are, how much above the prior example you the hero(heroine) you really are! You can call forth lightning from your fingertips, engage in great duels of honor with legendary warriors. You are less a subject to the die as one who has mastered it and uses it to their advantage.
In the first, low numbers are good because they are fitting, just as high numbers are good in the latter for the same reason. You wouldn't want huge numbers in the former because it would take all the style and grit out, and you wouldn't want low numbers in the latter as it would take away from the awesomness.
Summer-Knight925
First Post
I was raised on high power stats, where you roll multiple sets and pick the best set, all while re-rolling 1's and 2's on the d6.
Let me tell you, this method is not good.
Characters are so powerful traps are a waste of time, boss battles are pointless, and the only threat against characters is to drown them in hordes of minions.
It's even worse in pathfinder.
What we do now is a very balanced way of rolling, all while removing the threat of super low stats.
Every stat starts with 6 in it.
Now roll 12d6.
Arrange these dice into the stats with no stat having more than 18 before racial adjustments (meaning 6+dice cannot be more than 18) and each stat must have at least 1 die in each.
So the stats range from 7 to 18.
But it creates a fantastic bell-curve where having an 18 means you will have a 7, and thus to be great in something you have to suck at something else.
This bell curve makes games able to have the high challenge of high stat characters, all while keeping the mortal.
My group loves it.
I as DM love it.
It has some flaws but honestly compared to what we were doing before (re-roll 1's and 2's and roll 4 sets per characters) it is so much better.
I would like to note that I did not come up with the old method, but I did create this 'roll 12d6' method
Let me tell you, this method is not good.
Characters are so powerful traps are a waste of time, boss battles are pointless, and the only threat against characters is to drown them in hordes of minions.
It's even worse in pathfinder.
What we do now is a very balanced way of rolling, all while removing the threat of super low stats.
Every stat starts with 6 in it.
Now roll 12d6.
Arrange these dice into the stats with no stat having more than 18 before racial adjustments (meaning 6+dice cannot be more than 18) and each stat must have at least 1 die in each.
So the stats range from 7 to 18.
But it creates a fantastic bell-curve where having an 18 means you will have a 7, and thus to be great in something you have to suck at something else.
This bell curve makes games able to have the high challenge of high stat characters, all while keeping the mortal.
My group loves it.
I as DM love it.
It has some flaws but honestly compared to what we were doing before (re-roll 1's and 2's and roll 4 sets per characters) it is so much better.
I would like to note that I did not come up with the old method, but I did create this 'roll 12d6' method
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