'Balancing' rolled characters

[billd91]

What if a Rogue decides to put high stats in Dex, Con, and Str while the Fighter is left with a 10 Con and 12 Str? Who will be the better warrior?

Who will be the better warrior? The character with the cleverer player when it comes to running combat... as might well be the case if the stats were switched around but the rogue's player were better at playing the combats to his strengths.

And even when it comes to number crunching, that fighter with low stats will eventually surpass the rogue anyway due to better BAB, faster feat selection, access to more powerful weaponry, etc.

Of course, numbers don't make the character. Character makes the character.

 

[Bauglir]

Re: The idea that characters are more than a collection of stats & skills. Yes they are, but in D&D the stats & skills quantify a very large part of the character. I could claim to be the party face man all I like, but not many parties would let the cha 6 barbarian actually play that role.

D&D is about overcoming challenges, defeating the evil, solving the mystery etc. The entire system is geared towards a party working together to achieve some goal. Now by extension if any member of that party is less able to achieve that goal, particularly in the case where roles overlap then they will feel overshadowed and useless, neither of which lead to fun ime. YMMV

i ran a game like this for 10+ years. with 14 players.

edit: and everyone had fun and kept coming back for more.

With 3 character sheets per session?