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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Helpful NPC Thom" data-source="post: 8383295" data-attributes="member: 7031378">First of all, you can't get rid of the Big Six. I don't care how sensible it is to fold Strength and Constitution together, or how you remove Charisma from the game. It doesn't matter what you want because we're talking D&D here, not your fantasy heartbreaker. If you dump the Big Six, you've lost D&D. Sorry. They are present in the roots of the game. Don't like 'em? Plenty of games have alternatives.The way those ability scores work nowadays is awful, yes. Dexterity, Wisdom, and Constitution are certainly the most powerful ability scores due to their mechanical interactions. Back in the day, where ability scores influenced XP gain only, they mattered considerably less. Naturally, as people wanted more crunch to the game, they became more important in different ways. Glossing over their functions--opening doors, bonus languages, reaction rolls, etc.--the ability scores have become central to characters, yet they simultaneously don't matter except in a few specific cases. Wizards need high Intelligence, but nobody else cares about it. Sorcerers and warlocks need their Charisma, and that's about it. Unless you want to participate in social encounters, then you'd better have a decent Charisma or you're SOL if the GM calls for a skill test. But if you just want to stab, nuke, pulverize, annihilate, and obliviate things, you can safely dump it.Better not dump Constitution, though, or you'll wind up dead with your paltry hit points in a system that measures character power by hit point growth and damage. You'll want it for saving throws, too, just like Wisdom and Dexterity, oh, and Dexterity does most of what Strength does, but better because you get Armor Class from it.You want to fix ability scores? Then force diversification. Originally, I hate 3e's Weapon Finesse feat. Why should I have to take a feat to be decent with a light weapon? Turns out there's an opportunity cost because Dexterity is GOAT. Provide definite trade-offs for the ability scores. Stop making Charisma "the social stat," which is abysmal design. Stop making Intelligence "the wizard stat," because that's also abysmal design. De-emphasize the over-represented ability scores and add value to the weak ability scores.There is an unbelievable amount of sense in the old game design that has been discarded in favor of streamlining. It's absurd to give Hit Dice with full Constitution bonus at every level for 20 levels...which is why that didn't happen in older editions. It's absurd to make Dexterity affect Armor Class, missile attacks/damage, initiative, and a common saving throw...which is why that didn't happen in older editions.All the tweaks and fixes won't matter until the actual interaction of ability scores and mechanics is brought to heel.</blockquote>

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