D&D 5E Bards Should Be Half-Casters in 5.5e/6e

[James Gasik]

In a system like this, the average player character would need higher ability scores all around, since, no matter what you do, there's always going to be something that's more important. But if a character with 14 in all ability scores looks better than a character with a 17, a 15, a 12, and a bunch of ability scores 10 or less (just pulling numbers out of thin air here), then everything should be fine and dandy. I know that's not simple, and further, against how some people want to play, they like high numbers and low numbers.

But when, say, all of social interaction is primarily Charisma, with a secondary in Wisdom (for Insight), and a player doesn't feel they can afford a high Charisma because they feel they need two 16's elsewhere, that creates a scenario where during social interactions, the very heart of roleplaying, some players sit out because they don't talk good.

When, again, Intelligence does very little for most characters, you get players who will be useless when an Int check or save actually comes up. Like a high level Fighter for whom escaping a Maze or noticing an illusion is a literal impossibility.

I wonder if this is the reason there are so many Charisma-using classes, to make sure someone in the party has a passing degree of eloquence.

Like I said, this is all wishful thinking, 5e isn't going to change, and a system with more complexity is going to have a smaller player base. Plus, it's quite possible I'm making some logical error. Who can say? It's a thought exercise at best.

However, maybe if the game had more "derived characteristics" things would change. Like having Initiative be Dex + Wis divided by 2, or speed is 10 + (Str bonus + Dex bonus x 5) feet per turn.

Anyways, I'm way off topic here, sorry.

 

[Joshy]

You'd probably need a different reason for each class to want to use each secondary stat, which is a heap of work.

No it would be pretty easy just make general talents or something. Things that can be taken with prerequisites that can complete builds.

Whichever way you do it the result will be the same. A Ranger needs Dex and Wis, and Con like everyone else, plus they need Strength if they want to go Melee. If you want to make Int appealing as well, then to be worth dropping something else, they need it has to be really appealing or else it's just a consolation prize for being sub-optimal, which of course means that in most cases people will still dump it, but just be more annoyed about it.

Ranger does not need Str to go melee.

But I like the idea that every class has a single important stat and then you choose two more that suit your build idea.
There are a lot of ways to do it.

Remove armor proficiencies give them a flat Str requirement. That would be a way to make casters that want the theme of a battlecaster to prioritize Str.

Talents that replace things would also give more build versatility.
Example: A talent to use Str instead of Con for hp calculations.

Maybe a sleight of hand talent to make thrown one handed weapons return.

There could be a talent that requires medicine proficiency. Grants adjusted healing from hit die, or maybe increased healing from a spell but takes time.

Instead of taking away, I think we should be adding.