Character creation - fill in the blanks?

[BVB]

The player rolls a new character's attributes at 11, 11, 11, 11, 5 and 17.
He decides to make the character a dwarf and puts his low score (5) into constitution, raising it to 7.
And then he picks fighter for his first class.

My questions:
Why put 5 into constitution, and then why make the character a fighter?
And to which attribute would you assign the 17?

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Hey, there's no rule that says you have to be completely optimal when assigning your scores. If that's what the player wants (maybe he wants a Raistlin clone, or something) more power to him. It's certainly more original than putting the 5 in Cha.

 

[Crothian]

I'd award him for doing such a bold thing, but it is the best thing to do with a 5 since it makes it a 7. And a 7 is better then a 5.

 

[BVB]

>bzzz!<
Thank you for playing.

Better answers still waiting to be shared.
Next?

 

[Negative Zero]

that's easy
the charater is dead anyway, at which point he'll get to roll up new stats. so why not go against the norm and win some cool points for being bold!

~NegZ

 

[Umbran]

Why put 5 into constitution, and then why make the character a fighter?

I betcha the player's answer basically boils down to "it should be interesting". And they'd probably be right.

One might also say, "Hm, I've got a pretty bad Con here. Perhaps I ought to try to maximize my hit points by taking a big first die. If I take fighter, and then go on to focus on another class, I'm not gonna shoot myself in the foot, XP wise.

Now, if what you're looking for is a background justification of the character...

Well, being a fighter isn't necessarily about being good at fighting. It's about learning how to fight. The Dwarf favored class is fighter. Not so odd to think then that many dwarves, even ones not physically in the tops of their class, might get the basic learning down. I can see a character who has taken a bit of the training so that they understand tactics.

And to which attribute would you assign the 17?

That depends on what I want to do from that point on. Put the 17 in Dexterity, you get a passable rogue. Put it in Charisma, you get a passable sorcerer. Put it in Intelligence, you get a passible Wizard, and so on. Based solely upon a min/max approach, I'd probably not go with Wisdom aiming to be a cleric or druid. The 8-sided hit die is good enough that you're not winning much by taking the 1st level as fighter rather than cleric. IMHO.

 

[TracerBullet42]

I'd say kudos to him for being so bold! It's easy to just dump a stat somewhere where you don't think you'll need it. But it can be so fun to have one really bad stat. I play a halfling rogue in one game with a wisdom of 5! And the group still lets me scout ahead! It makes for lots of fun. Nothing like creeping through a dungeon, realizing that you left your sword behind when it was dropped in combat, and just yelling, "Agghh! My sword!" and then taking off after it without a second thought. And then the princess bans you from eating bacon for a day...but that's another story.

Low stats can be fun! Learn to enjoy them...they'll make you special...and then you might even get to ride the short bus.

 

[WanderingMonster]

He'd better have put the 17 in Dex, cause he ain't gonna be no tank with a 7 Con. Ranged Attacks need to be his forte.

 

[Crothian]

>bzzz!<
Thank you for playing.

Better answers still waiting to be shared.
Next?

No, my answer was good enough. Here's a really off the wall suggestion, though: Ask him. I'm sure this kind of radical thinking is unheard of in most parts of the world, so I understand you're going to strangers for his answers.

 

[Feathercircle]

Okay, I'm going to take the opposite tack from Umbran and assume that the character is actually intending to stay a fighter for a while rather than immediately multiclassing. Partially just because, as he said "it should be interesting". Also, if I were choosing purely for a good 1st hit die to counteract the low Con, I'd go for barbarian- 10 hp at first, and the rage ability also help as long as the player knows when to make a tactical retreat. (ie, doesn't let himself take enough damage so that when he comes out of rage, he's dead... ^^;;

If he wants to still be combat effective as a straight fighter, I'd probably put the 17 in Dex and focus on ranged weapons and lighter armor. At first level, he'll only have 8 hit points rather than 10 or better, and it'll get worse from there. If he tries to go the route of the high-Strength tin can tank style of fighters, stuff that's at an appropriate CR will probably drop him if it hits him. Heavy, enchanted armor might be able to counter that to a point, but with a dwarf's already low movement rate, that leaves him about as ungainly as a beached aboleth- and about as easy a target.

It's not as bad as the wizard my party had with the 4 Con and the one hit point per level, but then again, the wizard wasn't expected to do anything but hang back and cast spells in the first place. As a fighter, he's going to be expected to, well, fight, and if he tries to go the melee route, he'd better have a cleric watching his back. As I said, I'd go for ranged combat, and I'd also get a mount as soon as possible. A high dex boosts his Ride skill, and the Mounted Combat and Point Blank Shot feat chains (all on the fighter bonus feat list, I might add) can make him a force to be reckoned with.

Background-wise... well, I'd leave that to the player. Whatever history they come up with is bound to fit the campaign and the character much better than my ideas... But if it were my character, hmm... I might decide to play him as a seasoned veteran of many skirmishes against whatever the local nasty hordes are (ie, orcs, gnolls, goblins, etc...). Hampered by old wounds but too strong-willed (some might just say stubborn) to simply give up and die. Not the hardiest dwarf in the world, but courageous, loyal, and perseverent to a fault, the first to rally the party in times of trouble and the last to give in.

So, what do you think, BVB?