Level Up (A5E) Do Player Characters Have Average Population Stat Distributions?

[Charlaquin]

Just checking. So you always put your highest stat in the "prime requisite" for whatever class you're playing?

Pretty much, unless doing so leaves the score at an odd number and the second-highest leaves it at an even number with the same modifier (for example, with standard array I’ll sometimes put the 14 in my primary score and the 15 in a secondary score so I end up with two 16s after racial ability adjustments instead of a 17 and a 15). Why, do you not do the same?

 

[Charlaquin]

You may want to play your ability score increase, darkvision 60, speed 30, fey ancestry, keen senses, trance and go fight an AC 13, HP 15, speed 30, darkvision 60, aggressive, 1d12+3 slashing, but most of us don't want to play that way.

D&D is not now, nor has it ever been, just the mechanics.

For someone who is so quick to claim others are strawmanning your arguments, I would expect you to be a bit more meticulous about not doing the same to others. I didn’t say D&D is just mechanics, I said ability scores don’t represent anything more than their mechanical effects in any way that makes sense.

And in 3e size mattered. A 24 strength halfling could not lift as much as a 24 strength goliath.

Good for 3e. We’re not talking about 3e.

 

[Phoebasss]

Good for 3e. We’re not talking about 3e.

That was definitely still bad in 3e.

 

[EscherEnigma]

You may want to play your ability score increase, darkvision 60, speed 30, fey ancestry, keen senses, trance and go fight an AC 13, HP 15, speed 30, darkvision 60, aggressive, 1d12+3 slashing, but most of us don't want to play that way.

By the same token, everyone could have the same exact stats and abilities, and be playing a variety of elves, dwarves, humans and more exotic races. The differentiation of races has never depended on mechanical differentiation.

 

[Charlaquin]

That was definitely still bad in 3e.

Yeah, I meant “good for 3e” in like the “good for you. Have a cookie and go away” sense. Though, I think to more seriously analyze 3e’s rules surrounding size and carry weight, they did work, they were just unnecessarily complicated (ain’t that 3e in a nutshell. “It works, it’s just unnecessarily complicated.”) Small creatures had 3/4 the carrying capacity, and there was special gear sized for small creatures that weighed 3/4 as much as normal. So, in effect they had the same carrying capacity, you just had to say you were buying all your gear sized for small creatures. 5e just cut out the extra step.

 

[Maxperson]

For someone who is so quick to claim others are strawmanning your arguments, I would expect you to be a bit more meticulous about not doing the same to others. I didn’t say D&D is just mechanics, I said ability scores don’t represent anything more than their mechanical effects in any way that makes sense.

If one is only represented by mechanics, then the other is as well.

Good for 3e. We’re not talking about 3e.

You claimed it never happened. You were wrong. It has made sense(or at least much more sense) in the past.

 

[Cadence]

Pretty much, unless doing so leaves the score at an odd number and the second-highest leaves it at an even number with the same modifier (for example, with standard array I’ll sometimes put the 14 in my primary score and the 15 in a secondary score so I end up with two 16s after racial ability adjustments instead of a 17 and a 15). Why, do you not do the same?

If we're using the standard set of scores I'm guessing I most often have the top score in the most important place, but the second might not go in the next most important one if it doesn't fit the picture of the character I have in my head. For point buy systems I don't think I've ever ended up close to a (15, 15, 15, 8, 8, 8) to stack up the three most important ones. And I don't think I ever bought a starting 17 or 18 in Pathfinder with it's point buy system. Having a bunch of dump stats just seems bleh.

I don't think I usually go out of my way to pick the optimum race for a particular class though. I'll play any race of Cleric

You noted elsewhere a die-roll set-up that gave a 16, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10 standard array. If that was used with the current bonuses, would human never be chosen for anything (since it only gets a 17 and not 18)?

 

[Maxperson]

By the same token, everyone could have the same exact stats and abilities, and be playing a variety of elves, dwarves, humans and more exotic races. The differentiation of races has never depended on mechanical differentiation.

That's not accurate. It doesn't matter if the individuals all have identical stats. How they got there was through mechanical racial differentiation. Elves a bonus to dex, dwarves a bonus to strength, etc.

The journey to the destination is often more important than the destination itself.

 

[Charlaquin]

If one is only represented by mechanics, then the other is as well.

What “other” are you referring to?

You claimed it never happened. You were wrong. It has made sense(or at least much more sense) in the past.

It still didn’t make sense in 3e. A half-orc with 5 strength could still be 6’10” and 438 pounds while a 2’8” 27 pound halfling could have a strength of 23.

Strength score simply does not translate directly to muscle mass in a way that makes sense. Strength means no more and no less than it’s mechanical effects (which, granted, were different in 3e than they are in 5e).

 

[doctorbadwolf]

What do you think? Agree or disagree (poll) to the following proposition:

Character creation rules create exceptional hero protagonists, not statistically average populations. Therefore the character creation rules should not extrapolate to the population as a whole.

Can Zidi Wheatling, the Halfing Titan (apologies to @RangerWickett) spank the local orc weightlifting champion in a contest? Or is that that simply not allowed?

No wrong answers.

There is literally no point, IMO, to even having the races/peoples/species if we accept the proposition.

Not everyone even plays in a game where the PCs are assumed to be particularly exceptional, especially at level 1.

But beyond that, if the race stats don’t represent the race...throw them out, they are worse than useless.