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

[Guest 6801328]

I never would have taken you for a Warlord hater. Glad Bawyle convinced you they’re not totally without value at least.

I won't derail the thread going into it, but my reason for despising Warlords...for thinking they are antithetical to the underlying premise of the game...is not the typical edition war baggage. (I missed the edition wars completely; was too busy playing WoW.)

 

[FireLance]

I've been hesitant to offer this, but I think it's safe because I'm not taking any sides: in America today we have two factions each of which thinks the other side is batshit crazy and totally wrong in every way, and the evidence proving it is so blindingly obvious that you'd have to be a moron to not see it. And good luck talking anybody from either side out of this belief.

Wait, this isn't some meta-commentary about this issue, right?

I missed the edition wars completely; was too busy playing WoW.

At least you made it to the Racial ASI war.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I won't derail the thread going into it, but my reason for despising Warlords...for thinking they are antithetical to the underlying premise of the game...is not the typical edition war baggage. (I missed the edition wars completely; was too busy playing WoW.)

I think I might be able to convert you with my next take on the Marshal.

 

[Charlaquin]

I won't derail the thread going into it, but my reason for despising Warlords...for thinking they are antithetical to the underlying premise of the game...is not the typical edition war baggage. (I missed the edition wars completely; was too busy playing WoW.)

I figured it mustn’t be, since you don’t have the look of an edition soldier.

 

[Guest 6801328]

I figured it mustn’t be, since you don’t have the look of an edition soldier.

The 1,000 Post Stare?

 

[Lanefan]

The reason for having physical ASIs certainly is more obviously apparent. But I don't think there is anything inherently wrong with having 'smart species' like the Vulcans in Star Trek. Granted, having 'dumb species' probably is something that would be best to be avoided.

The immediate risk there is that, given as Humans are the default baseline, every other playable creature can only be the same intelligence or smarter than a Human; never dumber. Extrapolate this across the other five stats and Humans get left behind.

So what mechanism goes in to balance this out so people will still play Humans?

 

[Cadence]

The immediate risk there is that, given as Humans are the default baseline, every other playable creature can only be the same intelligence or smarter than a Human; never dumber. Extrapolate this across the other five stats and Humans get left behind.

So what mechanism goes in to balance this out so people will still play Humans?

Don't humans get a +1 to everything, while the others get a single +2 and a +1?

 

[Maxperson]

Don't humans get a +1 to everything, while the others get a single +2 and a +1?

Most stats don't matter that much, which is why variant humans are so popular.

 

[DND_Reborn]

Most stats don't matter that much, which is why variant humans are so popular.

IMO it is so popular because feats are awesome and getting one at 1st level is great for many builds.

 

[Maxperson]

IMO it is so popular because feats are awesome and getting one at 1st level is great for many builds.

That and the other +1s mean very little. If you point buy or array, the other +1s won't give you much and if they do give you something, it's in your 3rd-6th stat. Only two of the +1s will have high worth and since most campaigns die before 10th level, the two ASIs you will get will go to feats or your primary two stats.

If you use feats, the alternative human is the way to go and you don't get the extra +s. If you don't use feats, 4 of the 6 +s don't really mean anything.