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

[Morrus]

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.

 

[TheSword]

PC stats are a choice and can range from 8 to 15 or even 10 to 17 if there is a +2 modifier.

There is no such thing as an ‘average’ PC stat as they vary so much and their is no way of calculating that average in the rules or enforcing it.

An average population stat strength for Orcs is going to be 12 or 13 presumably - Orcs in the MM are warriors after all. A wizard Orc should be allowed to be below this.

If you asked should the Orc PCs be incentivized/encouraged/enabled to be stronger than a non Orc then I would answer yes to that question.

 

[battlebaby]

Depends. Is the local orc a major NPC or one of the main objectives in the story? It's s feat of strength or there is no rules?

Yes - the Halfling can try, but it should be hard, dramatic and rewarding.
No - he is just a regular joe - it should be trivial. If is a Strength context whoever has the higher Strength should have advantage.

 

[RangerWickett]

(to be fair, Zidi was first released in a superhero book, and her strength was mechanically the perk from levels in the Hero class; she could throw wagons as improvised weapons)

My view is that the numerical parts of the game - attack bonuses, AC, saves, damage - shouldn't advantage one race/species over another, but I'd be fine with other abilities providing flavor that plays to tropes.

Like, a halfling barbarian ought to be able to use their halfling greatsword to hew through giants just as well as the orc barbarian does. But maybe the halfling has a 4e style racial ability to impose disadvantage on opportunity attacks against them, while an orc gets that ability to drop to 1 HP instead of 0 once per day. The stats would be the same for fighting, but halflings would lend themselves to a dodgier playstyle, while orcs might just leap into the thick of things.

 

[Tonguez]

Like, a halfling barbarian ought to be able to use their halfling greatsword to hew through giants just as well as the orc barbarian does. But maybe the halfling has a 4e style racial ability to impose disadvantage on opportunity attacks against them, while an orc gets that ability to drop to 1 HP instead of 0 once per day. The stats would be the same for fighting, but halflings would lend themselves to a dodgier playstyle, while orcs might just leap into the thick of things.

yes very much this. One thing that the rules fails to capture is inherent differences in style (a skilled halfling knife fighter moves differently (And probably gets in more small precision strikes) than a skilled orc cleaving with a great sword but should not be disadvantaged on their ‘effectiveness’ in battle).

PCs are exceptional and skilled in their particular roles, they are not the average of their species.

nonetheless the bonuses do give a ‘tend to be’ archetype ie - Orcs tend to be stronger than other common races

 

[Lylandra]

My opinion: You can give the NPC orc guard a strength build and the halfling guard a dexterity build and the high elf guard an int-based mage build to show that certain people tend to favor one archetype over the other without having to influence PC stats.

Also big yes for other means to distinguish ancestry-style abilities than stats. Also, make them useful for every class if they are mandatory abilities, or make them more niche if you offer a broader choice.

 

[DeviousQuail]

This is a tough one for me. I've said it before but I think this problem exists around the idea of strength, and to a lesser extent constitution, more than any of the other ability scores. Based on the 5e PHB the smallest half-orcs are roughly 5 feet tall and weigh 180 pounds. The biggest halfling are 3 feet tall and weigh 45 pounds. I have no problem believing that the halfling could be smarter, wiser, more charismatic, or lighter on their feet than the small half-orc. Believing the opposite is also easy enough. But when you tell me the halfling is going to deadlift or bench press more than the half-orc, I'm not going to believe it without something else being involved. I just have too much life experience to ignore it.

The easiest solution is using size categories to grant benefits and penalties. Things like carrying capacity, stealth, contested strength checks, AC, etc. That way attack, damage, saves, etc aren't impacted but differences in sizes are still felt.

 

[Morrus]

But when you tell me the halfling is going to deadlift or bench press more than the half-orc, I'm not going to believe it without something else being involved. I just have too much life experience to ignore it.

I think as soon as you think about Greek legends, it works.

 

[Guest 6801328]

I play RPGs to confirm the data from my life experiences.

 

[Lylandra]

I've played enough JRPGs to throw real life biology and physics out of the window in fantasy RPGs. And that's from someone with a scientific background who's constantly nitpicking on scifi movie inadequaties