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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DEFCON 1" data-source="post: 7168799" data-attributes="member: 7006">I find as a DM that having numeric minimums or maximums would not do a single thing in establishing the feeling of any of these races.  Because there are so many rolls happening across the table throughout an entire game, I am incapable of discerning which rolls are affected due to a particular ability stat numbers in enough proportion for me to identify "Hey!  That character's more charismatic than that other one!"  One has an 18, the other has a 14, a difference of +2 in modifiers.  Can I determine through the dice rolling (of which that is the only way that these numerical differences actually get represented in the game) that X character is 10% more charismatic than the other one?  Not in the slightest.  The 18 makes 1 out of 10 more rolls than the 14.  Yeah, great.  I wouldn't be able to point that out when it happened if I tried.Same thing with something like Strength.  That half-orc has an 18 STR, and that halfling now has a 16 because the game inserted a rule that says halflings can't have a STR over 16.  Okay.  Great.  Now... when exactly as the dice are rolled am I supposed to be able to tell that the half-orc is the stronger racial PC?  A +1 modifier means only like 1 out of every 20 rolls involving Strength will be affected by this.  I can tell you that I would NEVER be able to discern that numeric difference enough to ever get the impression the half-orc was the stronger character......UNLESS you actually showed me the character sheet to point out to me that the half-orc had the 18 STR and the halfling had the 16.So if I can't tell (without looking at the character sheets) who is the stronger, or smarter, or more agile character because the differences between these numbers is so minute (ESPECIALLY when you add in all the other stuff that masks those numbers with additional modifiers like proficiency bonuses, magic item bonuses etc.)... then what was the point in putting in minimums or maximums in the first place?  If I can't tell they are there, then they serve absolutely no purpose except in a white-room character sheet generation where no halflings will have 18 STRs written on them and no half-orcs will have 18 INTs written on them.Do you know how I can tell that a character is unusually strong?  Or unusually stupid?  Or unusually charismatic?  Or unusually clumsy?  Through roleplay.  The player who PLAYS his or her PC as dumb means so much more to me and the game than the one who has a 6 INT on their character sheet.  Because that 6 INT means nothing if they don't play their PC that way.So rather than the game putting numerical minimums or maximums back in... I'd rather they give roleplay advice on how to actually roleplay their characters that way.  Because that'll do more to make the PCs interesting than any number on the sheet.</blockquote>

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