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<blockquote data-quote="Yaarel" data-source="post: 7795634" data-attributes="member: 58172"><p>Actually, two prominent designers of D&D 3e (Monte Cook and Bruce Cordell) did this. In their Cypher System, they combine Strength and Constitution into a single ability that they relate to size and call ‘Might’.</p><p></p><p>• Strength (Str-Con) ≈ Might</p><p>• Dexterity ≈ Speed</p><p></p><p>I like a salient contrast between two physical abilities.</p><p></p><p>For D&D, it is better to think of the Str-Con score as a prerequisite for size, rather than a determiner of size. This allows for rare monsters who ‘punch above their weightclass’.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Also, I feel the mental abilities merit a salient contrast.</p><p></p><p>• Intelligence (exploration skills)</p><p>• Charisma (social skills)</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Actually. In D&D 1e, WIS is there to RESIST ‘unhealthy bodily self-destructive tendencies’.</p><p></p><p>The perceptions about what each ability score means are inconsistent in each edition of D&D.</p><p></p><p>The ability scores remain nonsystematic and ambiguous, and each person tries to make up their own personal rationalizations to make sense of the D&D abilities as best as they can. And because they are ambiguous, different people project different meanings into them.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The real problem is. D&D is originally and primarily a combat game, so its ability scores are primarily combat statistics. Comparing these combat abilities to abstract things that rarely happen in the game, if ever, and that rarely are mechanically rolled for, if ever, confuses what the mechanics mean, and makes them impossible to balance with each other in the context of what actually does happen during a game.</p><p></p><p>Note, there are no broken bones in D&D. There is no normal penalty for taking damage, nor an enduring penalty after reaching 0 hit points, nor from receiving a critical hit. So, an ability score that would specifically relate to broken bones would be nonsensical, or at least less useful during gameplay. Likewise, there is no tar-lung from smoking cigarettes in D&D.</p><p></p><p>To have an ABILITY SCORE − the deepest most fundamental mechanic of the D&D gaming system − dedicated to something that rarely happens, is inelegant design.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The most important thing to do when deciding abilities, is identify what are the most frequent mechanical checks that actually happen during gameplay. Then afterward, see if it is possible to organize these mechanics into clusters that are about equally useful to each other, and that are saliently distinct from each other.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Yaarel, post: 7795634, member: 58172"] Actually, two prominent designers of D&D 3e (Monte Cook and Bruce Cordell) did this. In their Cypher System, they combine Strength and Constitution into a single ability that they relate to size and call ‘Might’. • Strength (Str-Con) ≈ Might • Dexterity ≈ Speed I like a salient contrast between two physical abilities. For D&D, it is better to think of the Str-Con score as a prerequisite for size, rather than a determiner of size. This allows for rare monsters who ‘punch above their weightclass’. Also, I feel the mental abilities merit a salient contrast. • Intelligence (exploration skills) • Charisma (social skills) Actually. In D&D 1e, WIS is there to RESIST ‘unhealthy bodily self-destructive tendencies’. The perceptions about what each ability score means are inconsistent in each edition of D&D. The ability scores remain nonsystematic and ambiguous, and each person tries to make up their own personal rationalizations to make sense of the D&D abilities as best as they can. And because they are ambiguous, different people project different meanings into them. The real problem is. D&D is originally and primarily a combat game, so its ability scores are primarily combat statistics. Comparing these combat abilities to abstract things that rarely happen in the game, if ever, and that rarely are mechanically rolled for, if ever, confuses what the mechanics mean, and makes them impossible to balance with each other in the context of what actually does happen during a game. Note, there are no broken bones in D&D. There is no normal penalty for taking damage, nor an enduring penalty after reaching 0 hit points, nor from receiving a critical hit. So, an ability score that would specifically relate to broken bones would be nonsensical, or at least less useful during gameplay. Likewise, there is no tar-lung from smoking cigarettes in D&D. To have an ABILITY SCORE − the deepest most fundamental mechanic of the D&D gaming system − dedicated to something that rarely happens, is inelegant design. The most important thing to do when deciding abilities, is identify what are the most frequent mechanical checks that actually happen during gameplay. Then afterward, see if it is possible to organize these mechanics into clusters that are about equally useful to each other, and that are saliently distinct from each other. [/QUOTE]
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