Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Four Ability Scores
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Yaarel" data-source="post: 7801837" data-attributes="member: 58172"><p>Why do I like abilities (the inherent aptitudes)?</p><p></p><p>Abilities are a simple way to provide an epitome of what a character concept is about.</p><p></p><p>For example, if a Wizard is about Intelligence and a Bard is about Charisma, it instantly communicates a large amount of information.</p><p></p><p>Races feel different because of affinities to abilities.</p><p></p><p>When I look at the statblock for a monster, I check out the abilities to know in live time how to play them.</p><p></p><p>Flavorwise, abilities are useful as a big-picture mechanic.</p><p></p><p>Mechanicswise, abilities are the engine of the D&D 5e gaming system. Everything. Everything. Everything. Refers to them. A player can think completely outside the box. No matter how surprised a DM is, the DM can think about which ability applies. Adjudicate it as an ability check. Even if a specific skill is completely absent, the ability can still apply.</p><p></p><p>Gamewise, abilities are powerful, and make D&D more open to imagination.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Why do I like FOUR abilities?</p><p></p><p>Four is a powerful number. Because of forward-backward-right-left, the foursome is probably hardwired into the neurology of the brain, and appears to be the fundamental unit of human memory, and how the brain processes information.</p><p></p><p>Four is useful.</p><p></p><p>The foursome seen in the Free League system and translating here enjoys extreme clarity. It is unambiguous which ability should apply to a specific ability check. This clarity makes the ability gaming engine more efficient, more comprehensive, and more powerful.</p><p></p><p>Narratively, the foursome coheres happily with wellknown tropes.</p><p></p><p>• Strength-Constitution ≈ Big Guy</p><p>• Dexterity-Athletics ≈ Jock Guy</p><p>• Intelligence-Perception ≈ Smart Guy</p><p>• Charisma-Wisdom ≈ Heart Guy</p><p></p><p>These four tropes relate to the Five Man Band. What makes the Five peculiar is the tendency for one of the five to be the dedicated ‘Hero’. Then, the second is ‘Lancer’ being the ‘opposite’ of the Hero, to accentuate the hero. Because of Gilgamesh and King Arthur, the Jock Guy is usually assumed to be the ‘Hero’ of the story. The Lancer, then, is his sidekick, where opposites attract. The other three are more exact. The ‘Chick’ of the Five Man Band is the Heart Guy. The Smart Guy is the Smart Guy, with various ways of being smart. The Big Guy is the Big Guy, being in some sense a one-man army who masters combat.</p><p></p><p>What makes the foursome more interesting is, there seems inherently no Hero. Any of the four can be the hero of the story, and many stories involving the foursome alternating who the center of the story is. Four is more fluid.</p><p></p><p>It is possible to arbitrarily overlay other kinds of narrative quartets (like the philosophies: Optimist, Cynic, Realist, and Apathetic).</p><p></p><p>But the narrative tropes of Big, Jock, Smart, and Heart are already a powerful tool for a storytelling game to tap into.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Yaarel, post: 7801837, member: 58172"] Why do I like abilities (the inherent aptitudes)? Abilities are a simple way to provide an epitome of what a character concept is about. For example, if a Wizard is about Intelligence and a Bard is about Charisma, it instantly communicates a large amount of information. Races feel different because of affinities to abilities. When I look at the statblock for a monster, I check out the abilities to know in live time how to play them. Flavorwise, abilities are useful as a big-picture mechanic. Mechanicswise, abilities are the engine of the D&D 5e gaming system. Everything. Everything. Everything. Refers to them. A player can think completely outside the box. No matter how surprised a DM is, the DM can think about which ability applies. Adjudicate it as an ability check. Even if a specific skill is completely absent, the ability can still apply. Gamewise, abilities are powerful, and make D&D more open to imagination. Why do I like FOUR abilities? Four is a powerful number. Because of forward-backward-right-left, the foursome is probably hardwired into the neurology of the brain, and appears to be the fundamental unit of human memory, and how the brain processes information. Four is useful. The foursome seen in the Free League system and translating here enjoys extreme clarity. It is unambiguous which ability should apply to a specific ability check. This clarity makes the ability gaming engine more efficient, more comprehensive, and more powerful. Narratively, the foursome coheres happily with wellknown tropes. • Strength-Constitution ≈ Big Guy • Dexterity-Athletics ≈ Jock Guy • Intelligence-Perception ≈ Smart Guy • Charisma-Wisdom ≈ Heart Guy These four tropes relate to the Five Man Band. What makes the Five peculiar is the tendency for one of the five to be the dedicated ‘Hero’. Then, the second is ‘Lancer’ being the ‘opposite’ of the Hero, to accentuate the hero. Because of Gilgamesh and King Arthur, the Jock Guy is usually assumed to be the ‘Hero’ of the story. The Lancer, then, is his sidekick, where opposites attract. The other three are more exact. The ‘Chick’ of the Five Man Band is the Heart Guy. The Smart Guy is the Smart Guy, with various ways of being smart. The Big Guy is the Big Guy, being in some sense a one-man army who masters combat. What makes the foursome more interesting is, there seems inherently no Hero. Any of the four can be the hero of the story, and many stories involving the foursome alternating who the center of the story is. Four is more fluid. It is possible to arbitrarily overlay other kinds of narrative quartets (like the philosophies: Optimist, Cynic, Realist, and Apathetic). But the narrative tropes of Big, Jock, Smart, and Heart are already a powerful tool for a storytelling game to tap into. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Four Ability Scores
Top