D&D 5E Houseruled: Feats, Rolled Stats, MCing Pick One

[ECMO3]

If you were, for example, an Elf who rolled an 18 and put it in DEX, you had 19 DEX. There was, AFAIK, no actual rule against that in 1E AD&D. Quite a few groups had a house rule that no stat could be over 18 because they didn't have values for those stats until Deities and Demigods came out. Certainly the 1E players I knew insisted this was the case. Whereas 2E explicitly capped stats based on race, usually at 18. So the 1E players would try to drag in 1E races we didn't have explicit 2E stats for, and thus not explicit limits. A few 2E races had 19 or 20 caps too - for example Bakali Lizardmen had 19 STR and CON caps (and +1 STR/CON).

In 1E there were maximum scores by race. I think Elves had a maximum of 19 Dexterity, so that is doable. Half-Orcs though got a +1 to strength and the maximum strength for a half-orc male was I believe 18/99 so they could not use this to get a 19.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

In 1E there were maximum scores by race. I think Elves had a maximum of 19 Dexterity, so that is doable. Half-Orcs though got a +1 to strength and the maximum strength for a half-orc male was I believe 18/99 so they could not use this to get a 19.

That would explain it!

 

[pming]

Hiya!

As the title says.

DM says the player can use feats, multiclassing or roll for stats. BUT you can only pick one your choice.

Thoughts?

Er... Roll for Stats? I guess? We don't use Feats or Multiclassing and Rolling is the default.

Congratulations! You just chose our exact game options...and, FYI, the Default of 5e: No Feats, No Multiclassing, 4d6-L for Stats.

^_^

Paul L. Ming

 

[Greg Benage]

I remember one kid giving me basically an entire presentation on how his Elf was allowed to have 19 DEX.

I don’t recall Dex 19 getting you anything Dex 18 didn’t, unless you were a thief.

 

[cbwjm]

I don’t recall Dex 19 getting you anything Dex 18 didn’t, unless you were a thief.

Slightly better reactions and missile adjustments (+3 at 19 vs +2 at 18), unless the 1e dex table differs from the 2e one.

 

[cbwjm]

I'd probably choose feats. I like the occasional multiclass but it normally isn't a big part of most of my PCs in this edition. I do like rolling for stats but I can put up with point buy. I'm not a fan of the stat array though so as long as I have the option of point buy then I'll get by without rolling.

 

[Greg Benage]

Slightly better reactions and missile adjustments (+3 at 19 vs +2 at 18), unless the 1e dex table differs from the 2e one.

Yeah 18 is +3/-4.

 

[Lanefan]

Slightly better reactions and missile adjustments (+3 at 19 vs +2 at 18), unless the 1e dex table differs from the 2e one.

It does.

Something else to keep in mind is that 1e also had varying racial minimums for stats. What it didn't do was bell-curve properly for each species between that particular species' minimums and maximums for each stat. Elf Dexterity went, I think, from 7 to 19; and the bell curve for that is rather different than for 3-18.

We homebrewed a way around this which works mathematically but does add some complexity to roll-up.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I don’t recall Dex 19 getting you anything Dex 18 didn’t, unless you were a thief.

I had to check but it gives you +1 to hit with missile weapons and +1 reaction adjustment over 18 in 2E. Same AC mod though.

 

[ScuroNotte]

Who really cares about high stats. If it makes the players happy and the game more enjoyable. The players just have to realize the creatures are going to get a bump in stats as well. ..damage out put increases, more hp, etc.. easy to deal with