D&D General How do you like your ASIs?

[Shiroiken]

I personally would prefer a total of three +1s: one from race, one from class, and one floating, to a maximum of +2 to a single ability score. Giving a +1 by race gives them an identity towards one of the six abilities, the +1 to class ensures that everyone who takes it has some boost towards it, and the floating +1 gives individual flavor and customization. The limit of +2 is important because most characters would go for the +3 otherwise, causing balance issues.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

I’m glad you asked! For me it’s about what race is, as a game construct, in the type of old-school play I’m using “troupe play” as a shorthand for, as opposed to the style of play that has come to be sort of the default mode of play these days.

To illustrate what I mean, take a typical modern D&D game. An adventure or series of adventures focused on the exploits of a regular cast of characters, often with some sort of overarching narrative structure. PCs are typically exceptional individuals, so what is true of a given PC doesn’t really tell us anything about a typical person in the setting. In this mode of play, I don’t see race mechanics as representative of the typical member of a given lineage, any more than class mechanics are representative of the typical member of a given profession. These game mechanics give the players rules for how to express their individual character, they don’t inform us about the setting.

Contrast this with old school “troupe play” where the campaign is not a series of interconnected adventures but a shared play space. The game doesn’t focus on a regular cast of characters, the characters and even the players may be different from one play session to the next. In this style of play, players don’t so much create characters, as an author might. They generate characters through procedural mechanics that are indeed reflective of what a typical person in the setting looks like. 10-11 being the average ability score is not an arbitrary fact, it’s a direct result of the procedure for generating ability scores. In this paradigm, racial mechanics (and for that matter, class mechanics) don’t just inform you of what your unique elf character can do, they set the parameters for the procedural engine to simulate picking a random person from a representative sample of the general elf population.

Does that make sense?

Yes it does. I think how you see the role of classes and races in old school troupe play is just how I view them in general. I really don't see PCs as that unique or exceptional. In what they do perhaps, but not in what they are.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

I think making people chose between an ASI and a feat in hindsight was a mistake, it should have been an ASI and a feat.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

I think making people chose between an ASI and a feat in hindsight was a mistake, it should have been an ASI and a feat.

Yep. This is what we do.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Yep. This is what we do.

Wise call.

 

[Charlaquin]

Yes it does. I think how you see the role of classes and races in old school troupe play is just how I view them in general. I really don't see PCs as that unique or exceptional. In what they do perhaps, but not in what they are.

But like, they are. 10-11 is not the average ability score for a D&D 5e PC. 5e PCs get abilities and proficiencies from their race, class, and background that NPCs don’t get. The rules for character creation in 5e are not an engine for procedurally generating random people from a representative sample population. They’re tools for crafting protagonists in a fantasy adventure story. And I feel that fixed ASIs are an obstacle to that. They just prevent you from making the protagonist exactly as you envision them.

 

[NaturalZero]

I chose floating ASIs without restriction because Tasha's has been a great move away from making race a min/max choice and opening the way for more viable RP options, at least compared to the default game. After reading the comments though, people make a great point if we're looking at it in terms of a new edition. If we suppose that point buy is the default option of the system, then removing ASIs at character generation is the most elegant way to handle things.

No ASIs from race, class, background, since you're just buying what makes sense for your concept from the one-shop-stop of the point buy. Simple and effective.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Voted no ASI, but I’d happily accept a system where basic competence is somehow not what your stats measure, and you don’t need a specific stat to be a good fighter. Or, one where class gives just as much ASI or more compared to race.

 

[Maxperson]

So far we have.

Some form of fixed: 17
Some form of floating: 12
None at all: 14

Pretty even.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Yes it does. I think how you see the role of classes and races in old school troupe play is just how I view them in general. I really don't see PCs as that unique or exceptional. In what they do perhaps, but not in what they are.

That is exactly how I feel! The legacy of many old school sessions and decades-long associations with 1st ed favoring gamers I suppose.