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<blockquote data-quote="James Gasik" data-source="post: 8659792" data-attributes="member: 6877472">One thing I did enjoy back in the day was rolling in order to figure out what I wanted to play.&nbsp; This led to some odd characters, and even ones with a random high ability score in places a character wouldn't normally have, like my 2e Fighter with 16 Charisma.&nbsp; I took the Cavalier kit, made him Lawful Good, and tried to follow the Paladin's code of conduct as best I could- his backstory was that he tried to join a knightly order of Paladins, but didn't make the grade.Another character from the 2e era was a Dwarven Thief (Locksmith Kit) who had higher Wisdom than Dexterity, who I played as exceedingly cautious and who exclusively used a short bow rather than even attempt melee combat (making their backstab a completely useless ability, lol).In both cases, it was pretty fun, even if not optimized.&nbsp; That having been said, I'm not advocating Int 12 Wizards or anything like that- I know a few &quot;real role players&quot; who insist that characters who aren't competent are better, but having watched them drag their parties down, I'm not inclined to agree.&nbsp; If you can meet a baseline of competence, and then have some unexpected strength, that can make for interesting characters.Obviously, the same can hold true for an unexpected weakness, but ability scores have changed a lot over the years.&nbsp; In 2e, an 8 Wisdom wasn't a big deal.&nbsp; Now in 5e, it can lead to a character who gets mind controlled more often than Superman, which is a problem your party will not appreciate.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="James Gasik, post: 8659792, member: 6877472"] One thing I did enjoy back in the day was rolling in order to figure out what I wanted to play. This led to some odd characters, and even ones with a random high ability score in places a character wouldn't normally have, like my 2e Fighter with 16 Charisma. I took the Cavalier kit, made him Lawful Good, and tried to follow the Paladin's code of conduct as best I could- his backstory was that he tried to join a knightly order of Paladins, but didn't make the grade. Another character from the 2e era was a Dwarven Thief (Locksmith Kit) who had higher Wisdom than Dexterity, who I played as exceedingly cautious and who exclusively used a short bow rather than even attempt melee combat (making their backstab a completely useless ability, lol). In both cases, it was pretty fun, even if not optimized. That having been said, I'm not advocating Int 12 Wizards or anything like that- I know a few "real role players" who insist that characters who aren't competent are better, but having watched them drag their parties down, I'm not inclined to agree. If you can meet a baseline of competence, and then have some unexpected strength, that can make for interesting characters. Obviously, the same can hold true for an unexpected weakness, but ability scores have changed a lot over the years. In 2e, an 8 Wisdom wasn't a big deal. Now in 5e, it can lead to a character who gets mind controlled more often than Superman, which is a problem your party will not appreciate. [/QUOTE]

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