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Message: <blockquote data-quote="The Crimson Binome" data-source="post: 7159679" data-attributes="member: 6775031">As far as the game rules are concerned, dying through HP loss is pretty much the only way you can die, and any other sort of challenge can usually be resolved by fighting. If someone kidnaps the wizard, you can find the kidnappers and punch them until they give the wizard back. If you don't know where the kidnappers are, you can punch people until you find out. As the saying goes, "Violence is regrettable... but effective."First of all, the DM can't just tailor encounters to the players or the party, because that's cheating. If the DM was going to tailor the encounters, then there would be no point in playing the game in the first place. Maybe some people play like that, but it's far from a given. More generally speaking, the players are free to engage the world as they see fit, and they are the ones who decide whether to fight or talk based on their understanding of their own abilities and the opposition and how the world works.Second, if the difference between high stats and average stats is not significant, then it's not a significant penalty to have an average stat instead of a high stat. The fighter with Charisma 14 and Constitution 10 isn't significantly better at talking to people, or significantly more likely to fall during any given combat, so whether one or the other might be more useful to the character depends mostly on the number of relevant situations they'll find themself in. For every ten Charisma-based checks the fighter is asked to make, one of those (on average) will hinge on the stat difference. The difference in personability between those two fighters is only noticeable after they've each been called on to prove themselves in ten situations.And honestly, how many Charisma-based checks will the Charisma 14 fighter be asked to make, when the Charisma 20 bard is standing right there? Is it greater than the sum of Constitution-based checks and HP-relevant combats they will be asked to participate in? If so, then great, you will be more likely to save the world with high Charisma than with high Con. I've certainly played in those types of campaigns before. Based on my observations of published adventures and what I've heard from others on these boards, though, such campaigns are in the minority when it comes to D&D.</blockquote>

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