That is because all stat bonuses in 3Ed and beyond are linear...and the pre-3Ed Str chart was simply wonky.
That is because all stat bonuses in 3Ed and beyond are linear...and the pre-3Ed Str chart was simply wonky.
Any printed adventure *must* to some extent be a railroad. Perhaps one with lots of branches and tracks, but still a finite number. Adventure paths only exacerbate the issue by forcing assumptions as to the resolution of previous adventures.
The aftermath of this is evident when you try to play Old School games with New School gamers. I'm in a Classic Traveller campaign and one of the players is very New School. She will roll the dice without being prompted by the Referee and offer the result. Her character, an Imperial Peer, recently set up an important breakfast meeting with a subsector Marquis. My character attended as well and I hammed it up for a little bit; the Ref told me the gist of how the conversation went. When my friend's turn to talk came up, she said a couple of halting phrases, scowled, then rolled the dice. They came up snake eyes.
I do appreciate the fact that the newer versions have a bit more separation between the character and the player. It's more possible for the wallflower player to ham up being a smooth-talking bard, relying on die rolls where his own interpersonal skills may be lacking. Likewise, the smooth-talking player can't just dump his charisma and expect his character to be as eloquent as the player.
I, myself, like to do a bit of acting to RP conversations and stuff, but I've got a couple players in my group who are uncomfortable or tend to put their foot in their mouth when speaking to NPC's, and for them, rolling is better than trying to act things out (though they do try at times). Forcing these folks to RP everything out would be like forcing me to don full plate and swing at target dummies with a sword to determine if I hit and what kind of damage I'm doing in combat.