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General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Is it possible to balance the six abilities?
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<blockquote data-quote="Jonstark" data-source="post: 9652467" data-attributes="member: 7046214"><p>Getting rid of the original six ability scores = Not D&D anymore. I say that with no judgement, as I think it's a fine task to draft up a new rpg which might have better balanced mechanics. I'm not trying to be a killjoy, but reality asserts itself and the vast majority of players I know of will not consider that new system to be D&D, and most will shrug off the task of learning a new system as 'too complicated' and dismiss it without making the mental effort to read/understand it (even if the new system makes more sense and streamlines and simplifies everything).</p><p></p><p>I really like what Nimble/Nimble 5E is trying to do, but even though I bought the full rpg, one glance at the ability scores (also folded into 4 instead of 6, which many people on this thread are rightfully promoting the benefits of) tells me that most players I know will not play it. Which is fine, I don't need to make potential players do a ton of homework on a new system, I can just draw out and use the best parts.</p><p></p><p>I think using the same six scores but adding just a little 'jazz' on the ability scores that aren't as glamourous is a more attractive (for players) solution. The goal imo is to make a player rolling up a character stress about his choices as all the ability scores should be equally attractive/useful.</p><p></p><p>I was researching lots of house rule mechanics and mechanisms from other games that might be easily ported over, and I think it's from 'Blades in the Dark' (I've never played it and don't own it, so I could be getting the rpg game wrong, please forgive me) that has the Flashforward and Flashback mechanisms. I instantly loved both, and my immediate instinct was that these 2 could be just the ticket to sprucing up Intelligence and Wisdom.</p><p></p><p>A 'Flashback' is often used in movies (most often heist movies like the Ocean's series) where the narrative has shown you the protagonist is in a no-win situation and suddenly pulls a deus-ex-machina out of his pocket. While this is not good storytelling, the film will then use a flashback to give a good reason why the deus-ex-machina exists, giving a real-world explanation rather than 'plot armor'. In an rpg game, the character could burn a flashback point to rewrite history in a small way. "I know I don't have it on my character sheet and we didn't discuss it, but I do have some wolfsbane. I'm using a flashback point to go back to this morning when I was packing my gear and I because my character knew it would be useful he grabbed some wolfsbane and threw it in'.</p><p></p><p>It's meant to allow a character to retro-actively be more clever through demonstrating better planning. So it could easily be a function of the Intelligence stat. A high intelligence score could allow a character access to 1-3 flashbacks per adventure. So it's not like you're hitting harder or moving faster, but a well-applied flashback could absolutely impact combat. Perhaps drastically. To balance it out, perhaps low-level intelligence characters have a flashback penalty that negatively affects the number of flashbacks the party has. "You're so dumb Clem that it's rubbing off on me!"</p><p></p><p>Flashforwards are envisioning of future events. "I've got a bad feeling about this..." is probably used by DMs a lot to try to herd a party away from a TPK, but imagine a method of player-initiated flashfowards, which are indeed a re-writing of history or even an effective time jump. A 1st level party charges through a dungeon door shouting 'Leroy Jenkins' only to come face to face with a Tarrasque. They're done for, but the character with high Wisdom (intuition) immediately calls out "I burn a flashforward point to take us back to before we opened that door!" And this is explained narratively similarly to how movies to it: the character was in a slight daze, because he was receiving a vision of danger in the immediate future, and jolts awake to stop his party from charging to their deaths. Again, high Wisdom would grant 1-3 flashforwards that could be employed per adventure (depending on how high the Wis score is) and also could be balanced by having low Wis characters be a negative drag on the party's total available flashforward pool.</p><p></p><p>Incorporating these in character creation makes these abilities much more attractive to players as opposed to dump stat neglection. And the beauty is after initial roll-up, it's all on the players to decide to use/not use these mechanisms, so one less thing that the DM has to worry about remembering.</p><p></p><p>I think Charisma is pretty useful in social play, so I'm not sure it needs bumping up, but I like the idea that maybe there's some way to grant extra Luck points under certain conditions or maybe high Cha characters somehow get marginally more Inspiration points to spend. Not sure.</p><p></p><p>Confused though why Constitution would need beefing up. Granting bonus hp every level up all the way to max level seems like it's doing enough heavy lifting to me?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Jonstark, post: 9652467, member: 7046214"] Getting rid of the original six ability scores = Not D&D anymore. I say that with no judgement, as I think it's a fine task to draft up a new rpg which might have better balanced mechanics. I'm not trying to be a killjoy, but reality asserts itself and the vast majority of players I know of will not consider that new system to be D&D, and most will shrug off the task of learning a new system as 'too complicated' and dismiss it without making the mental effort to read/understand it (even if the new system makes more sense and streamlines and simplifies everything). I really like what Nimble/Nimble 5E is trying to do, but even though I bought the full rpg, one glance at the ability scores (also folded into 4 instead of 6, which many people on this thread are rightfully promoting the benefits of) tells me that most players I know will not play it. Which is fine, I don't need to make potential players do a ton of homework on a new system, I can just draw out and use the best parts. I think using the same six scores but adding just a little 'jazz' on the ability scores that aren't as glamourous is a more attractive (for players) solution. The goal imo is to make a player rolling up a character stress about his choices as all the ability scores should be equally attractive/useful. I was researching lots of house rule mechanics and mechanisms from other games that might be easily ported over, and I think it's from 'Blades in the Dark' (I've never played it and don't own it, so I could be getting the rpg game wrong, please forgive me) that has the Flashforward and Flashback mechanisms. I instantly loved both, and my immediate instinct was that these 2 could be just the ticket to sprucing up Intelligence and Wisdom. A 'Flashback' is often used in movies (most often heist movies like the Ocean's series) where the narrative has shown you the protagonist is in a no-win situation and suddenly pulls a deus-ex-machina out of his pocket. While this is not good storytelling, the film will then use a flashback to give a good reason why the deus-ex-machina exists, giving a real-world explanation rather than 'plot armor'. In an rpg game, the character could burn a flashback point to rewrite history in a small way. "I know I don't have it on my character sheet and we didn't discuss it, but I do have some wolfsbane. I'm using a flashback point to go back to this morning when I was packing my gear and I because my character knew it would be useful he grabbed some wolfsbane and threw it in'. It's meant to allow a character to retro-actively be more clever through demonstrating better planning. So it could easily be a function of the Intelligence stat. A high intelligence score could allow a character access to 1-3 flashbacks per adventure. So it's not like you're hitting harder or moving faster, but a well-applied flashback could absolutely impact combat. Perhaps drastically. To balance it out, perhaps low-level intelligence characters have a flashback penalty that negatively affects the number of flashbacks the party has. "You're so dumb Clem that it's rubbing off on me!" Flashforwards are envisioning of future events. "I've got a bad feeling about this..." is probably used by DMs a lot to try to herd a party away from a TPK, but imagine a method of player-initiated flashfowards, which are indeed a re-writing of history or even an effective time jump. A 1st level party charges through a dungeon door shouting 'Leroy Jenkins' only to come face to face with a Tarrasque. They're done for, but the character with high Wisdom (intuition) immediately calls out "I burn a flashforward point to take us back to before we opened that door!" And this is explained narratively similarly to how movies to it: the character was in a slight daze, because he was receiving a vision of danger in the immediate future, and jolts awake to stop his party from charging to their deaths. Again, high Wisdom would grant 1-3 flashforwards that could be employed per adventure (depending on how high the Wis score is) and also could be balanced by having low Wis characters be a negative drag on the party's total available flashforward pool. Incorporating these in character creation makes these abilities much more attractive to players as opposed to dump stat neglection. And the beauty is after initial roll-up, it's all on the players to decide to use/not use these mechanisms, so one less thing that the DM has to worry about remembering. I think Charisma is pretty useful in social play, so I'm not sure it needs bumping up, but I like the idea that maybe there's some way to grant extra Luck points under certain conditions or maybe high Cha characters somehow get marginally more Inspiration points to spend. Not sure. Confused though why Constitution would need beefing up. Granting bonus hp every level up all the way to max level seems like it's doing enough heavy lifting to me? [/QUOTE]
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Is it possible to balance the six abilities?
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