Killing the sacred cow: playing D&D with only 4 abilities instead of 6. And returning to 3 saves instead of 6.

[Mercule]

• Charisma; This score is the king of "tanked scores" because tanking cha means almost nothing unless your class is tied mechanically to cha score. all others can have it at 8 at go happily along. Cha should be split between int(now it will be called cunning) and wisdom(now willpower).

Not my experience, at all. I almost never see Charisma get used as a dump stat. Most groups I've played with use Charisma as how "cool" their character is. It augments everything, in a narrative fashion. The guy with an 18 Strength, but 8 Charisma is just an oaf. The guy with a 16 Strength and 14 Charisma, though, gets to flex a bit and get people's attention. When he bashes in the door, he makes an entrance, not just an opening.

We're telling a story. There may be exceptions, but people want to play Sirius Black, not Peter Petigrew.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

Charisma; This score is the king of "tanked scores" because tanking cha means almost nothing unless your class is tied mechanically to cha score. all others can have it at 8 at go happily along. Cha should be split between int(now it will be called cunning) and wisdom(now willpower).

No need to get complicated. Just merge it all with Wisdom. Lying and persuading successfully is about being self-assured, not about being smart. (*insert political joke here*)

 

[ccs]

Some thoughts;

1) Combining the stats. Why?
What actual problem are you trying to solve?

2) It'd be a helluva lot of work to implement this combining of stats & then change everything else in the game that touches them. And in the end? There won't be enough benefit for the effort. It'll also lead to:

3) The game now being played won't "feel" like D&D. This is important because we all came here to play D&D.....
Don't believe me? Go ask WoTC how 4e worked out for them. One of the major observations was that it "felt" like a different game with the D&D logo slapped on it.

4) So you &/or your players don't understand the Cha score.....
If you're a DM & you're tired of seeing players tank their Cha score? THEN MAKE THAT CHOICE MATTER DURING PLAY. If you do that, you'll see players invest in it. If the DM ignores it? Then yes, you'll see Cha8 (or less) characters happily going about their business.
Cha, it's not just a casting stat....

 

[ccs]

I don't see nothing wrong with all mental skills to be from one ability.

Gah! The DC to resist snark on this one....

 

[Corwin]

Look to TWERPS (The World's Easiest Role-Playing System) for inspiration in paring down stats.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TWERPS

It boils it all down to just one ability score: Strength

 

[Shasarak]

4) So you &/or your players don't understand the Cha score.....
If you're a DM & you're tired of seeing players tank their Cha score? THEN MAKE THAT CHOICE MATTER DURING PLAY. If you do that, you'll see players invest in it. If the DM ignores it? Then yes, you'll see Cha8 (or less) characters happily going about their business.
Cha, it's not just a casting stat....

You know that an 8 Stat is just a little below average, right?

Having a 8 Cha does not suddenly make you look like a Quasimodo or anything.

 

[Krachek]

A sacred cow is sacred by definition.
We get over tac0, and a lot of old feature. But the six abilities are there for ever.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

[MENTION=996]Tony Vargas[/MENTION] a sacred Mastadon!

 

[Horwath]

No need to get complicated. Just merge it all with Wisdom. Lying and persuading successfully is about being self-assured, not about being smart. (*insert political joke here*)

yes, it could be described that way, but I see politicians with proficiencies and expertise in deception and performance. And majority with no proficiency in any knowledge skills.

 

[Imaculata]

I like the idea of merging these stats into one big stat. But I also like something that Dark Souls did, which is to have multiple stats increase multiple attributes. So for example, you could make it that both strength and dexterity increase your hitpoints, and both can increase your damage. Because muscle-mass makes you more hardy, but being athletic and nimble can also make you healthy. And dealing damage is about more than just hitting things really hard, it is also about being quick and precise.

This ensures that people are not forced down one particular attribute path. They can focus on any stat, and still do decent damage and have decent health.