D&D 5E Racial Min/Maxes on Ability Scores?

[DND_Reborn]

LOL I'm starting to think an "Other" option was a bbbaaaadddd idea...

 

[Charlaquin]

I chose “keep max at 20, no minimums for races,” but I would be equally fine with changing the max to 18 and no minimum.

 

[cbwjm]

I'm a little torn, I think how it is now is fine but sometimes I think I'd also like to allow races that have a +2 to an ability be able to boost it to 22. This will require changing some races so that each race has a +2 though.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I find the idea of racial maximums vastly more problematic than the current set up, so I vote for differing minimums with the same max.

My actual preference, though, would be to decouple primary class competence from ability scores or find some other way to not have a dwarf necessarily be a better Barbarian than a Tiefling just because they have better con.

Not possible without re-building the game from the ground up.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Not possible without re-building the game from the ground up.

Bit of an exaggeration. I’d hardly call the option of changing which attribute score your attacks and AC and DCs are calculated with “re-building the game from the ground up”, for instance.

 

[R_J_K75]

I chose other. I would prefer racial minimums and maximums because I like the idea of a system similar to AD&D but I just dont know enough about the math behind 5E to have an opinion about what those min/max should be.

 

[ccs]

I'm fine with keeping the max at 20 (or 18) with no mins.

What I'd like to see though is +/- walked back to their AD&D charts.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Bit of an exaggeration. I’d hardly call the option of changing which attribute score your attacks and AC and DCs are calculated with “re-building the game from the ground up”, for instance.

You said you wanted to decouple primary class competence from ability scores. That's a very major change.

 

[Ath-kethin]

I'm not a fan of racial ability score modifiers or mins/maxes in any event. I have no problem keeping the max mortal ability score as 20, removing the racial adjustments, and just providing guidelines (i.e., 'most halflings have Strength scores below 16 due to their small stature').

This approach establishes an expectation for the world and also allows maximum flexibility in character building. A player may choose to follow the halfling norm, for example, but may choose to have an exceptional halfling sporting a Strength of 18 or wherever.

 

[ZeshinX]

I favour max 18 with racial ability adjustments allowing it to max at 20. No minimums.

I find myself missing the ability scores of 1e/2e and their collective attached "things". Sure, some were ridiculous or eye-rolling, but they were better than just a +X next to them. Rose-coloured glasses likely at work....but...ah, sometimes I do miss the weirdness of AD&D.