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Message: <blockquote data-quote="James Gasik" data-source="post: 8806213" data-attributes="member: 6877472">This is really the crux of it.  The game is made in such a way that having a disadvantage in one place and an advantage somewhere else doesn't always balance out.If Bob plays a Goliath Fighter and has a 16 Strength, and my Elf Fighter has a 15, he hits more, and does a little more damage, not a big deal.  But then if someone makes a Halfling Fighter and has a 13, then the gap starts becoming noticeable, and there's not a lot of opportunities to make your choice seem to be anything but a bad one; ideally, these things should balance out in some way.For example, if Dexterity affected the hit chance of melee attacks and Strength the damage, being weaker but faster might seem advantageous to some players.Instead the rules bend over backwards to make sure shorties have to use lower damage weapons, but then turn around and let them easily get Dexterity to damage, making Strength less important.  Which often begs the question, who really cares if you have a 20 Strength Halfling?  He or she is still going to do less damage than a Goliath, who can use a heavy weapon without disadvantage.  And if we're talking one-handed weapons, the game really doesn't give the longsword all that many advantages over the rapier, so Strength vs. Dexterity comes down to "initiative, which save is better, who is better at stealth, and 1  point of AC by level 8" (and encumbrance, though how much that matters is based on the game, and of course, there's something to be said about not having to lug around heavy armor).If we're talking skills, a 15 Charisma 5% less successful than a 17, and proficiency bonus ends up larger than ability bonus anyways, never mind if Expertise is on the table.So really, the parts of the game where a penalty to an ability score even really matters (for the most part) is when you get to spellcasting or other daily use abilities that require saving throws; if you're going to use a spell slot that requires a saving throw, naturally you're going to want to have the best save DC you can get; nothing else really requires bleeding edge optimization.</blockquote>

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