D&D General The joys of playing a PC with low stats

[bedir than]

Outside of very specific stories I'm aiming for, I'll always have at least one score under ten and frequently two.

My current Goblin Artificer has a 9 strength and 8 constitution. Since several other PCs also dumped strength we once had a very hard time climbing a cliff. But that was fine! We figured out a valid solution while struggling.

 

[bloodtide]

I Love low stats. I love characters that make sense: having stats that match the role play.

As a role player, I love to play all sorts of characters. And as I'm not an obsessive all combat type player, I'm fine if my clumsy character does not get a huge bonus to AC..

I remember back in the day when Rastlin was a super powerful character to play or a player would make a character "just like him" named something like Rastline. Though Rastlin's stats always gave him low, under 10 strength and constitution. This is a huge part of his character: he is weak and slickly. Yet most players want to make him or a 'clone of him' have like 25 in all stats.

Few players want to play a character with even one stat as low as 16. If they are not playing a demi god character the game is not fun too them.

And the 'default' player just loves to have a character with super high mental ability scores.....and they will then role play the character with scores of five or less.

 

[Horwath]

I can see fun in low stats for a one shot, it "can" develop roleplay, then, everything else can also.

and depending on where the bar is set, what is a low stat, low stat can be a "12" in certain campaign styles.

in most of our campaigns we are the "Seal team six", we are the best that the realm can muster in any given play tier.

so even a "8" would be considered a low stat, a liability for the group.

and in the ecosystem of raiding dungeons, dragon lairs, court intrigue, in reality you cannot survive with a low stat(6 or lower) for a long time unless you are REALLY lucky with rolls or DM does not want to punish failure every time, or most of the time.

with low stat, you will mathematically fail certain tasks more that you will succeed, and in the end that gets you killed.
I.E: your party is in some foul swamp and you need to make DC10 Con saves every day, 5 successes before 5 fails gives you immunity, 5 fails before 5 success, death.

and everybody comes in with their 14 Con score(because everyone now has 14 con, with minor exception of 12 or 16, in about 10-20% of the time) and at the end you stroll in with your fancy Con score of 5.

now, who will get out alive after 2 weeks in the swamp?


@Flights of Fancy mentioned playing Wis 5 character, "Sheldon-like", that is great roleplaying, for a one off, but that kind of roleplay WILL get you killed in most situations, and more probably than not, by your own party members as a precaution method.


Just like Mac warned Dillon in Predator:

 

[cbwjm]

I'm generally fine with one or two low stats, I think people don't like them since wotc editions where the stat bonuses and the standard way they are derived became more important so having a penalty is felt more by the player. In OSE I rolled a character with all average stats (10s and 11s) except a 13 in constitution, it meant he could be anything and was perfectly viable; that wouldn't be the case in 5e.

I'm generally fine with one or two low scores, managed to roll a wizard in an OSE game with 17 intelligence, right after I rolled a 6 wisdom. I often have wisdom penalties, my PCs just seem to be unobservant. For 5e, I think as long as you have a decent attack stat (14+ at level 1) then you should do fine in the game.

 

[DEFCON 1]

One of the issues of treating low stats as some sort of "character flaw" of course is that "low stats" don't actually make your PC all that bad. Not when you are adding up to 20 points to any check you make using the d20. Even if your INT is a 6 and you have a -2 modifier... in theory a "stupid" character... you still are beating DC 15 skill checks on 4 out of every 20 rolls-- IE: 20% of the time. And I'm sorry, but if you know 1 out of every 5 pieces of information... you aren't stupid. That's like what most people can do. Same thing if that was your Dexterity... if you can succeed in crossing a balance beam 1 out of every 5 times... you ain't a clumsy oaf, you're just your average, normal person.

And that's why treating ability scores as any sort of definable in-world indicator of who someone is as a person is pointless... because the vagaries of random chance and the d20 can turn even the biggest clod into a world-beater on occasion. That STR 5 Halfling always has the chance to beat the STR 19 Goliath in a wrestling match. Not always of course... but every once in a while when the dice fall in a certain way. Which means having a 5 Strength and a 19 Strength does not equate to any sort of reality or strength comparison within the game world in any functional way.

 

[Herschel]

I'm not a fan of low ability scores for PCs in general. My view is that PCs are inherently Superior, and their ability scores ought to reflect this.

I am a fan of point-buy systems in other games, but I took a dislike to the D&D 3.x version from the moment I first saw it. But I also didn't care for the dice-lottery of the earlier editions, or of the rolling options offered in 3.x.

I ended up creating a hybrid rolls-and-spend-points system, one that gave a chance for a low ("dump") stat that the player could either keep or buy up - whichever he chose, and also a chance for a high ability score in an unexpected place. ("You want to play a Barbarian. You rolled INT 17. OK, you can play a Barbarian with INT 17.")

I'm willing to sometimes allow PCs with low stats, but I don't want to particularly encourage it, or to make it a common thing. So I'm willing to impose a dice-lottery filter on allowing (but not requiring) a low stat. I also want to see the occasional (but not routine) high stat in unexpected places, and again I see a dice lottery as the best way to get this result.

I'm trying something similar. Basically, roll characters in Session Zero. You have the option of keeping your rolls. If they're as good as the standard array, it's all good. If not, and you have enough for the primary stat in the class you want to play, arrange them to taste and you can choose a boon. The boon is semi random, depending on character idea. It will be useful and will help even out the power curve, but may do so in somewhat unconventional ways. It may just be another die to apply to one of your other stats.

 

[DrJawaPhD]

My current Hubris list that I use (adapted from the 7th Sea list as well as additional ones I have added) include:

Ambitious - You desire power and influence at all costs.
Arrogant - You firmly believe you are better than everyone else.
Envious - You desperately want what others have.
Extravagant - You need to live in the lap of luxury and will overspend to do so.
Greedy - You crave and keep as much money as you can get your hands on.
Hedonistic - You love having a good time and will overindulge to do so.
Honest - You are incapable of deceiving people and will admit things too readily.
Hot-Headed - You become irritated or angered much too easily.
Inattentive - You don't notice things going on around you.
Indecisive - You can't make up your mind on important matters quickly.
Judgmental - You judge all books by their covers and rarely change those opinions.
Lecherous - You have a lusty nature and constantly pursue the pleasures of the flesh.
Loyal - You risk everything to protect your friends.
Misfortunate - You are the unluckiest person you know.
Nosy - You open every cabinet and get in everyone's business.
Overconfident - You believe you can do anything and everything, trained or not.
Paranoid - You know you're being watched and followed.
Proud - You don't like accepting help from others as it smacks of charity.
Rash - You jump to action without considering the consequences.
Reckless - You have no concept of safety and have no fear.
Righteous - You know the end always justifies the means.
Shy - You are distinctly ill at ease when dealing with people.
Squeamish - You can't handle the icky stuff.
Star-Crossed - You keep falling in love at the drop of a hat with the wrong people.
Stubborn - You don't change your mind and will follow through on any action.
Trusting - You believe in other people and what they say to a fault.

I love this list! I've always preferred to rely on roleplaying traits like these, regardless of what your character stats are. Most players hate having any low stats on their character but are perfectly fine roleplaying multiple of the "flaws" listed above, whether it aligns with their character stats or not.