D&D General The joys of playing a PC with low stats
- Thread starter Sacrosanct
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I tend to do the same, but most of my players, new and old, seem to want to go into DnD with builds prepped n' ready. I guess I understand, they look at all the options and get ideas and want to fulfill those ideas. But I can still be curmudgeoney about it!
While this may by fun, it's contradictory to a lot of real-world-simulation-type-logic. It's actually fairly rare for a human to be able to increase would be called DEX without increasing what would also be STR, or vice versa. Faster running, faster punching, and faster dodging are really all about growing different muscle groups. The extreme ends the spectrum like huge linebackers or lithe figure skaters are just that - extreme outliers.
Now, I do like the idea that different species could use something like this as an alternative to ASI. Orcs must have STR that is 2 higher than DEX. Dwarves cannot have a DEX higher than their CON. Gnomes must have an INT that is higher than their WIS. Humans must have their STR and DEX no more than 6 apart. That has a lot of potential to differentiate species while still allowing a wide range of options. But now we're also into ASI discussions.
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I don't disagree to a point and that's why I would have a combined maximum score for the two.
If you fix the stat 18 STR to the maximum human (Strongman or powerlifters), then you can look at them and say that they don't have an 18 DEX as you don't see them doing gymnastics and vice versa.
It's an interesting idea, but I think the real issue is that not all six of the ability score have natural opposites. Sure, STR and DEX seem like if you have one you wouldn't have the other... but what would you not have if you had a high CON? What's its opposite ability score? And what would be opposite of INT, would it be WIS or CHA? I mean of the two I might say CHA-- if you are smart you aren't cool, and vice versa... but I'm sure plenty of people would disagree with that. But even if you went with that, you are then left with WIS with no opposite either
So I like the idea conceptually from a player's character narrative point of view... that the player might see their character as small and wiry which is why they'd prioritize DEX at the expense of STR... but I wouldn't want to force all players to have to have every character be that way by making it mechanically a requirement. At some point someone might want a pro gymnast / pro wrestler type that has both STR and DEX high, so I don't see the need to curtail that personally.
From a physical viewpoint, only STR and DEX would be ones that would be limited to me. So, a pro gymnast/wrestler would be limited to 30 (that's my number) between the two, so you could have a Brock Lesnar type, but he would be around a 16/14. He wouldn't be any where near as strong as a strongman, but has an above average agility (noted in his MMA fights).
For INT and WIS, I don't think you would have those opposing each other as they are more separate abilites.
I could see some INT and CHA at the very highest scores maybe, but there are some that have very high scores on both (Sagan, Einstein, Feynman, etc), so it might have a higher total score (34 instead of 30).
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