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

[Theory of Games]

No, but I like it.

That's fine. I can remember having D&D PCs that sucked so hard that playing them was just a countdown until they died a merciful death.

I like GURPS and HERO, where I can make a proficient character with flaws (that I pick) that impact the adventure. Far better than being at the mercy of dice. But to each their own

 

[Micah Sweet]

That's fine. I can remember having D&D PCs that sucked so hard that playing them was just a countdown until they died a merciful death.

I like GURPS and HERO, where I can make a proficient character with flaws (that I pick) that impact the adventure. Far better than being at the mercy of dice. But to each their own

I don't like having my PCs personality planned out before they hit the table, and I'm fine with the vagaries of play leading the occasional early death. But you each their own.

 

[Frozen_Heart]

I really do wish that point buy would allow at least a 7 in stats. It feels like you're not really allowed a real weakness when using it or standard array.

I dislike rolling due to how it can make parties feel so poorly balanced, but the ability to get lower than 8 in a score is one thing I just wish was available to players using other official methods.

 

[MGibster]

Ever since standard array and point buy options came about, rarely did players use the rolling option, especially newer players. I almost never saw a PC with a stat lower than 8 any longer. An 8 stat is not low--it's just slightly less than average. A whole play experience just disappeared (Shadowdark brings this back but it's basically gone from the D&D game and has been for decades now).

It's tough to translate attribute values in D&D to real life equivalents. As it says in my favorite part of the 2024 DMG, the rules are not meant to represent reality they're meant to make for a fun, playable game. i.e. I'm not really concerned about a realistic distribution of any attributes among any given population. I would agree that an 8 is just below average, but is is low, and anything below that represents someone we'd typically refer to as having a mental or physical impairment of some kind. But that's okay, I don't think there's anything necessarily wrong with playing such a character.

I like GURPS and HERO, where I can make a proficient character with flaws (that I pick) that impact the adventure. Far better than being at the mercy of dice. But to each their own

That was my point of view for a long, long time, but lately I've had some fun rolling up random characters in various games. I'm finding it can also be fun to just randomly come up with a character and go along with it. I'm still in your camp for the most part though.

 

[Micah Sweet]

It's tough to translate attribute values in D&D to real life equivalents. As it says in my favorite part of the 2024 DMG, the rules are not meant to represent reality they're meant to make for a fun, playable game.

My least favorite part of that book. It speaks directly against my preferences.

 

[MGibster]

My least favorite part of that book. It speaks directly against my preferences.

I have it on good authority it's called the Micah clause at WotC.

 

[Theory of Games]

That was my point of view for a long, long time, but lately I've had some fun rolling up random characters in various games. I'm finding it can also be fun to just randomly come up with a character and go along with it. I'm still in your camp for the most part though.

I don't mind random rolls that much as long as I have a chance of creating a competent character. That's the issue - competency. A character can be unique and flawed and still competent, if the system allows for it.

 

[DEFCON 1]

isn't this sort of thing what the Flaws part of BITF's were meant to invoke? except nobody ever used them

In theory... although I found that having a Flaw that was described with a sentence, rather than just a singular word of belief or attitude was more difficult for players to "act". Assuming of course a player was actually interested in "acting" in character in the first place. Which is not exactly at a premium for a lot of players (especially based on how folks here seem to be more ambivalent towards narrative and story versus game mechanics).

But having a Hubris for me to play gives me the improv character opportunities that I play RPGs for, so it don't matter to me none what the rest of the playerbase does or does not do with flaws.

 

[bedir than]

isn't this sort of thing what the Flaws part of BITF's were meant to invoke? except nobody ever used them

Because the personality elements were long enough that no one could memorize their own character, let alone the full table worth of characters.

 

[el-remmen]

What i like about my stat draft method is that I can throw a few low scores on the array for those who want to choose them (without someone having to have one if they don’t) and the benefit is that the person who chooses the lowest score each round picks first the next.