Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="DEFCON 1" data-source="post: 9678355" data-attributes="member: 7006">One of the issues of treating low stats as some sort of &quot;character flaw&quot; of course is that &quot;low stats&quot; don't actually make your PC all that bad.&nbsp; Not when you are adding up to 20 points to any check you make using the d20.&nbsp; Even if your INT is a 6 and you have a -2 modifier... in theory a &quot;stupid&quot; character... you still are beating DC 15 skill checks on 4 out of every 20 rolls-- IE: 20% of the time.&nbsp; And I'm sorry, but if you know 1 out of every 5 pieces of information... you aren't stupid.&nbsp; That's like what most people can do.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; That STR 5 Halfling always has the chance to beat the STR 19 Goliath in a wrestling match.&nbsp; Not always of course... but every once in a while when the dice fall in a certain way.&nbsp; 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.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="DEFCON 1, post: 9678355, member: 7006"] 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 [I]20 points[/I] 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 [I]aren't[/I] 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. [/QUOTE]

Verification