D&D 5E The Perils of Dump Stats

[Horwath]

Back in PF1 I remember a PFS session where a kid brought a Monk with dumped CON. Was one-shotted in the very first encounter. Very entertaining.

in D&D for PCs, anything below 12 CON is suicide by proxy.

 

[Horwath]

Well, there was the time the barbarian PC almost TPKed us thanks to a dump wisdom score and dominate person...

yeah, learned that in 3.5e the hard way.

for barbarian, always point buy 14 wisdom(it was then one-on-one basis till 14) and take Iron will feat as soon as you can spare it. Multiclass as fighter so you can spare it.

 

[Minigiant]

in D&D for PCs, anything below 12 CON is suicide by proxy.

D&D should de-emphasize CON.

Characters should start with 2 HD but don't add CON to HP.
Or have Level + CON mod HD (min 1).

Also has secondary effect of lowering HP inflation.

Having 8 CON should be harmful but not crippling.

 

[Horwath]

D&D should de-emphasize CON.

Characters should start with 2 HD but don't add CON to HP.
Or have Level + CON mod HD (min 1).

Also has secondary effect of lowering HP inflation.

Having 8 CON should be harmful but not crippling.

yeah, in the course of 5E, I have seen a hundred of PCs, 90+% had CON 14.
just delete the stat and give everyone +2 HP per level in addition to class, add all Con saves to STR and game would not feel any different.

 

[Minigiant]

yeah, in the course of 5E, I have seen a hundred of PCs, 90+% had CON 14.
just delete the stat and give everyone +2 HP per level in addition to class, add all Con saves to STR and game would not feel any different.

Frankly that's the lazy solution.

Just don't have Con add HP per level.
Have CON add HD and only add HP when you spend HD.

 

[Horwath]

Frankly that's the lazy solution.

Just don't have Con add HP per level.
Have CON add HD and only add HP when you spend HD.

CON is the lazy stat, so it deserves a lazy sendoff.
It's completely passive, it's just an ability score tax, you need it to be at certain level and that is it.

 

[Minigiant]

CON is the lazy stat, so it deserves a lazy sendoff.
It's completely passive, it's just an ability score tax, you need it to be at certain level and that is it.

CON is a lazy stat because designers are lazy.

Some sorcerer and warlock subclasses should let you cast based on CON.
The whole dump stat problem is because the main design influencers of D&D and D&D-clones all are over enamored with small numbers and copy bad ideas from older games.

Why are there no CON casters?
Why can't you add/subtract INT from AC?
Why can't you add/subtract STR to AC or dodge checks?

 

[Swarmkeeper]

The Perils of Dump Stats are a feature, not a bug. IMO, a PC without some weakness is not as interesting.

 

[Horwath]

CON is a lazy stat because designers are lazy.

Some sorcerer and warlock subclasses should let you cast based on CON.
The whole dump stat problem is because the main design influencers of D&D and D&D-clones all are over enamored with small numbers and copy bad ideas from older games.

Why are there no CON casters?
Why can't you add/subtract INT from AC?
Why can't you add/subtract STR to AC or dodge checks?

Why should it be a casting stat?
So certain casters can double down on spell attack/DC and HPs with same ASI? Add bonus unarmored AC to them while you are at it.

And you are right, it's legacy reasons, reasons that CON is not deleted from the game completely.

 

[Stalker0]

4e deemphasized con a fair amount at least at higher levels, as con didn’t scale with level (only set your starting hp)