Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Charlaquin" data-source="post: 8462630" data-attributes="member: 6779196">I agree with your assessment of the pros and cons (apart from maybe the miscasting thing as a pro, but hey, if it floats your boat!)Let’s crunch some numbers on how this would affect the math, shall we? Converting ability saves to Non-AC-Defenses (NADs) is actually pretty easy. A NAD of 14 + Mod (+Prof if you would be proficient in the save) is mathematically identical to the 5e standard of save DCs being 8+ Mod (+Prof if relevant), just with the opposite party rolling. Comparing those target numbers to the target numbers for their equivalent ability-score-as-NAD, we get…<table style='width: 100%'><tr><td>Ability Score</td><td>“True” NAD</td><td>Delta</td></tr><tr><td>8</td><td>13</td><td>+5</td></tr><tr><td>9</td><td>13</td><td>+4</td></tr><tr><td>10</td><td>14</td><td>+4</td></tr><tr><td>11</td><td>14</td><td>+3</td></tr><tr><td>12</td><td>15</td><td>+3</td></tr><tr><td>13</td><td>15</td><td>+2</td></tr><tr><td>14</td><td>16</td><td>+2</td></tr><tr><td>15</td><td>16</td><td>+1</td></tr><tr><td>16</td><td>17</td><td>+1</td></tr><tr><td>17</td><td>17</td><td>0</td></tr><tr><td>18</td><td>18</td><td>0</td></tr><tr><td>19</td><td>18</td><td>-1</td></tr><tr><td>20</td><td>19</td><td>-1</td></tr></table>As we can see, compared to “true” NADs, using ability-scores-as-NADs gives casters an advantage when targeting scores lower than 17, and a disadvantage when targeting scores higher than 18. The delta gets wider the further you get from 17/18.I think the most noticeable result of such a rule would be that targeting an opponent’s weak stats becomes much more important! The lower an ability score is, the higher your functional bonus to hit it, so PCs would be heavily discouraged from dumping stats, and heavily encouraged to have spells targeting every stat (and to correctly guess what stat to target). It would also give casters a big buff against trash mobs, but bit of a nerf against big boss monsters. Of course, by the time you’re fighting monsters with multiple of stats over 18, there’s a good chance you’ll have some magic items buffing your spell attack bonus, so this might actually work out to be all-upside for PC casters. Though, you could compensate a bit by giving monsters lots of NAD proficiencies. Or, alternatively, by removing proficiency bonus from spell attacks.</blockquote>

Verification