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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Nyeshet" data-source="post: 2898744" data-attributes="member: 18363">Hmm, I hadn't really thought about rebalancing the ability scores. It would be difficult, as they are abitrary demarkations of often abstract aspects of our bodies. Constitution, for instance, grants bonus hit points - a purely arbitrary and abstract form of 'health.' It may reflect our immune system, our ability to hold our breath, our resistance to system shock (ie: Fort saves), but Concentration really has nothing to do with it and should instead be relagated to Will saves or perhaps made a Wis or Cha based skill. (Of course, I think Will saves should be Cha based unless being used in for disbelieving illusions or other perception based saves.)Thus, I can see de-powering rather than a more "balancing" em-powering of it. Dexterity deals with movement; I often view it as dealing with the Nervous system. Most physical skills utilized by humans deal with movement in some form. Only those purely of movement - whose 'skill' might perhaps be considered more a measure of prolonged endurance - such as climbing, swiming, etc - are typically granted to Strength (muscle based). Otherwise I cannot see granting strength any more skills. As it is, Strength's dominance in melee combat is questionable at best. I would go so far as to state that except for two handed weapons one should perhaps use whichever is higher - which would in effect increase the power of Dex at the expence of Str. Cha is often seen as useless unless you are often using social skills (intrigue campaigns, for instance), a sorcerer or other innate magic user, or often utilize special abilties that make use of Cha (such as turning, divine grace, etc). All in all, it is the will power, stubbornness, "I will wrest control of my environment by sheer force of will!" type of ability. I think that - as they currently stand - Cha, Wis, Dex, and Str are about balanced with each other - with Str perhaps falling slightly behind, maybe. Int is nearly in balance - its utility in determining skill points is of notable importance, although now that in 3.5e magic items no longer affect skill point gain unless permanent (such as a Tome or a Wish, I think) its utility is somewhat diminished. Con is the only ability really falling notably behind, but I do not know what can be done to fix that. Moving towards a Wounds / Vitality system would enhance its power notably (at the cost of Str, so then we would need to find a way to increase the utility of Str - perhaps giving it its own save? an Endurance save, thus weakening Fort slightly, but would that notably reduce the power of Con? I don't think so, but this may need some more consideration . . .). All in all, a shift to a Wounds / Vitality system would aid Con, but perhaps replace its lower position with Strength (oddly enough, as it is considered one of the most potent by developers - requiring a sacrifice of two mental ability scores).</blockquote>

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