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<blockquote data-quote="Afrodyte" data-source="post: 2341843" data-attributes="member: 8713"><p>I think that the stats should be a bit more intuitive and more well-distributed. Now, I won't try to shoehorn everything to make it fit, but there are things out there that could be reasonably placed more evenly across the attributes. For instance, the base saves.</p><p></p><p>Linking the Fortitude save to Constitution works because Fortitude measures your physical resilience. However, the Reflex and Will saves have a bit more leeway in what traits help best.</p><p></p><p>Let's start with the Will save first since that's the one that stands out the most. First of all, Wisdom itself is defined in some pretty strange terms. The PHB defines Wisdom as "willpower, common sense, perception, and intuition." Now, common sense, perception, and intuition are things that I could associate with each other, but willpower seems like it doesn't fit. How does "being in tune with one's surroundings" fit in with being willful? Applying Occam's razor to the question, the answer to that is: it doesn't. However, there is one attribute where willpower makes sense: Charisma. After all, this is the trait that is based on "force of personality" and "personal magnetism," things which I would associate with willful people. Consider the historical and literary examples of people who'd have a high Charisma. Did any of <em>them</em> come across as particularly weak-willed (and I mean this in general, not in a specific instance such as alcoholism)? The best perk to this is that it takes Charisma out of dump stat status, especially for classes with poor base Will saves.</p><p></p><p>Now for the Reflex save. To me, the Reflex save is more about instinct and a sixth sense for danger than moving quickly. Therefore, Wisdom is the most appropriate attribute to base it on. For instance, I am not particularly coordinated (Dexterity), but in many cases when I dropped something, I was able to catch it before it fell very far. It is not something I analyze and think about (Intelligence), but it registers on an instinctive/intuitive level (Wisdom), and I am able to react appropriately. Oftentimes I am left wondering how in the world I did it. Another ironic example: Jack Burton. He is strong and tough, not especially agile, but he does have a good amount of common sense and perceptiveness. In game terms, I'd wager his Wisdom is higher than his Dexterity. "It's all in the reflexes," after all. Besides making more sense this way, it would make Wisdom a bit more important for poor-Reflex classes. In addition, it makes Dexterity more balanced with the other attributes, and less of the uber-stat.</p><p></p><p>As for spell DCs, I'd rather link those to the power of the caster as opposed to the power of the spell. Having the DCs start at something like 5 + caster level + casting attribute modifier allows low-level spells to continue to be a threat even at high levels. Spellcasters would then have a reason to use their low-level spell slots on minor threats and their high-level spell slots on major threats. Granted, this could lead to a DC 30+ <em>charm person</em> being used on a dragon or something, but I'm cool with it since that sort of thing has precedent in myths and fantasy literature. At the very least, bards would be able to do something cool like lull a dragon to sleep by playing a song. In addition, feats like Spell Focus become a bit more useful.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Afrodyte, post: 2341843, member: 8713"] I think that the stats should be a bit more intuitive and more well-distributed. Now, I won't try to shoehorn everything to make it fit, but there are things out there that could be reasonably placed more evenly across the attributes. For instance, the base saves. Linking the Fortitude save to Constitution works because Fortitude measures your physical resilience. However, the Reflex and Will saves have a bit more leeway in what traits help best. Let's start with the Will save first since that's the one that stands out the most. First of all, Wisdom itself is defined in some pretty strange terms. The PHB defines Wisdom as "willpower, common sense, perception, and intuition." Now, common sense, perception, and intuition are things that I could associate with each other, but willpower seems like it doesn't fit. How does "being in tune with one's surroundings" fit in with being willful? Applying Occam's razor to the question, the answer to that is: it doesn't. However, there is one attribute where willpower makes sense: Charisma. After all, this is the trait that is based on "force of personality" and "personal magnetism," things which I would associate with willful people. Consider the historical and literary examples of people who'd have a high Charisma. Did any of [i]them[/i] come across as particularly weak-willed (and I mean this in general, not in a specific instance such as alcoholism)? The best perk to this is that it takes Charisma out of dump stat status, especially for classes with poor base Will saves. Now for the Reflex save. To me, the Reflex save is more about instinct and a sixth sense for danger than moving quickly. Therefore, Wisdom is the most appropriate attribute to base it on. For instance, I am not particularly coordinated (Dexterity), but in many cases when I dropped something, I was able to catch it before it fell very far. It is not something I analyze and think about (Intelligence), but it registers on an instinctive/intuitive level (Wisdom), and I am able to react appropriately. Oftentimes I am left wondering how in the world I did it. Another ironic example: Jack Burton. He is strong and tough, not especially agile, but he does have a good amount of common sense and perceptiveness. In game terms, I'd wager his Wisdom is higher than his Dexterity. "It's all in the reflexes," after all. Besides making more sense this way, it would make Wisdom a bit more important for poor-Reflex classes. In addition, it makes Dexterity more balanced with the other attributes, and less of the uber-stat. As for spell DCs, I'd rather link those to the power of the caster as opposed to the power of the spell. Having the DCs start at something like 5 + caster level + casting attribute modifier allows low-level spells to continue to be a threat even at high levels. Spellcasters would then have a reason to use their low-level spell slots on minor threats and their high-level spell slots on major threats. Granted, this could lead to a DC 30+ [i]charm person[/i] being used on a dragon or something, but I'm cool with it since that sort of thing has precedent in myths and fantasy literature. At the very least, bards would be able to do something cool like lull a dragon to sleep by playing a song. In addition, feats like Spell Focus become a bit more useful. [/QUOTE]
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