Will D&D make strength matter again?

[BookBarbarian]

My players: "Do I have to wear clothes?"

Barbarian or Monk? Nope.

 

[Harzel]

I find dexterity outshines strength dramatically when multiclass martial/rogue characters come into play. You can cherry pick rogue levels that really stack a ton of damage on to multiple attacks and you get a huge defensive buff by using the feat that allows you to add dex to AC as a reaction to an attack. Strength is only useful if you go two-handed and even then it is outmatched by a fighter/rogue very quickly.

What feat is that?

 

[cbwjm]

What feat is that?

I think they mean the feat that lets you add your proficiency bonus to AC. Defensive duelist I think it is called.

 

[CapnZapp]

Assuming the targets wearing metal armor.
But how about +5 Dex & say leather armor/natural hide, high dex + mage armor, supernatural sources of high AC, etc etc etc
Much easier I think to just not have rapiers in your game at all than come up with non-sense mechanics and rationals.

Lol.

Did you just supplement my simple suggestion with a load of complex garbage just to be able to shoot me down using your own strawmen as targets?

 

[CapnZapp]

Whenever I see threads about STR being a dump stat, I always have the same response:

Track Equipment Weight. Use the Encumbrance Rules.

On the other hand, whenever I see threads suggesting use the Encumbrance Rules and track Equipment Weight, I always have the same response:

You do that. Myself, I think equipment and encumbrance are outrageously boring details, and I would much rather fix STR as a dump stat in other ways.

 

[akr71]

I basically gave bows finesse so you can use either Str or Dex with them. I also removed the weapon limitations for Sneak Attack.

Amusingly enough, if you go the route of Str minimums for weapons, Rapier requires greater strength to use effectively than a longsword does.

Interesting 'fix' - I might have to adopt that. Yes, people mistakenly assume a rapier is a light weapon. It is balanced more toward the hilt than a longsword or shortsword to give you better finesse control, but that doesn't make it light! At least with a longsword, you can wield it with two hands, making it feel lighter.

 

[Ratskinner]

Maybe in a white room DPR only context the STR vs DEX is skewed but in practice the other aspects strength gives provide many,options in a more robust set of situations. Grappling is a big option and it generally depends on strength.

My players are convinced that STR is the most important combat stat. Throw in some terrain that requires leaping and climbing, and monsters that grapple. They esteem Athletics as the prince of all proficiencies.

 

[Rossbert]

My players are convinced that STR is the most important combat stat. Throw in some terrain that requires leaping and climbing, and monsters that grapple. They esteem Athletics as the prince of all proficiencies.

That is one of the things that makes me sad about 5e, very few of my characters get to have athletics anymore because they get fewer skills and the backgrounds that give athletics don't usually fit.

 

[CleverNickName]

That is one of the things that makes me sad about 5e, very few of my characters get to have athletics anymore because they get fewer skills and the backgrounds that give athletics don't usually fit.

My players have "proficiency blindness" too. You know, the assumption that if a character doesn't have proficiency in a particular skill, they can't use it at all.

Any character can climb, jump, swim, etc; just throw the d20 and add your modifiers. Sure, someone else might be better (more skilled?) than you, but that doesn't mean you've been hobbled. That proficiency bonus usually only amounts to a 10-30% boost--nice to have, but not an instant win.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

That is one of the things that makes me sad about 5e, very few of my characters get to have athletics anymore because they get fewer skills and the backgrounds that give athletics don't usually fit.

Background skills are really more like guidelines than codified templates. If your concept is that your Noble is very athletic, for whatever reason, then you can create a custom background by combining the traits of the Noble background with the skills from any other background you feel like.

RAW, you don't even need permission from the DM to do so, which is possibly the most ridiculous RAW in the entire book. As long as your backstory explains why you have a particular skill proficiency, though, then I can't really imagine a DM objecting to it.