CO baseline for new character

[ZorroGames]

Started a new Wizard in Waterdeep adventure and Tuesday starting Dragon Heist campaign. DE 10, CO of 16 and healthy phobia about seeking cover in combat.

Question raised during conversation:

Would you ever run a PC in a game with a CO of 10? Or maybe would you baseline CO at 12 or 14?

ST 8, DE 10, CO 16, IN 16, WI 10, CH 14: Enchanter at 2nd. Rock Gnome.

[Unoriginal]

Started a new Wizard in Waterdeep adventure and Tuesday starting Dragon Heist campaign. DE 10, CO of 16 and healthy phobia about seeking cover in combat.

Question raised during conversation:

Would you ever run a PC in a game with a CO of 10? Or maybe would you baseline CO at 12 or 14?

ST 8, DE 10, CO 16, IN 16, WI 10, CH 14: Enchanter at 2nd. Rock Gnome.

I would play a PC with 10 CON, but not if they have 10 DEX and no way to have decent armor, and especially not with d6 as HDs. Well, unless if I have a RP reason for wanting someone so fragile.

CON 14 is acceptable, though.

[Sigreid]

I have played characters with a con less than 10. In general I tend to prioritize it either 2 or 3 highest roll.

[JellyPooga]

Unless you have a particularly harsh GM, there's no problem running with Con 10; with death saves being what they are, it's quite hard to actually die in 5ed.

[Keravath]

It depends on the game and DM.

More hit points and improved con saves are good but the question then becomes what is being given up to get a high constitution.

Personally, the lowest I have used is a 12. In that case, I needed the points to give decent scores in a number of secondary attributes mostly for role play reasons and to create a character who was useful in a number of roles.

I met a person with a level 7 wizard with 8 con in AL. It was a roleplaying choice. However, from a mechanical point of view they only had 23 hit points. Unfortunately, I don't see much of a future for that character since in the long run there will be many spells or hits that will take them to zero hit points in one round and with such a low hit point total the odds of being instantly killed are much higher since 46 points of damage is all that is required to actually kill the character.

Most of my characters wind up with a 14 if I have the points since Con is usually either the second or third most important stat.

[Laserlight]

in CoS, our protection paladin has a CON 10, which makes me cringe every time I think of it but she's done okay thus far.

For most of SKT I had a gnome cleric 1/divination wizard X who wore medium armor. I don't remember what his CON was but he hardly got attacked so it didn't matter. Good saves. Shield spell, and staying in the backfield while the Tempest Cleric and Barbarian attracted all the attention...I think the most damage I ever took was from my own Life Transference.

[ZorroGames]

I would play a PC with 10 CON, but not if they have 10 DEX and no way to have decent armor, and especially not with d6 as HDs. Well, unless if I have a RP reason for wanting someone so fragile.

CON 14 is acceptable, though.

Character has paid very close attention to cover (which most AL players seem to not consider) religiously. Being a Gnome helps size what is half cover to others is 3/4 cover for him.

CO of 16 helps a bit too.

[ZorroGames]

Started a new Wizard in Waterdeep adventure and Tuesday starting Dragon Heist campaign. DE 10, CO of 16 and healthy phobia about seeking cover in combat.

Question raised during conversation:

Would you ever run a PC in a game with a CO of 10? Or maybe would you baseline CO at 12 or 14?

ST 8, DE 10, CO 16, IN 16, WI 10, CH 14: Enchanter at 2nd. Rock Gnome.

The original conversation starter was the 14 CH. “Enchanter bound,” which led to why is your DE so low (10) “Point Buy in AL,” which led to AC (10) which led to the hypothetical question.

[unusualsuspect]

As a general rule, I try to have at least a 14 in Constitution - being taken out of the fight is a major blow to your party's effectiveness, and that extra HP add up. Avoiding failing Constitution saves is also almost always a very, very, very useful thing.

Having only played 5e in two campaigns so far, I've broken that rule for one of my characters in a campaign where no one else was optimized, and the DM was taking that into consideration. As luck would have it, one of the first magic items dropped was the Set Constitution at 19 one, which I convinced my party to let me use (Going from Constitution 10 on a rogue/ranger to Constitution 19 nearly doubled my Hit points, and I've made up for it by hitting hard and "tanking" on several occasions).

My other character has a Constitution of 14. I would have preferred to make it higher, but Point Buy is limiting when you're making a Bladesinger (Dex and Int have higher priority).

[Rixitichil]

I quite often find I prioritise Dex over Con. I'd much rather a slightly better AC, or a decent ranged attack than slightly more health. I've definitely played a Con 10 Druid before.

[KorvinStarmast]

Never started on with a con below 12.

One of the real issues is concentration for spell casters, and how often con saves come up.

[PhoenixPhyre]

Every +1 CON mod is like having a next size bigger hit die. Plus it helps with concentration checks and saves against some of the nastier abilities. 12 is my minimum.

[ZorroGames]

Every +1 CON mod is like having a next size bigger hit die. Plus it helps with concentration checks and saves against some of the nastier abilities. 12 is my minimum.

So a CO of 16 is like a bump for a Wizard from D6 to D12?

That just seems odd but I will take you word.

So Zook Wizard 2 Enchanter now has 16 (6+3, 4+3) hp. Very long time since I played a Wizard (0D&D) in 1970s but that does seem nice for a 2nd level Wizard. AC 10, 13 with MA spell, is still enough to send him scurrying behind cover when combat starts. He played Whack-a-Wizard with two Crossbow armed Thugs first game. Behind his 6 companions, 4 other Thugs, a Waterdeep Lord, and a really “having a bad day” enemy Wizard, and an entry way of an inn.

[ZorroGames]

Never started on with a con below 12.

One of the real issues is concentration for spell casters, and how often con saves come up.

One adventure, one save required, passed.

[ZorroGames]

I would play a PC with 10 CON, but not if they have 10 DEX and no way to have decent armor, and especially not with d6 as HDs. Well, unless if I have a RP reason for wanting someone so fragile.

CON 14 is acceptable, though.

Decided to step away from the Mountain Dwarf/Earth Genasi mold I have usually played (some VHuman, one Forest Gnome) to try a Gnomish single class Wizard. Rock Gnome: prioritized IN 16, CO 16, CH 14 - Enchanter - followed by WI+DE at 10, and ST 8.

The idea of a AC 10 base was the challenge this time. A CO 10 character would need some serious planning/building on how to survive. Maybe next time I will take up that challenge.

[Laserlight]

So a CO of 16 is like a bump for a Wizard from D6 to D12?

That just seems odd but I will take you word.

Using the default HP values and not counting first level, it works like this:

CON 10, d6 hit die = 4 HP
CON 10, d12 hit die = 7 HP
CON 16, d6 hit die = 4+3 = 7HP

So yeah, a CON 16 is like a HD bump to d12. (Except CON16 also helps with your CON saves and Concentration checks).

[ZorroGames]

Using the default HP values and not counting first level, it works like this:

CON 10, d6 hit die = 4 HP
CON 10, d12 hit die = 7 HP
CON 16, d6 hit die = 4+3 = 7HP

So yeah, a CON 16 is like a HD bump to d12. (Except CON16 also helps with your CON saves and Concentration checks).

Well, I may survive Tier 1...