Shuffling the Physical Stats a Bit

[PhantasyPen]

So I just kind of got an idea in the middle of the night, and sleep-deprivation might make this a really bad idea, but I was just wondering what the immediate and long-term effects of changing around the three physical ability scores might be. Specifically, I was looking to implement the following change:


All attack rolls, ranged and melee, now rely on the Dexterity score to hit
Strength is now solely responsible for being added to damage rolls (no real change here), but it's also automatically added to damage (so composite bows are worthless)
Instead of Dexterity, characters use their Constitution scores to determine their AC.


So what do you think? Is Dex still the God stat? Is Con too good? Did I make Str worthless? Please explain why you think so in your reply.

[mistermysterio]

I think that the changes will have little effect on casters. They will likely value con a little more than dex now (as opposed to currently valuing dex a little more than con). They will still boost dex a little for saves and for attack-based spells.

For mundane characters, however, it is libel to make them even more MAD than they currently are. Dervish builds and heavy-strength melee builds will go out the window, and mundanes will have to maintain relatively high values in all of the physical ability scores. Characters who normally use light or medium armor will have either their A/C OR their damage potential nerfed to some degree. Their ability to be skill monkies will decrease, as they now have to focus on ALL of the physical abilities, as well as have some in wisdom for will saves. Being a melee party face would be... rough.

*shrug*

[Silly Name]

Well, the reason DEX is the "god stat" is because it's relevant to a bunch of stuff. You've kept the number of things you apply DEX to the same, so I wouldn't say your ruling would make it less powerful.

You would, however, make CON way more important, because boosting HP, Fort saves as well as AC makes it even more valuable than it was before.

Strength is now pretty worthless. While I would appreciate dealing away with the messy implementation of composite bows, Strength does two things, fundamentally: melee attack rolls and damage rolls (and determines how much weight you can carry). Making it ininfluent for attack rolls severely handicaps melee builds, as they now have to put more points into DEX (which no longer boosts their AC) than before.

[Goaty14]

added to damage


damage

Does this mean my druid can do more damage with a Poison spell when wildshaped?

[Nifft]

Add Strength to spell HP damage (but not ability damage) -- and subtract Strength penalty from spell damage, too.

Even when it doesn't make any in-game sense.

See those pecs on Hennet? Now they're useful.

[PhantasyPen]

Alright, thanks for the feedback everyone, I kinda had a feeling that this was a bad idea once I was actually awake, but I wanted to make sure I had some second opinions. So what about maybe just adding Constitution to AC instead of Dex?

[mistermysterio]

it would probably not affect casters much

it would buff mundane strength-based characters a good amount (they could just drop dex as it would only affect their reflex saves), letting them hit high AC and HP values

it would nerf mundane dex-based characters a good amount. They'd have to decide between focusing on survivability or dps, and they are already fairly squishy.

[Telonius]

So for things without a Con score (Undead etc) would the AC be based on Charisma, something else, or just get no bonus?

EDIT: On the monstrous side of things, I can think of quite a few high-Con, low-Dex monsters that this would really impact. It would make something like a Dragon quite a bit harder to hit, but much less able to hit the party with its natural weapons.

[Maat Mons]

So what about maybe just adding Constitution to AC instead of Dex?

Well, that would make constitution the defensive stat, in terms of physical weapons, in that it would governs both your odds of being hit and how much damage you can take. Strength is already the offensive stat for physical weapons, in that it governs both your odds of hitting and how much damage you deal. That would provide decent symmetry, if you also completely removed dexterity. Then the physical ability scores would be physical attack and physical defense. You could convert the mental ability scores to magical attack and magical defense, and have a 4-stat system.

[Zaq]

What problem are you trying to solve, and why do you believe that your proposed houserules are better than the status quo?

[PhantasyPen]

What problem are you trying to solve, and why do you believe that your proposed houserules are better than the status quo?

I don't really remember, it was like 3 AM when I came up with the idea, and I hadn't been sleeping too well before then. Once I actually typed this thread up I had actually gotten some proper sleep, and it was already looking like a bad idea, but I wanted to make sure with a quick polling of the forum.

[Dr_Dinosaur]

A better fix to Dex’s dominance might be shifting Initiative to Wisdom (and Will to Charisma to keep Wis from becoming the god stat) and ruling that if you add Dex to Damage, that additional damage is Precision