Greywander
2022-03-05, 01:48 AM
This is an offshoot of this thread (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?643254-Should-Ability-Scores-matter). I came up with an idea and thought it should have its own thread.
The short version is that your class typically dictates what your ability scores will look like, with only a little room for variation. Most classes have a primary score that you always want to push to 20, a secondary score that you either push to 20 on MAD classes, like monk or paladin, or leave at 14 or 16 on SAD classes, and then every class has CON as a tertiary score. Maybe this is fine for you, but if it isn't then one way to "fix" this is to simply make each ability score more useful, so that you're not always putting points into the same scores on the same class. But that can be a lot of work, so what I'm suggesting is going the opposite direction.
Basically, ability scores would only be used for ability checks and saving throws. This gives you a lot more freedom to customize them without feeling like you're playing an unoptimized build. In their place, we'll introduce three new scores that are only used for things like attacks, spells, and class features and the like. You also build these from a separate pool of points as ability scores, so they're completely independent from one another. These three new scores would fill a similar role to the previous primary/secondary/tertiary stats of vanilla, but without mucking up your actual ability scores. Most likely these new scores would be some variation of "offense", "defense", and "support/other stuff". Another way to think of it might be "strong", "tough", and "smart".
As an example, a paladin would use their offensive stat for their attack and damage rolls, including spell attacks. (And yes, this means a wizard with high offense would also be good with a weapon, possibly obviating the need for damage cantrips.) But the paladin would use their support stat for things like Aura of Protection, as well as a lot of their non-damaging spells. And then the defensive stat would increase HP and might give AC (like DEX does, and/or it might fill the STR requirement for heavy armor).
You could almost slot these new stat in as direct substitutes to the previous primary/secondary/tertiary scores, e.g. the offense stat might do everything that STR and/or DEX does for martials, and the proper mental stat does for casters, while the defense stat is just CON, and the support stat fills in whatever secondary stat that class uses (e.g. CHA for paladins, WIS for monks, DEX for wizards, etc.). But I would like to see some tweaks made, and it does make sense to me that e.g. an offensively focused wizard might be rather competent with a weapon.
There would need to be some work done to figure out exactly how these new stats work, and what they do. But this could create more meaningful customization, both since you now have more freedom to customize ability scores, but also because there's now viable customization within these new stats, since you couldn't just max everything out. Would it be worth it though? Does this seem like a useful path to pursue, or is it not really solving the issue, or is there even an issue to begin with? Would it be more worthwhile to find ways to make each ability score more useful to every class, so that many more different ability score spreads are viable and competitive builds?
The short version is that your class typically dictates what your ability scores will look like, with only a little room for variation. Most classes have a primary score that you always want to push to 20, a secondary score that you either push to 20 on MAD classes, like monk or paladin, or leave at 14 or 16 on SAD classes, and then every class has CON as a tertiary score. Maybe this is fine for you, but if it isn't then one way to "fix" this is to simply make each ability score more useful, so that you're not always putting points into the same scores on the same class. But that can be a lot of work, so what I'm suggesting is going the opposite direction.
Basically, ability scores would only be used for ability checks and saving throws. This gives you a lot more freedom to customize them without feeling like you're playing an unoptimized build. In their place, we'll introduce three new scores that are only used for things like attacks, spells, and class features and the like. You also build these from a separate pool of points as ability scores, so they're completely independent from one another. These three new scores would fill a similar role to the previous primary/secondary/tertiary stats of vanilla, but without mucking up your actual ability scores. Most likely these new scores would be some variation of "offense", "defense", and "support/other stuff". Another way to think of it might be "strong", "tough", and "smart".
As an example, a paladin would use their offensive stat for their attack and damage rolls, including spell attacks. (And yes, this means a wizard with high offense would also be good with a weapon, possibly obviating the need for damage cantrips.) But the paladin would use their support stat for things like Aura of Protection, as well as a lot of their non-damaging spells. And then the defensive stat would increase HP and might give AC (like DEX does, and/or it might fill the STR requirement for heavy armor).
You could almost slot these new stat in as direct substitutes to the previous primary/secondary/tertiary scores, e.g. the offense stat might do everything that STR and/or DEX does for martials, and the proper mental stat does for casters, while the defense stat is just CON, and the support stat fills in whatever secondary stat that class uses (e.g. CHA for paladins, WIS for monks, DEX for wizards, etc.). But I would like to see some tweaks made, and it does make sense to me that e.g. an offensively focused wizard might be rather competent with a weapon.
There would need to be some work done to figure out exactly how these new stats work, and what they do. But this could create more meaningful customization, both since you now have more freedom to customize ability scores, but also because there's now viable customization within these new stats, since you couldn't just max everything out. Would it be worth it though? Does this seem like a useful path to pursue, or is it not really solving the issue, or is there even an issue to begin with? Would it be more worthwhile to find ways to make each ability score more useful to every class, so that many more different ability score spreads are viable and competitive builds?