I'll just lay out my experiences of playing this way.
First ever character back playing AD&D. Highest score was a 14. No other stat above 11, and so Fighter was the only real choice. He always felt pretty weak, was never very good at anything, and whilst I enjoyed the campaign overall, he was never really that good fun.
I ran a campaign involving a cleric (AD&D again) who managed to roll a 5 for strength and a 17 for Wisdom, and a recent 5e campaign a fellow player using "4d6 drop lowest, in order" had 5 STR, 7 CON, 17 INT and 18 WIS. He also played a cleric. He didn't want to play a cleric. He got knocked unconscious every single fight to the first AoE, until the DM took pity and dropped in an amulet of health at a magic item vendor.
If you're playing this way, I'd suggest rolling 5d6, drop lowest 2. Having cripplingly low stats can be fine when you get to sync them into a stat you will enjoy roleplaying, but when you really don't want to play a character with an Intelligence of 4? Eesh. Personally I cannot play low charisma characters because I feel 5e's system cuts low CHA characters out of social roleplay since they end up failing Persuasion etc. rolls.
It's a totally valid way to play, and I have done so, but as always it will more likely come down to a discussion with the players about what kind of game they want to play in before you start the game.
I think, it can be fun. However, I would prefer such a system for a short campaign/one shot as I would probalby feel less invested/immersed into the character (depending on the rolls).
I do think it is great to get creative and play something out of your comfort zone (however that is not for everyone). Gameplay-wise, I also see the problem with a very low CON roll as mentioned by Sanvael. It is not fun if your character cannot do anything during combat because he is unconcious all the time.
I think, it can be fun. However, I would prefer such a system for a short campaign/one shot as I would probalby feel less invested/immersed into the character (depending on the rolls).
I do think it is great to get creative and play something out of your comfort zone (however that is not for everyone). Gameplay-wise, I also see the problem with a very low CON roll as mentioned by Sanvael. It is not fun if your character cannot do anything during combat because he is unconcious all the time.
Low stats tend to be the problem, high stats you can roleplay basically however you want, so a good way of thinking about this can be to consider how it affects role playing for a character who gets a really bad roll (7 or less).
Very low strength: Not a major issue Very low Dexterity: Players who enjoy playing sleek, badass types will struggle to enjoy a slow, clumsy character. This doesn't just mean DEX based classes like Rogues, those who don't use Dex as a major stat may still want to be smooth. Very low Constitution: Mostly unplayable as a character. Balance relies on characters not having negative constitution, since monster damage and CR is based around there not being huge disparity even between barbarians and sorcerers. Cannot play any melee type class successfully, regardless of high STR or DEX scores. The player is forced to put all ASI's into CON, and undoing a negative is not fun like boosting a prime stat. Combat is a chore because the character is constantly knocked down. The average level 5 druid or cleric with a -2 modifier will have just 16 hit points. Very low Intelligence: At Int 7 or below a character struggles to talk, and doesn't grasp complex ideas. 5 or below, they cannot speak. These can make a character deeply unenjoyable, and cuts out vast numbers of personality ideas. Very low Wisdom: Not a major issue Very low Charisma: The character is somehow deeply uncharismatic, and therefore should avoid social interaction. Largely unplayable if social interaction is a big deal for the player.
On another note, one thing to consider about this is how you're going to deal with players who decide to suicide their character if they don't like it. You might enjoy a meatgrinder type campaign but however characters are created, remember that any time a character dies, its controller probably rejoins the campaign at the same level as the other PCs. If a player rolls a character they just don't want to play, there's nothing to stop them diving head first into the grinder!
I think the low-Constitution issue reflects an assumption about combat that isn't going to be true for my game. In your standard module, fights just happen to you. Sometimes you initiate, sometimes you're ambushed, but there's no getting around fighting, most of the time. Monsters fight to the death no matter what, and they make plays that are tactically sound even if their characterization would indicate otherwise. Ravenous wolves will run at unarmored targets and attack, rather than snatching whatever scraps of food are around and running. Proud dragons will immediately position themselves for optimal breath weapon coverage and then blast, rather than soliloquizing while the pathetic swords of their prey bounce harmlessly off their scales. It's "combat as sport." These fights are balanced against a "standard" party, and the DM will often adjust them up or down to match their party's power level. And you will fight them. Parleying, or scaring them off, these things are basically considered cheating and they won't work.
In my games, I try to follow the fiction at all costs, and I try to leave challenges fairly open ended. It's not "you will fight this monster," but "this monster wants to kill you." Just as a real basic example. Maybe you should run. Or hide. I don't know. It's not my job to come up with solutions, I come up with problems.
So here, if you have terrible HP, I would hope for your sake that you start picking features and making choices that help you tackle the problems in other ways than fighting.
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I'll just lay out my experiences of playing this way.
First ever character back playing AD&D. Highest score was a 14. No other stat above 11, and so Fighter was the only real choice. He always felt pretty weak, was never very good at anything, and whilst I enjoyed the campaign overall, he was never really that good fun.
I ran a campaign involving a cleric (AD&D again) who managed to roll a 5 for strength and a 17 for Wisdom, and a recent 5e campaign a fellow player using "4d6 drop lowest, in order" had 5 STR, 7 CON, 17 INT and 18 WIS. He also played a cleric. He didn't want to play a cleric. He got knocked unconscious every single fight to the first AoE, until the DM took pity and dropped in an amulet of health at a magic item vendor.
If you're playing this way, I'd suggest rolling 5d6, drop lowest 2. Having cripplingly low stats can be fine when you get to sync them into a stat you will enjoy roleplaying, but when you really don't want to play a character with an Intelligence of 4? Eesh. Personally I cannot play low charisma characters because I feel 5e's system cuts low CHA characters out of social roleplay since they end up failing Persuasion etc. rolls.
It's a totally valid way to play, and I have done so, but as always it will more likely come down to a discussion with the players about what kind of game they want to play in before you start the game.
I think, it can be fun. However, I would prefer such a system for a short campaign/one shot as I would probalby feel less invested/immersed into the character (depending on the rolls).
I do think it is great to get creative and play something out of your comfort zone (however that is not for everyone). Gameplay-wise, I also see the problem with a very low CON roll as mentioned by Sanvael. It is not fun if your character cannot do anything during combat because he is unconcious all the time.
Low stats tend to be the problem, high stats you can roleplay basically however you want, so a good way of thinking about this can be to consider how it affects role playing for a character who gets a really bad roll (7 or less).
Very low strength: Not a major issue
Very low Dexterity: Players who enjoy playing sleek, badass types will struggle to enjoy a slow, clumsy character. This doesn't just mean DEX based classes like Rogues, those who don't use Dex as a major stat may still want to be smooth.
Very low Constitution: Mostly unplayable as a character. Balance relies on characters not having negative constitution, since monster damage and CR is based around there not being huge disparity even between barbarians and sorcerers. Cannot play any melee type class successfully, regardless of high STR or DEX scores. The player is forced to put all ASI's into CON, and undoing a negative is not fun like boosting a prime stat. Combat is a chore because the character is constantly knocked down. The average level 5 druid or cleric with a -2 modifier will have just 16 hit points.
Very low Intelligence: At Int 7 or below a character struggles to talk, and doesn't grasp complex ideas. 5 or below, they cannot speak. These can make a character deeply unenjoyable, and cuts out vast numbers of personality ideas.
Very low Wisdom: Not a major issue
Very low Charisma: The character is somehow deeply uncharismatic, and therefore should avoid social interaction. Largely unplayable if social interaction is a big deal for the player.
On another note, one thing to consider about this is how you're going to deal with players who decide to suicide their character if they don't like it. You might enjoy a meatgrinder type campaign but however characters are created, remember that any time a character dies, its controller probably rejoins the campaign at the same level as the other PCs. If a player rolls a character they just don't want to play, there's nothing to stop them diving head first into the grinder!
I think the low-Constitution issue reflects an assumption about combat that isn't going to be true for my game. In your standard module, fights just happen to you. Sometimes you initiate, sometimes you're ambushed, but there's no getting around fighting, most of the time. Monsters fight to the death no matter what, and they make plays that are tactically sound even if their characterization would indicate otherwise. Ravenous wolves will run at unarmored targets and attack, rather than snatching whatever scraps of food are around and running. Proud dragons will immediately position themselves for optimal breath weapon coverage and then blast, rather than soliloquizing while the pathetic swords of their prey bounce harmlessly off their scales. It's "combat as sport." These fights are balanced against a "standard" party, and the DM will often adjust them up or down to match their party's power level. And you will fight them. Parleying, or scaring them off, these things are basically considered cheating and they won't work.
In my games, I try to follow the fiction at all costs, and I try to leave challenges fairly open ended. It's not "you will fight this monster," but "this monster wants to kill you." Just as a real basic example. Maybe you should run. Or hide. I don't know. It's not my job to come up with solutions, I come up with problems.
So here, if you have terrible HP, I would hope for your sake that you start picking features and making choices that help you tackle the problems in other ways than fighting.