Raising an attribute from 8 to 12 costs 4 points using point build, so it should provide 4 points of useful to the player. For some stats that isn't a problem, but for others it's an issue. In particular, I often see Strength, Intelligence, and Charisma as dump stats, because Strength checks are pretty rare if you don't use heavy weapons/armor, and for the other two there's a tendency for a party to have a designated brain and a designated face, and most likely characters other than the designated specialist don't have a lot of reason to roll.
So... am I missing something? Do people have favorite methods of making sure all stats are reasonably rewarding?
Well, a lot of characters would happily dump DEX or CON, and some do dump WIS depending on the type of party member they’d like to play. They’re fine letting others be the acrobat or tank or psychologist. However, the rules tied our AC, Initiative, HP, and Perception into those stats. So even wizards who will use cantrips instead of ranged weapons are somewhat forced not to dump DEX, or most monsters can roll an 8 and still hit them.
Instead of looking for reasons to build the value of stats people dump, I’d prefer to brainstorm ways to make dumping the other stats more viable for better character diversity. I’m not a min/maxer. I’m not looking to build a one-trick pony, but I do envision characters that fall outside the conventions of the game that I can’t build or they’re dead in the first combat, or useless for their intended purpose.
Even my boy scout barbarian character, I wanted him to be really book smart in regards to the outdoors, but not history, culture, or street smart. Like, Survival, Perception, and Nature, all really solid. Which means I can’t dump WIS, even though he’s not wise. I can’t dump INT because his whole thing is nature. I had to balance the two, which lowered the numbers I felt he deserved in the skills I wanted him to excel at. If it were a home game, I could probably have convinced the DM to let me swap Insight out of WIS to INT, and let Nature use WIS for checks, so I could lower his INT, but this is an AL character.
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Raising an attribute from 8 to 12 costs 4 points using point build, so it should provide 4 points of useful to the player. For some stats that isn't a problem, but for others it's an issue. In particular, I often see Strength, Intelligence, and Charisma as dump stats, because Strength checks are pretty rare if you don't use heavy weapons/armor, and for the other two there's a tendency for a party to have a designated brain and a designated face, and most likely characters other than the designated specialist don't have a lot of reason to roll.
So... am I missing something? Do people have favorite methods of making sure all stats are reasonably rewarding?
Well, a lot of characters would happily dump DEX or CON, and some do dump WIS depending on the type of party member they’d like to play. They’re fine letting others be the acrobat or tank or psychologist. However, the rules tied our AC, Initiative, HP, and Perception into those stats. So even wizards who will use cantrips instead of ranged weapons are somewhat forced not to dump DEX, or most monsters can roll an 8 and still hit them.
Instead of looking for reasons to build the value of stats people dump, I’d prefer to brainstorm ways to make dumping the other stats more viable for better character diversity. I’m not a min/maxer. I’m not looking to build a one-trick pony, but I do envision characters that fall outside the conventions of the game that I can’t build or they’re dead in the first combat, or useless for their intended purpose.
Even my boy scout barbarian character, I wanted him to be really book smart in regards to the outdoors, but not history, culture, or street smart. Like, Survival, Perception, and Nature, all really solid. Which means I can’t dump WIS, even though he’s not wise. I can’t dump INT because his whole thing is nature. I had to balance the two, which lowered the numbers I felt he deserved in the skills I wanted him to excel at. If it were a home game, I could probably have convinced the DM to let me swap Insight out of WIS to INT, and let Nature use WIS for checks, so I could lower his INT, but this is an AL character.