deaddmwalking wrote: ↑Wed Oct 20, 2021 2:09 pm
If they are strong, they'll likely be good at other Strength-based skills besides weightlifting.
This is the reality we all live in.
Only two things, it isn't reality, it's a game, and it isn't likely, attributes make it set in stone.
And what are the other strength based things? For example... Swordsmanship? Being a good weightlifter makes you a good swordsman? And visa versa? But agile swordsmen can go die in a fire of wasted additional feats and other requirements just to even exist in the first place IF the system even lets them do that? And cunning swordsmen are probably even more screwed again?
In a system where you just put the resources in to be a good swordsman and the system is either agnostic to your cunning or lets you invest in something individual that you just say is "well that's because I'm so cunning isn't it" you would be good to go. In "Int is only good for knowledge skills and wizards" you are wasting an important primary character build resource an gaining nothing but Knowledge(Pocket Watches) in return.
Also weightlifting is a good example of something else, a descriptive quality of only marginal mechanical importance. That you do not get to have without tying it to other more mechanically important abilities, that by their nature are costly in character build resources.
It really shouldn't be that big a deal if you wanted to describe a character like a big wizard who is clumsy and useless at physical combat... but can lift up heavy objects. But no, if the wizard can carry that heavy treasure chest you found on his shoulder, then he is ALSO good with a great sword. And also he therefore didn't invest as much in 5 other attributes of far higher priority than he should have JUST so he could do the gimmick of "yes, I can pick that up!".
And sure, you can say "well screw the weightlifting non-combat wizard concept" what does it matter, we can't represent everyone! But the thing is it's just one of many concepts, and some of them, like the agile swordsmen, are a bigger deal than others, and all of them are screwed by the attribute mechanics, and there are SO MANY character concepts that are screwed like this, and for so many of them the only obstacle is the base attribute mechanics.
deaddmwalking wrote: ↑Wed Oct 20, 2021 2:09 pm
They also get a floating +1 to add afterward, so 6, 5, 4, 4, 3 would be a very common character array. 6, 5, 5, 1, 1 would also be a possible build (18 points). The score is the bonus (ie, a six is +6 to attribute relevant checks).
So, +6 is maximum? And a common profile is 6,5,4,4,3, or in other words only 8 bonuses points short of the maximum possible 30 bonus points or 6,6,6,6,6 profile? Or someone can randomly decide to be bad and have 6,5,5,1,1 and be 12 points short of the maximum possible which in a more run of the mill system would still be seen as a pretty generous stat distribution with only 2 dump stats in return for 3 nearly maxed out?
OK, so one of the things about base attributes I've encountered long ago and was originally deeply surprised by is how wildly different group expectations are about just how generous the numbers they get to have can be.
To me those numbers are just intuitively insanely generous. 6,5,4,4,3 (where 6 is maxed out), to me, doesn't feel like a "hard choices" system. To me, that feels like an easy choices system, only a few negligible points away from "ah whatever everyone maxes all the stats".
Under such a system... of course it doesn't feel like there is a big deal with base attributes limiting characters, because you are giving away so many points of base attributes you've almost cancelled out the very existence of the mechanical differentiation they provide.
Or in other words, approaching a point where the values you input into the mechanic, almost make the mechanic itself redundant.
There are a whole host of issues with 3.x, and racial penalties are a garbage fire. That doesn't mean that characters aren't well represented by 'fundamental attributes' that apply to a host of things. If you're as Fast as the Flash, but you can't also dodge bullets, does that even make sense?
First of all sure, why do you have to be good at dodging bullets just because you can run fast?
Plenty of character concepts could include "Run Away!" as part of what they want their character to be, without wanting their character to be a super hero level agility warrior.
But secondly. Just racial
penalties? I'd say to some extent Elf(subspecies the smart one) is perhaps MORE of a punch in the guts of wizard character concepts and game balance than Orc(subspecies the stupid one).
There are of course other issues with Race mechanics, and they could have similar issues without base attribute modifiers at all. But the reason racial base attribute modifiers are so very obviously bad... is basically because what base attributes do to character builds and concepts is at it's very foundation just that bad.