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Musings on stats, post Tasha update

Tasha Changes

PF2 has a lot to like but one thing I donā€™t like is the ancestry/ability mod type system. In 5e post Tasha they go the complete opposite route. The bonus you get from what type of being you are you now can assign anywhere. So when it says ā€œ+2 charisma, +1 intelligenceā€ you can now set ā€œ+2 anything, +1 anything elseā€ (but not both to same). Tiefling monk, finally!ā™„ļøŽā™„ļøŽā™„ļøŽ

How to Properly Generate Stats

AD&D style (4d6 drop lowest, arrange freely) is what I like over cockamamie point shifting systems or the Lego-style system in PF2. (PF2 has this Rube Goldberg-like multi step point buy system where your class and your ancestry and some other things create your stat row. Not into it.)

When I first heard of 4d6 drop lowest I thought it sounded cheaty AF, as if it was a house rule of some group who wasnā€™t satisfied with 3d6, but it leads to some cleaner math.

More on 4d6 drop lowest vs 3d6.

Normally I prefer Moldvay/RC over the ā€œadvancedā€ line but this is one of the rare occasions I, after a while, ended up siding with Gygax. Now, Iā€™m especially arguing for ā€œ4d6 drop lowestā€ vs ā€œ3d6ā€. The ā€œarrange freelyā€ vs ā€œin orderā€ part I donā€™t feel as strongly about. In order can be cool, as long as you donā€™t have any shenanigans like re-rolling, shifting points here and there, ā€œyou can swap any two statsā€ etc. Donā€™t keep half your foot in the door. Commit to a style.

More on 4d6 drop lowest vs 3d6.

Ability score generation is one of the rare places where I donā€™t house rule anything. Which is weird because itā€™s one of the most house ruled areas of the game, typically. But Iā€™m happy doing it as the Player Handbook does it:

Just good clean fun.

Yeah, I know that I have a super optional system where you can get a random order for your standard array. But that is a strict subset of the standard procedure. (Also itā€™s a much faster way to get a character.) It is the standard array except the order is random instead of chosen by the player.

random order for your standard array

Dumb Game Mechanics Are Smart

Even the Playerā€™s Handbook itself has a suggested house rule right there in the textā€‰ā€”ā€‰a point buy variant. I canā€™t even with this fiddly stuff. I used point buy when I was a player and I found that it was a math puzzle thatā€™d always lead me down to the same answer. Whereas placing the numbers from the standard array, or a similar array but rolled, leads to some tough choices.

Sometimes what seems like dumbing a game down leads to more choices, not less. I was among the players who protested the then new ā€œconga lineā€ blocking rules in Magic the Gathering ten years ago. ā€œNoo! We wanna do our clever Mogg Fanatic ā€˜damage on the stackā€™ trick!ā€

Turns out it was just that. A cheap trick. New players didnā€™t know about that loop hole in the rules and were dazzled or frustrated by it, and once you did know about it, youā€™d almost always wanna use it. With the ā€œconga lineā€ you need to actually make a decision. Ping or block? You canā€™t do both any more.

Similarly, I donā€™t really agree with the Celeste design teamā€™s decision to keep free wall climbing and free extra dashing in the game ā€œfor speedrunnersā€. Those maneuvers arenā€™t that hard to do once you know about them, and they take away a lot of the decision making and challenge in the game. Now, speedrunning Celeste is still more than I can handle because the game is a challenging game even with these tricks, and, there are plenty more speedrunning tricks in the game that are hard for me to pull off. Not saying Iā€™m ready to take on the AGDQ crowd any time soon!