meme | character dump stats
Bucky dumped WIS but took a feat to improve his will save.
Gen rolled really well and has terrific stats, but instead of putting his lowest score into STR as a DEX optimized rogue, his lowest score is CON. Then when his hand got cut off he took a -2 penalty to all physical stats so his CON is negative now, but his DEX is still really good.
Lottie has an NPC array with few "good" stats, but her lowest stats are STR/CON
Natasha I think just rolled well across the board, or maybe cheated, but her lowest score is STR at like, 13.
Sif would be statted in a monster manual, so normal stat rules don't apply, but INT is her lowest score.
I'm most fluent in 3.5 mechanics so that is what this is, mostly.
I don't go here, but what you say is interesting
ok some if you doing this meme clearly have no idea how d&d stats work so rather than call you out I will explain
traditionally, in the olden days, you would roll 3d6 (three six sided die) six times and those would be your character stats
consequently the lowest score possible is 3 and the highest is 18
with most scores being around 10, the average
in later editions the standard roll was changed to 4d6 drop lowest, which means if you roll 3, 4, 5, 1, the score you use is 12.
this is supposed to reflect that all player characters are gifted, above average types.
when I say "lottie has an npc array" what I mean is she doesn't have special advantages like that, she just has mediocre scores across the board
dump stats are the character's lowest stat, usually specifically chosen to have the least impact on gameplay. i.e. if you play a gruff fighter, you need a high strength but charisma doesn't matter
ability scores have both active and reactive implications and the traditional most important reactive abilities are dex, con, and wis. it is dangerous to dump these stats for that reason.
generally, ability scores are set at the beginning of the game and can be improved slightly but not excessively by level. you can also use magic items and spells.
ability penalties are rare but possible depending on dm fiat. gen had his hand cut off, which is like, -2 str, -2dex, -2 con. obviously it makes him less adept in certain physical ways, less obviously it's made him more sickly in general thanks to the medieval medicine skill being a joke.
also, you can generally have a character who is good at something despite a poor raw ability score, through training or whatever. you can play a fighter who learns how to intimidate people despite a low charisma.
anyway strength governs skills like swim and climb (in 5e, "athletics) as well as helping with melee attack and damage, and determining how much shit you can carry. it is most important to people who hit things with a sword or hammer.
dexterity governs stealth and other thiefly skills (lock picking, sleight of hand), plus ranged attack rolls and certain melee attack rolls if the player chooses. it represents physical precision as opposed to brute force.
it is also important to determining armor class (how difficult the character is to land a hit on) and also helps with initiative (determining who gets to take their turn in combat first)
reactively, it governs a reflex saves, which basically determine how likely it is your character will be able to, e.g. jump out of the way of a fireball. in 5e, DEX is probably the best stat, because it applies to so many things.
constitution is the weirdest stat. it determines bonus (or negative) hp, and governs no skills (or only one, in 3e), reflecting, I guess, that you can't learn to be tough, or something?? but generally it's bad to dump this because you'll have less hp. CON is almost never a dump stat.
somewhat intuitively it's used as an endurance stat, somewhat less intuitively, it also governs concentration, which is, I guess, mental endurance.
reactively it governs fortitude saves, which are usually saves against disease or magical vitality sapping effects. if you swallow something poisonous, chances are you will have to roll a constitution based save to fight off the effects.
intelligence represents book learning, basically, or the ability to analyze information and situations. most skills based off intelligence are lore based— how much to you know about topic x? but some are about analyzing a situation, too. in 3.5e the number of skills you could learn was also determined by your intelligence, as well as the number of
languages your character knows
Intelligence is also the stat that governs wizard spellcasting. it is an easy dump stat for most physical damage dealers.
wisdom by contrast represents common sense, intuition, and perception. the ability to convince people is charisma, but the ability to read people is wisdom. wisdom skills include nature/survival stuff, medicine, and perception (or listen + spot)
wisdom also represents senses, so like, a 3.5 housecat will had an int of 2 but a wis of 12, with the 12 representing their keen hearing/eyesight. (a 3.5 housecat could also easily murder a level 1 commoner in like, one or two scratches)
reactively, wisdom also represents willpower. being able to fight a wizard's mind control spell is wisdom. when I say bucky took a feat to cover his will save, this is what i mean. you should never dump wisdom without some way of compensating for the glaring weaknesses it gives you.
it's also the stat that governs cleric + druid spellcasting
charisma is force of personality. sometimes people mistake it for physical beauty, but particularly gross D&D variants introduce stats like "comeliness" to create the distinction between attractiveness and charisma.
charisma skills are face skills: diplomacy, deception (i.e. lying), performance, and intimidation. it's also the guiding stat for sorcerer casting. (reflecting how wizards gain their spells via books but sorcerers have an inborn way of convincing reality to submit to their whims)
it is very often a dump stat because you usually only need one or maybe two people to do all the talking for the party and everyone else can just glower in the back.