Hey all, games like Into the Odd, Electric Bastionland, Mausritter, Cairn, etc. All use Chris McDowall’s elegant ‘stats as health’ concept.
It’s a great concept: It keeps the character sheet compact, and links a character’s prowess to their condition which is very immersive.
However, there’s a flaw in this system I cannot ignore: Strength is by far the most important Stat as almost all attacks target a character’s Strength. As a result Dexterity and Will/Charisma damage rarely comes into play.
Whenever possible, I try to apply Dex damage from attacks, traps or poisons that hinder movement, or Wil/Cha damage from spells or poisons that don’t affect the target physically, but that’s just a houserule and it’s not always easy to come up with immersive reasons a foe would have these abilities.
How do you get around that at your table? What are your most common ways of targeting these stats?
I see the effect but why is it a flaw? Why would you need to „get around“ that?
Characters roll their stats randomly. Some are lucky, some are not. As a player you adapt your strategy accordingly.
I suppose I see it as a flaw because it generally goes underutilized. It’s a cool mechanic, but only 1/3rd of it gets any regular use.