The flaw with Mark of the Odd games
The flaw with Mark of the Odd games
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?
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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.