Dump Stat: Difference between revisions

*** In D&D3, any build without feats, skills, or class features based around that stat can afford to have a low Charisma. Of the six basic stats, Charisma has no intrinsic value. For builds based around Charisma, on the other hand, it can easily become [[One Stat to Rule Them All]]. This is likely why classes outside the core tend to favor Charisma as the stat that powers their special abilities.

**** Check out the rules on Diplomacy checks in 3.5. Charisma is, if anything, the most singularly BROKEN stat of all six—it can be used at low levels via Diplomacy and the proper coordination of Synergy bonuses between skill sets to shift the attitudes of NPCs enough to avoid battles entirely. Many players simply never think to use a Diplomacy check ("because Charisma's a Dump Stat"), and a DM can impose circumstantial bonuses or penalties as the rules suggest or at their leisure, but mind that this skill can be used on ANY NPC. It's easy enough to have a +20 bonus to Diplomacy checks before tenth level with maxed Charisma and ranks in Diplomacy with a minimum of five ranks in Bluff, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty), and Sense Motive. This is before you're even rolling any dice. It only takes a compounded roll of +35 to shift an NPC from 'Hostile' to 'Friendly', which means you have a 25% chance outright—and a result between a 20 (which with a +20 bonus, you CANNOT roll less than) and a 35 will still improve the 'Hostile' NPC's attitude to 'Unfriendly' or 'Indifferent'. Of course, this can also be an awful and effective way of killing any actual roleplaying. Diplomacy can even be used in battle—it just takes ten full-round actions to complete or a single full-round action at a -10 penalty. This is but ONE of Charisma's many applications.

** 4th Edition avoids having a universal Dump Stat. The three defenses (Fortitude, Reflex and Will) are each based on the ''higher'' of two stats; Str/Con, Dex/Int and Wis/Cha respectively, so every stat has some intrinsic value while still allowing for each build to have its own Dump Stats. That being said, some stats consistently show up as Dump Stats for builds not based around them:

*** Strength. The builds that ''can'' take advantage of a good Strength bonus (pretty much any melee class that isn't based on one of the other attributes) generally ''need'' it, leaving the survivability-boosting Constitution a better choice for those that don't.