Dump Stat: Difference between revisions

*** That being said, each individual character is bound to have at least two Dump Stats. Since the rules allow for all of your useful abilities to be powered by [[One Stat to Rule Them All]], pretty much everything else becomes one of these (except Con, because everyone needs hit points).

*** Most 4th edition characters need two good stats to work properly. Their main stat, which covers attack and damage rolls, and a secondary one depending on their powers (like Rangers and Paladins needing at least a little bit of Wisdom, and the Fighter either Wis, Dex or Con depending on the weapon for secondary effects). Anything else can be dropped in case of extremely bad dice rolls.

* R. Talsorian's ''[[Mekton]]'' and ''Cyberpunk'' games effectively made every stat except Reflexes (and possibly Body) a Dump Stat. The Reflexes stat was the [[One Stat to Rule Them All]]: all-important to every aspect of combat and if your character ''did'' happen to get hit, Body determined how hurt he was. Several of the others - Empathy, Cool, and Technical Ability, were worthless. The most [[Egregious]] of these was Attractiveness. No. Use. At. All. That said, house-rules can save other stats - something so simple as a "Luck Save" will convince [[Player Characters]] not to skimp on anything. [[Butt Monkey|Except Attractiveness]].

** ''[[Cyberpunk 2020]]'' also has two dump skills. The Brawling skill is added to a character's Reflex score when they make an unarmed attack. The Dodge & Escape skill is added to a character's Reflex when they try to avoid an attack or escape when grabbed. But the Martial Arts skill is added to a characters Reflex score when making an unarmed attack ''and'' when avoiding an attack or escaping when grabbed, and is added to the damage of unarmed attacks, ''and'' gives the character an additional bonus with "key" attacks (e.g., kicking for Muay Thai, throws for Judo, holds for Wrestling). This was supposed to be offset by the fact that each Martial Art had a difficulty factor, by which you multiplied the cost to improve the skill during play ... but some Martial Arts (like Wrestling and Boxing) have difficulty factors of 1. This makes Dodge & Escape useless unless your [[Game Master]] doesn't let you use Martial Arts for dodging non-melee attacks, and makes Brawling completely useless for anything other than role-playing a character who had no formal combat training.