Constitution Prime?

Laslo Tremaine · Post by **Laslo Tremaine** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 5:57 pm

Aside from class requirments and saving throws, is there any reason to set constitution as a Prime attribute?

I could see the GM asking for a Con check when running long distances or for any feat of endurance, but in my gaming experience that tends to hardly every come up.

I'm somewhat tempted to give it an additional game benefit (perhaps +1hp per character level), but before I do, I want people to tell me why I shouldn't.
What are some other benefits for Con to be Prime?

serleran · Post by **serleran** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 6:03 pm

Aside from the saves associated with Con, such as poison (many of which are save or die, at least from monsters) and other effects like drowing, encumbrance, resisting exhaustion and environmental conditions.... I dunno. I guess none. Then again, one can argue the same thing about Intelligence too, since all it "seems" to do, for non-wizard types, is help against illusions, all of which have to involve high level characters to be "kill effects."

Laslo Tremaine · Post by **Laslo Tremaine** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 6:30 pm

Int seems pretty generally usefull to me, since it would serve for knowledge rolls based on the character's class and background.

I had forgotten about the +2 to encumbrance if Con is Prime, so that is definitely a benefit.

What prompted my concern is that I drew up a chart to see how my players were assigning their primes, and Con is definitely the odd-man-out...
http://www.criminy.net/aowwiki/pmwiki.p ... Characters

Death Slaad · Post by **Death Slaad** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 6:40 pm

Well, Con is a good prime. As Serelan said befor, it is all about poison. I do not know about your campaigns, but in mine, poison is by far the most common save, thus Con helps your char to survive.

And there is more about it. An assassins Death Attack is a Con Save, not Cha like those death saves provoked by spells and undead.

You could insert a simple crit mechanic, if someone is hit by a natural 20, he has to roll a con save or be stuned for one round. That would make con more usable in combat, where it definatly belongs.

I like your idea about the extra hit points to, but as that is in a way built into the Barbarian and monk already, I would not use it.

Treebore · Post by **Treebore** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 6:42 pm

Guess Assassins and poisonous monsters are going to have easy jobs/meals.

Jyrdan Fairblade · Post by **Jyrdan Fairblade** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 7:16 pm

Not the dwarves! "Baruk Khazad! Khazad ai-menu!"

Seriously, I see Con as pretty darn useful for survival, but I can also see it getting overlooked in favor of Str or Dex, which are more useful for "doing" sorts of actions, as opposed to the passive uses of Con.

Treebore wrote:
Guess Assassins and poisonous monsters are going to have easy jobs/meals.

BeZurKur · Post by **BeZurKur** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 7:51 pm

As is, you're right: aside from poisons, there is not much of a reason for Con prime. What I've done in my games as a house-rule, is if a PC goes into negatives, he must make a Con check not to be killed outright. It's already kept two of them alive. Actually only one had Con as a prime (luckily); the other didn't (although he still made the save.) If you don't like the mortaility of that, you can require a Con save to remain conscious (although another hit will most likely kill.) There is also the d20 Modern rule: I think if you take more damage than your Con, you must save or die. Just some ideas if you feel Con is being overlooked as a prime.

Ghul · Post by **Ghul** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 9:24 pm

Drinking lots of beer!

Beer!

--Ghul

Treebore · Post by **Treebore** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 10:18 pm

Or you can do a variation on my house rule. Actually it is option "B" in my house rules, and most take option "B".

Option "B", if you have CON as a PRime you get the +6 bonus as bonus HP that you can go negative without dying. So instead of dying at beyond -10, you die at beyond -16.

Those with a high CON score take option "A", you go negative your CON score + your stat bonus before dying. So a 17 + the +2 stat bonus means you go to -19 before dying.

so everyine in my game stays alive with CON as a Prime until -6.

Yes, I have had players with a 6 con, who died at -4. In 3E. The vast majority though, took a while to die after going unconcious.

Emryys · Post by **Emryys** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 6:03 am

Good ideas in this thread...

If it was up to the folks here, the CKG would end up being 500+ pages long
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Treebore · Post by **Treebore** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 6:36 am

Emryys wrote:
Good ideas in this thread...

If it was up to the folks here, the CKG would end up being 500+ pages long

If all the ideas are good is that a bad thing?

Emryys · Post by **Emryys** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 6:02 pm

Treebore wrote:
If all the ideas are good is that a bad thing?

Of course not, but imagine the price of the book!
I'd still buy it
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Treebore · Post by **Treebore** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 6:45 pm

Unlike too many I could mention I think this one would actually be worth it.

BASH MAN · Post by **BASH MAN** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 8:35 am

In my drowning rules, CON prime can hold their breath 2 times longer than someone without it. A person with an 18 CON can hold their breath the same ammount of time as a person with 9 CON prime.
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