Wisdom

[BlackSimon]

Hello,
Although I have to admit that I am not very experienced in LL or OD&D it seems to me as if certain stats are way more useful than others. STR, DEX and CON are all very important and useful. CHA is not that bad either, since it's crucial for having retainers. Intellegence basically just gives you additional languages. But especially Wisdom seems to be even less important in my eyes. Of course clerics will have to have a high Wisdom so that they do not suffer an experience point malus. Other than that, it's only purpose seems to be to increase certain saving throws. But since these did not occur very often in our games, it doesn't seem to make a big difference. What is your impression? In order to solve the problem, I thought about allowing players to add their WIS-modifier to listen and search checks. Thematically this would make sense, since WIS is supposed to be the "sixth sense" and the perception of a character. Any thoughts on this?

[greyarea]

That seems like a fine house rule.

[SyntheticGod8]

Adding to this;
Unless you intend for the players to discover a lot of hidden stuff, which isn't a bad thing, I'd only make this rule apply to Humans. Of course, negative WIS scores would apply too. That is, demi-humans have keen sight, but humans may have better insight.

[kipper]

I never really liked WIS either, but I stick with it because it's there. I love the T&T take on it: "Wisdom? What the hell is that? I'll take luck any day." I've never tried shoehorning a LUCK attribute into D&D though to replace it, but I'd like to.

[tumblingdice]

I never really liked WIS either, but I stick with it because it's there. I love the T&T take on it: "Wisdom? What the hell is that? I'll take luck any day." I've never tried shoehorning a LUCK attribute into D&D though to replace it, but I'd like to.

Kipper's right. He even ran a cleric with a WIS score of 9 in one of my games. Sadly, said cleric is no longer with us.

[greyarea]

I never really liked WIS either, but I stick with it because it's there. I love the T&T take on it: "Wisdom? What the hell is that? I'll take luck any day." I've never tried shoehorning a LUCK attribute into D&D though to replace it, but I'd like to.

Kipper's right. He even ran a cleric with a WIS score of 9 in one of my games. Sadly, said cleric is no longer with us.

It is not wise to have a cleric with a WIS of 9...

[merias]

There are some rules you can steal from other games - S&W Whitebox gives a 5% XP bonus for any character with a 15+ WIS, this is in addition to any prime requisite bonus, giving clerics with high wisdom a slight edge in advancement speed.

That same game also suggests that you can have a WIS bonus effect a penalty against an opponent's save vs. spells. Implying that as their wisdom gets higher, clerics can cast spells more effectively.

Seven Voyages of Zylarthen (an OD&D clone) allows characters with high WIS a bonus to turn undead attempts (there are no clerics in that game, any character can turn undead).

I agree with others that you should limit bonuses for search and listenning to humans, since elves, etc. already get increased chances of doing those things. Maybe it could also give a bonus to certain thief skills?

[BlackSimon]

I agree with others that you should limit bonuses for search and listenning to humans, since elves, etc. already get increased chances of doing those things. Maybe it could also give a bonus to certain thief skills?

Well the thing is, that since most people find WIS less useful, they will most likely have a low WIS, maybe even resulting in a negative modifier. So in most of the cases, it will have more of a negative effect for the players. This would also mean that - playing with this rule - an Elf with low WIS would have the same probability to find a secret door than a human, since his -1 WIS modifier nullifies his racial bonus...

[merias]

Well the thing is, that since most people find WIS less useful, they will most likely have a low WIS, maybe even resulting in a negative modifier. So in most of the cases, it will have more of a negative effect for the players. This would also mean that - playing with this rule - an Elf with low WIS would have the same probability to find a secret door than a human, since his -1 WIS modifier nullifies his racial bonus...

That depends a lot on if you allow players to move ability scores around to suit or do point swaps, or just assign them ability scores. In any case, I would be up-front about the house rules for wisdom, so maybe they would see it as other than a dump stat. Also, it probably was not clear from what I said, but I would not allow WIS to affect demi-human search or listen skills at all, either bonus or penalty.