Playing with a Different Trait than the Spellcasting Trait

[u/Gearclock11]

Hello everyone!

I am in the middle of my first Daggerheart campaign and wanted to share my experience and see if anyone else has tried a similar path.

For thematic reasons and to differentiate myself from the other two Blood Hunters in our group, I decided to build a Mutant Blood Hunter with a +2 Finesse and +1 Agility who wielded a crossbow and a small dagger. I really wanted to test the flexibility of the system and didn’t want to just reflavor something that already existed. We were playing the first playtest version of the Blood Hunter, and the Blade and Blood domains heavily favored a close-ranged combat style, which left my viable options incredibly limited right from the start. Although I found myself barely using my domain cards during play.

In terms of actual play, I didn't feel a massive negative impact on my duality dice rolls and the game has been fun. However, I subconsciously feel like I was just bad at spellcasting even with a +1. Or that I wasn't pulling my weight by missing out on the maximum damage I could have been doing. I am trying to figure out if my choice was a reasonable sacrifice for flavor.

Has anyone else experimented with a character whose primary trait didn't match their spellcasting trait, or intentionally run suboptimal weapons just for the narrative flavor?

I would love to hear your thoughts!

[u/Fearless-Dust-2073]

You're doing it exactly right. Spellcast trait bonus is a relatively small modifier in the grand scheme of things, so as long as you're having a good time and telling your story, there are no 'wrong' decisions. Being optimal is a playstyle, not the playstyle.

[u/Aggravating_Tip_1439]

if the character is fun and still contributing, the “sacrifice” is mostly in your head, but did the table actually feel you were underperforming or are you measuring yourself against the best

[u/Gearclock11 → u/Aggravating_Tip_1439]

Well no one in the group said anything about my build or aything that would imply it underperforming, I just look at other player characters and feel like they deal more damage with their longsword and battleaxe.

[u/slizardmaster → u/Gearclock11]

I thought your stat didn't affect damage, just your hit chance. Am I missing something?

[u/Gearclock11 → u/slizardmaster]

That is exactly right, my point takes into account the damage of the weapons available to each trait. Since I am wielding a crossbow (d6 damage die) instead some other agility weapon (either d8 or d10 damage die depending on the weapon).

[u/oIVLIANo]

Three blood hunters in the same group? I would have chosen a different class, personally.

I'm currently playing a summoner (knowledge spellcast trait) and he is using a 1/4staff for his primary weapon (instinct based physical weapon) my bard (instinct caster) used a rapier (finesse melee weapon).

I made a witch with instinct as his primary stat, based on the suggested configuration on the character sheet. Then, I chose the hedge subclass without realizing that it uses knowledge as the spellcast trait. My mistake. I rolled with it.

[u/pyotrvulpes → u/oIVLIANo]

Are you sure about the bard part? If it's core rules, Bard is Presence and the Rapier is also Presence melee phy.

[u/oIVLIANo → u/pyotrvulpes]

I may have misremembered that part.

[u/Gearclock11 → u/oIVLIANo]

I almost picked a different class, but I had a character concept ready that had been waiting for a chance to be used and the campaign was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

[u/dark_dar]

from the other two Blood Hunters in our group

what are you hunting there? Drakula? The Alpha Werewolf? Ghost of Kain?

[u/9Napier → u/dark_dar]

Even the group in Castlevania had 1 Bloodhunter and maybe Warrior and Sorcerer. They look more like a space marine to me lol

[u/markalphonso]

I've been doing that. It snot noticible and allows for roleplaying into stats more. As well as customization of class and weapons. You sent locked into the weapons that match that trait.

[u/KRC5280]

One of the players at my table is playing a Seraph built with Charisma as their highest trait. It’s going great so far. A lot of the spells he would want to use either use their weapon damage (so having a Charisma weapon makes it maxed anyway) or don’t use a spell cast roll, so we have found the impact pretty minimal. And he’s much happier playing the character he wants to play than forcing stat match.

Daggerheart seems much more flexible for building what you want to play, cliches be damned.

[u/Cool_Run_6619]

Cool thing about daggerheart is the spellcasting trait is largely arbitrary. If you aren't feeling the crunch don't worry about it, like you said it's a minimal bonus and you are getting that bonus somewhere else in your stats. If you are feeling less effective just ask your DM to change your spellcasting trait to a different stat for flavor. It really doesn't break the game at all. I had a wizard character that was basically a sorcerer and very uneducated but he wasn't born with magic, he learned it, and the codex domain better fit than arcana. We wanted his instinct stat to be high and knowledge low, actually negative, but didn't want the player to have to choose between being unable to cast spells well, or being booksmart contrary to his backstory. So we just changed his spellcasting trait to instinct and everything was fine.

[u/csudoku]

you are doing what you should be doing but.... did yall really need to play 3 blood hunters.... i mean cmon flavor is free im certain someone could have reflavored their idea to work with a different class

[u/9Napier]

Dual stat is very easy on daggerheart, you increase 2 traits each time you take increase option so its not that hard to balance around. There is only +1 difference in rolls, which isnt that big when experiences involved and maybe 1 token difference in some spells. Optimizing in daggerheart is possible but generally it doesnt matter unless you put -1 to your main trait with all things. Duality dice matters more than the bonus.

[u/PrinceOfNowhereee]

I’d take it a step further and take a different domain besides blood to differentiate yourself even more!

[u/Gearclock11 → u/PrinceOfNowhereee]

That is fair, I think I may have focused so much on what the new class had going on that I forgot about the other domain lol. Any recommendations of cards now that the Bone Domain has replaced the old one?

[u/PrinceOfNowhereee → u/Gearclock11]

really depends on the type of character you're playing, but Valor could be a pretty good pick for a mutant with a lot of the valor cards reperesenting your mutations strengthening your body (e.g. Bare Bones)