Re-Training Ability Scores

[Larry Hunsaker]

Given the fact that feats have some strange ability score requirements which often require some long term planning, in case you blow it and miss qualifying for one this option would help. It basically avoids the min/max possibility but allows enough versatility to be useful, so you need not worry that when some new feat comes out you have no chance to qualify for it.

Basically, the system would work like so:

Each level you get a free re-training (in addition to the normal one or you could say it uses up the normal one) and can reduce 1 ability score by 1 point to raise another ability score of lower value by 1 point. You make the comparison of the two scores to determine if a score is of lower value than the other before you make the re-training changes to them.

This will not allow you to reduce a lower score to boost a higher one which would be broken very quickly, but it can let you raise up inferior scores at the expense of better scores. This way you can boost a low score to meet the feat requirement you did not plan on meeting but it will cost you in other areas.

What do you think, any suggestions?

Larry

 

[cmbarona]

It might be easier to consider this from a point-buy perspective. Everyone gets 22 points, right? Well, you could say that once per level, they can retrain where these points go. Not sure what limitations you should place on it, but it seems that should be a better place to start.

 

[cmbarona]

Thinking some more about it, I would limit the point buy shifting to up to 5 (maybe 6) points shifted around. 4 might work, and 4 is the minimum (so you can raise something from a 17 to an 18). I suggest 5 or 6 to account for stray points moving an 18 down (what if they also want to move a 16 to a 17 and a 13/14/15 to a 14/15/16?), but 4 might work just as well.

 

[77IM]

I just abolished the ability-score prerequisites of feats. (Other prerequisites are still enforced.) Arbitrary minimum scores on feats seems redundant with the graduated point-buy as a means of encouraging diverse ability score arrays, and makes feat selection more complicated and, in my opinion, frustrating.

So far, it has worked pretty well. PCs are easier to create and I have noticed no ill side effects whatsoever from the change.

-- 77IM