Character Ability Score House Rules

[slwoyach]

Something I've noticed is that "what are your houserules" posts tend to be fairly unproductive, mostly due to the huge amount of rules presented. That or people just give a taste of their house rules to keep it short. I think a good fix for that would be posts for small sections of house rules.

A good place to start is character attributes: Does anyone use any stats other than the core 6? Anybody use comeliness? If so, what does it do? Does anyone use attributes in a different way in your campaign, etc?

I have a few house rules in this category:

Strength: Your strength bonus no longer applies to attack rolls with finesse weapons.

Dexterity: Use your dexterity instead of your strength for attack rolls with finesse weapons such as the rapier. This does not require a feat, though a feat may be used in reverse to use a finesse weapon with strength.

Intelligence: Bonus skill points are added retroactively for ease of play. If your Int goes from 15 to 16 at level 4, you gain more skill points as if your Int had always been 16. Int drain does the same thing, making that a nasty thing to have happen to you.

Charisma: You may use your Charisma bonus instead of your Wisdom bonus for will saves. This is because charisma is supposed to be partially your confidence and sense of self, both important aspects of will.

I've thought about dropping the 3-18 format and just using a -5 to +5 range like True20, but I think that may turn some people off. Actually, what I really would like to do is have them range from 1-10 (avg of 5) and add the whole thing to rolls. So a climb check by someone with an 8 Str would be d20+climb+8. Of course all DCs would have to be raised by 5 to compensate. This I'll never do though because I'm almost positive it's too big a change for people.

[Sammael]

Well, first of all, I changed starting stats to the -3 to +3 range (before racial modifiers), non-weighed point buy.

Stats can go down to -10 (via accumulated penalties/drains).

Str is always used for some weapons, Dex is always used for others (no need for Weapon Finesse).

Con doesn't affect HPs; instead, positive Con converts lethal damage to nonlethal damage. Con is also added to your death threshold -(10 + level/2 + Con), and is added to stabilization rolls (Endurance + Con, DC 19).

Int gives bonus class abilities at 1st level and bonus skill ranks (also works retroactively). Int is used for saves against Illusions.

Wis is used for Initiative in place of Dex.

Cha adds to the character's Presence ("be noticed") rating and is used for saves against mental influence in lieu of Wis.

[slwoyach]

I can definitely see the advantages of your con rule. It looks like it would make combat quicker and less lethal. Not really for me though, I like lethal.

I really like the Int bonus vs. Illusions. It makes complete sense and I'll yoink that.

How does the presence rating work? It sounds real interesting.

[Ashtagon]

con - affects massive damage threshold, and the -10 hp limit is replaced by -(con).

int - skill points are retroactive. crossclass skills have the lower cap, but are the same price.

Wis - replaces dex when determining surprise rounds (since it is the perception/awareness stat)

cha - provides fate/luck points (since the stories tend to be written about people who have "presence")

[Ashtagon]

One more that I forgot to mention:

Str - the maximum damage bonus that can be applied to any attack is equal to the actual damage rolled on that attack.

[Sylrae]

Str: Never used for attack rolls. Only for damage. (Weapons may end up having minimum strength for their use though)
Dex: Used to hit. All the time. Period.
Con: Bleed to -Con. Bleed check replaced with a Fort-Save
Int: skill Point changes
Wis: Skill Point Changes
Cha: Used in Will Saves. Provides a HP bonus to some types of undead (those undead dont have the auto d12 hd)

Skill Points: half listed+1+Int Mod + Wis Mod.

[Sammael]

So, does anyone ever actually make a character with a high Strength score?

I agree that Dex for attack does make sense, but from my experience, it simply does not work in practice, as it makes Dex the uber stat everyone wants to boost.

[Tilenas]

Dex: movement rate (in metres)
Con: vitality points
Wis: initiative rolls
Cha: reputation rolls, action points/level + EDIT: also spellcasting ability for clerics, paladins

[slwoyach]

I like wisdom being used for surprise rounds, it totally makes sense. The max strength damage is also interesting, kind of a throwback to the 2nd edition dart rule.

[Sylrae]

People make High STR characters for the damage boost, but they do tend to be more dex-focused then before, and the fighter tends to have a toss up between dex and con as their secondary ability.

I've been toying withthe idea of breaking dex into Agility (reflex, speed things, initiative), and Dexterity (aiming, fine motor control, etc.) Anyone done this?

What do you guys think?