Psion

Recently, the topic of random vs. point buy ability score generation has come up again. A large segment of the D&D is really enamored with it, but I find the sorts of over-optimized and/or repetitive character builds point buy often engenders to be antithetical to my playstyle.

That said, I do agree that it really sucks to be the guy who rolled crappy in a party of players who rolled well.

Though there are a couple of methods I came up with to deal with this, here's one I came up with that I have stuck with for a while because it's great for Play-by-Posts as well as for making pregens for gamedays/conventions.

This was originally posted here, but there are a few updates that introduce some tweaks I have been using lately.

Note that this was intended for use in D&D 3.5, D20 Modern, and Spycraft 2.0. I have no idea how suited this is for D&D 4e; use at your own risk.

Psion's D20 System Game Card Generation Method

1) Get a deck of standard playing cards. Take the 4-9 cards of two suits out of the deck. This should give you 12 cards, 2 of each numbered 4-9.

2) Shuffle the 12 cards. Deal them out in pairs. Flip them over and total the pairs. This gives you 6 numbers that can range from 8 to 18.

(If you are happy with this, just allocate these scores to the 6 stats at the player's discretion. I, however, was shooting for a slightly higher average to match the assumptions of Spycraft 2.0 and D20 Mars, and I wanted to avoid 8's, so I added this step.)

3) Sort the pairs from highest to lowest. Add 1 to the 2nd, 4th, and 6th highest numbers. Allocate statistics to ability scores to taste.

Note:
In Spycraft, to compensate for the fact that some players have more odd scores than others, I allow players to subtract 1 from two odd scores in exchange for 1 bonus feat, similar to Spycraft's Modular campaign quality.

In D20 Mars, you get more frequent attribute boosts than in standard D20 games, so odd scores are less of a "sunk cost."

Example:

The cards are shuffled and dealt, resulting in these pairs...

6, 5 ( = 11)
9, 4 ( = 13)
7, 7 ( = 14)
5, 9 ( = 14)
6, 4 ( = 10)
8, 8 ( = 16)

The scores are ordered, and 1 is added to the 2nd, 4th, and 6th highest
16
14 + 1 = 15
14
13 + 1 = 14
11
10 + 1 = 11

Resulting in
16
15
14
14
11
11

"But I want to be able to pick my stats!"

Okay, these sorts of players are still out there. So here's an option I provided: instead of shuffling to get pairs of cards, allocate them to taste. However, you have these additional restrictions (to make things more fair to the randomizers):
1) You may not deal yourself an 18 or 2 17's.
2) You don't get the 3 "kicker points" from step 3 above.

Comments on method

Having been using this for a bit, I have observed a few properties that differ here from random dice rolling.

Obviously, by intent, the spread between PC power is much less than random, but unlike point-buy, you don't see pattern builds and a flurry of ugly fighters and you don't see the big point cost hit for higher stats.

While dealing the cards to make scores, it's psychologically a different experience than rolling. If you roll a crappy score using a dice method, there's the definite feeling that you have been set back, because you can't expect the rest of your scores to make up for it. When using the card method, you deal out some low cards, you know a good score is coming, because those cards are out of the deck.

The main randomization between characters is that some characters will have higher peak stats than others. But that's okay by me. I find forcing a spate of hyper-optimized characters is detrimental to character variety. By giving the player a higher score, you force them to consider credible sidelines. This sort of adds some variety to character design.

UPDATE: Excel Tool

Irda Ranger has put up a quick excel tool to generate characters using this method. Check it out in this post in the original:
[Link]

To me, character death is an important part of an RPG. I find the all too common stance that a GM should never kill a PC unless the players approves to be rather unsatisfying. To me, a game without the token risk of loss lacks a certain feeling of tension and excitement that exists in games for which these risks are present.

But, there are some pretty fair reasons to be annoyed by character death if you are a player. Beyond attachment to your character and what you might feel as an unsatisfying end, many games (D&D 3.x perhaps chief among them) gives the player a lasting penalty for a PC death.

To this end, some of you may be familiar with my "No Death Penalty" ideas that became part of my XP-less advancement and action point rules. Another variant that I like that helps get buy-in from the players is the "death flag" rule from Ryan Stoughton's Raising the Stakes D20 Hack.

Levi Kornelsen gave me some more arrows for my quiver in this battle to keep death a meaningful part of the game in his Amagi Games column:

It might be a little premature for me to speculate on how I might hammer this into d20, as some ideas I have hinge on an idea I have for putting Spirit of the Century/FATE's Aspects into D20. But a few thoughts:

• A dying character can distribute action points to remaining characters
• There might be special action point uses for legacies.

As some of you may have noticed, some ram-men escapees have been masquerading as tieflings in the 4e D&D books. Just as a gentle reminder, Tony DiTerlizzi sketched up a new tiefling pic to remind us what they really look like.

[Link]

Thanks to Rip and ROE for the link!

As I am looking at the possibility of starting a PbP after GenCon, I thought I'd gather together some of my disparate house rules. One of the most telling ones that I have taken a shine too is my XP-free advancement rules. These rules started life as my "no death penalty" and "simplified advancement" rules, but took major cues from PirateCat's XP-less gaming rules. The main goals/implications of these rules are:

• Simplify advancement (eliminate need to calculate and track XP)
• Eliminate level spread in the party. The entire party is at the same level and nobody ever gets left behind.
• Take the sting out of PC death; bringing in a new character just as viable as having the character raised.

The Advancement and Action Point rules are as follows:

Character Advancement and Levels

Players don't track experience in this variant. The DM tracks level by the means of "encounter points" (which include both combat and non-combat challenges). The encounter points are not tracked for each character; there is a single encounter point allotment that applies to the whole group. When enough eps are received to advance, the whole group will level simultaneously.

Any effect that would drain XP or cause permanent level loss is applied to essence points instead (see below). If no essence points are available, the character has a negative level (using all the standard rules for such) that persists until the character pays off the "essence debt".

Note that XP costs can also be paid by the use of power components or "levin". This is the favored method for many NPCs. See Green Ronin's Advanced GMs Guide for details on acquiring and using Levin.

Tracking Encounter Points

The DM sets a "per level" encounter point rate; the standard is assumed to be 25 eps/level. The DM rewards the party 1-4 encounter points per meaningful encounter or goal. 2 points is considered a normal encounter, on the order of facing a creature with CR=party level. 1 point should be allowed for simple encounters or challenges without great risk or effort (but nothing so trivial as a single skill check unless the consequences were severe). 3 points is a difficult encounter (for combat challenges, CR > APL+2), and 4 points for climactic encounters. The 4 point award should be rare.

Keep in mind that EPs can be rewarded with no creature threat involved at all; all sorts of noncombat tasks can be tracked with this system.

Action Points

PCs have action points in 3 categories: Fortune, Essence, and Karma. All types of action points operate as described in Unearthed Arcana (summarized here) except as noted below:

Modern²⁰ is a game of modern action by RPGObjects. As RPGObjects' bread and butter has been D20 Modern, it should come as little surprise that this product covers similar ground as D20 Modern and shares many of the same assumptions. It's essentially Charles Rice answer to what ails D20 Modern.

A First Look

Modern²⁰ is a 108 page PDF priced at $10, currently available at RPGnow and PRGOjects' web store. The document has a full color front and back cover and color interior art; two more pages are the open game license.

Modern²⁰ does not carry the D20 logo or compatibility statements, but does use the open game license.

The book is illustrated by Anthony Cournoyer; the style is cartoony for my tastes, but similar to that of of Kalman Andrasofszky, whose art for Wizards of the Coast defines D20 Modern products.

The PDF makes good use of bookmarks, with a convenient and intuitive hierarchy. The layout is attractive and readable. The only section that I thought could be laid out better was the sample NPC section, which had frequent breaks in the middle of stat blocks.

A Deeper Look

RPG Objects is one of the best 3rd party publishers for D20 modern, with great titles such as the “Blood” line of supplements and Darwin's World. As such, it should be interesting to see how they treat the topic of a refined competitor to the game that has been their bread & butter.

As Modern²⁰ is a complete, stand-alone game, it will need to come up with its own take on how to handle ability scores. The system uses the classic 6 D20 abilities.

Several methods are presented for generating scores, most emulating existing methods. The point gen methods aren't an exact duplicate of existing methods; they actually seem a bit simpler and punish you less for taking abilities above 16.

The book points out why you would want to use some methods over others, which is a nice touch. However, none of the presented methods address the sort middle ground “compromise” between random and point buy that I have come to favor.

Modern²⁰ favors a “layered” approach to character generation, even compared to D20 Modern. Where D20 Modern featured a “starting occupation” that provided additional class skills, feats, and/or wealth modifiers, Modern²⁰ provides 3 mechanical elements that modify the base class:

• Backgrounds describe the character's occupation before their time adventuring. This provides additional skills and a base wealth for the character.
• Occupation represents what you currently do for a living. The occupation provides a bonus to your wealth, but the bonus varies according to your skill bonuses. Further, as long as you are practicing this occupation, extra skills are added to your skill list. The character's feat selection is expanded by the occupation, and these feats are “improved” so long as the character remains in the profession. Finally, occupations can provide skill perks, a subsystem of feat-like abilities that provides additional skill uses or other abilities.
• The Hobby represents the simplest of the 3 “class modifiers”. The player may select any skills; the character receives 4 ranks in it.

There are no advanced/prestige classes in Modern²⁰. There are 6 base classes, but their founding philosophy is slightly different than the ability score based classes of D20 Modern. Rather, the Modern²⁰ classes are founded around the derived statistics they generate:

• The Powerhouse is the “attack” specialist.
• The Speedfreak is the defense specialist.
• The Tank is the “hit point” specialist.
• The Braniac is the “skill point” specialist.
• The Empath is the “saving throw” specialist.
• The Star is the “reputation” specialist.

The distinction between the approach of these classes and those of D20 is mild since each of the ability scores feed into one of targeted statistics, but in some cases it does make more sense than D20 Modern (the example that stands out is how strong hero characters in D20 Modern make good marksmen; the powerhouse class of Modern²⁰ is about attack bonus instead of being about strength.)

It's noteworthy that the braniac has a medium base attack bonus progression, an improvement over the smart hero which I always felt was a difficult class to play in D20 Modern.

Similar to Spycraft (and other D20 works by Kevin Wilson, like games in FFG's Horizon line) and True20, each of the classes in Modern²⁰ feature a core ability that is only received by a character taking their first level in the class.

Another shift from D20 Modern is the removal of talent trees. Much like True20, each character receives a feat at every level, selected from a class feat list or a general list, thus supplanting talent trees.

Reputation, action points, allegiances, and wealth also appear here. Allegiances see the least changes, and action points are a bit more succinct. Wealth and reputation systems see bigger changes.

The wealth system gives the character a wealth rating, but there is no rolling involved. It is still an abstract system, but the way it works is to provide a threshold beneath which the character needn't worry about tracking expenditures. Above the wealth level, purchases decrease the character's wealth (and conversely, selling valuable items increase it.) Thus, wealth still remains a system where player good behavior or GM intervention is required to avoid some unbelievable situations, but it seems like it would be less unwieldy in play.

Reputation sees more extensive changes. Instead of merely providing a skill bonus or penalty in social encounter, reputation provides resources in the form of special access, contacts, favors, and followers.

RPGObjects' variant of the disadvantage system shows up here. Similar to the one crafted in Haven D20 and RPGObjects' Modern Disadvantages, these disadvantages provide benefits to the character only if it shows up in an adventure. This version differs in that it provides action points when the disadvantage rears its ugly head rather than experience points. However, the words “experience awards” are still used in the description in some places.

In Modern²⁰, skills see many alterations. For starters, the skill list is almost totally different. Much like True20 and Spycraft 2.0, many skills that existed in D20 Modern are combined into other more comprehensive skills like academics, acrobatics, athletics, and perception.

One change that seems unique to D20 variants is the idea of a “targeted skill check”, which replaces opposed skill checks. When I first heard about this, I was a bit worried, as I think that opposed checks are a technique that D20 handles well, and shows a significant strength of the system over those of the last century. Alas, targeted skill checks are in essence the same thing as opposed skill checks with one party automatically taking 10. This stands to minimize the amount of dice rolling to resolve skill conflicts and should create more consistent results.

Perks were mentioned previously. Perks creature special uses of skills that can only be accessed by characters with the perk in question. For example, skills with specialties (like academics, art, or crime) are handled with perks; each specialty past the first in an additional perk. Other perk skill uses include tumble under acrobatics, “cracking” under computers, and burst fire under firearms.

The combat rules are, on the surface, very similar to standard D20 combat. The biggest change is that the system uses a hit location chart. This uses a d20 roll and the damage is modified according to where the injury landed. An optional injury rule has the potential to inflict penalties on a character; determing whether and what injury applies requires that you find the difference between the attack roll and defense rating, and comparing a fortitude save to a number determine by the attack roll. Given the lengths that the author went to reduce skill rolls, it seems odd that he would accept a system like this that seems more complicated than the rolls he took out.
A final significant departure from D20 is that the system eschews the idea of experience points.

Two appendices are included: a character creation example and a list of sample NPCs similar to those that appeared in D20 Modern.

Conclusions

Modern²⁰ is a top-down redefinition of the D20 Modern game system. Several sore spots with the system are addressed, and the designer makes some interesting innovations along the way.

The character generation is perhaps the most interesting retooling of the game. It should appeal most to players who like creating characters using D20 Modern base classes; much like Grim Tales, the system does not utilize advanced or prestige classes. This could be a detriment for players who like to “subscribe” to a class concept and don't want to make a lot of decisions along the way.

The most interesting aspect of the character generation system is that it provides in-game representation of what might be considered more mundane aspects of a character's background, and even represents things like occupation changes in play. All told, I think this makes Modern²⁰ an excellent choice for “everyman hero” gaming, where the characters are realistic and well-defined.

The system does handle many of the hangups I have with the D20 Modern combat system nicely, namely nonlethal damage and firearm rules. However, while the idea of inserting a hit location system into a D20 game had promise (something I do in my own d20 house rules), I think the optional injury rule runs counter to the streamlining he tries to achieve elsewhere.