Crazy Jerome
First Post
I'll repeat my earlier suggestion, that actually makes the score usefully distinct from the modifier, as a simple means of scaling:
Score(Mod)
1 (+0)
2-3 (+1)
4-6 (+2)
7-10 (+3)
11-15 (+4)
16-21 (+5)
...
Or start the mods at +1, if you prefer. It really doesn't matter much on that end, since only monsters would ever have a score that low. It works ok for rolling stats, since the vast majority of the rolls will be in the 7-15 range, and only one off. Point buy is dirt simple. One point gets you one point of score. The chart can be extended as high as you want. "Normal" is around +3 or +4, which gives a nice psychological boost.
More esoteric, you now have one thing that scales more rapidly than the other. So if you base encumbrance directly off of Str score, but melee hit/damage off of Str mod, big creatures can carry somewhat realistic amounts (without funky math) while not overwhelming smaller creatures (acknowledging a key unreal aspect of D&D). I suspect that other such distinctions can be readily found for the other abilities, if there is a handy mechanical means to represent them.
Score(Mod)
1 (+0)
2-3 (+1)
4-6 (+2)
7-10 (+3)
11-15 (+4)
16-21 (+5)
...
Or start the mods at +1, if you prefer. It really doesn't matter much on that end, since only monsters would ever have a score that low. It works ok for rolling stats, since the vast majority of the rolls will be in the 7-15 range, and only one off. Point buy is dirt simple. One point gets you one point of score. The chart can be extended as high as you want. "Normal" is around +3 or +4, which gives a nice psychological boost.
More esoteric, you now have one thing that scales more rapidly than the other. So if you base encumbrance directly off of Str score, but melee hit/damage off of Str mod, big creatures can carry somewhat realistic amounts (without funky math) while not overwhelming smaller creatures (acknowledging a key unreal aspect of D&D). I suspect that other such distinctions can be readily found for the other abilities, if there is a handy mechanical means to represent them.