Pathfinder 1E Power and Pathfinder Classes - Forked Thread: Pathfinder - sell me

[Wulf Ratbane]

He better wear a leather zipper mask.

"Hang on, guys. This hallway looks like a good spot for a trap."

"Well... Bring out the Gimp."

 

[BryonD]

Honestly, I guess that depends on where you come down on the issue of system mastery and whether the very first step in character creation should contain a "Gimp Pitfall."

Well, if someone puts a -2 INT on their Wizard, then the "gimp pitfall" is the least of their worries. I just don't see managing a -2 to a stat as meeting the critieria of "mastery". The issue of system mastery is real, this just isn't it.

I like -2 racial mods and see the balance implications as really minor.

 

[Mournblade94]

Not a fan, myself.

It just mucks up the balance of the starting point buy.

As it stands the -2 will get be applied somewhere that it is worth 2 points (especially for dwarves and half-orcs where it is probably just going into the CHA dump) and the +2 will go somewhere that is likely worth 4-6 points (raising a 16 to an 18 or an 18 to a 20).

(This is not new to Pathfinder, of course.)

I agree. But I like it because I do not like the point buy. I like random ability generation. I know the merits to pointbuy, but it is just not my preference.

Ofcourse my random system probably gives an avg ability 0f 14 (roll 4d6 (drop lowest) 7 times (drop lowest). Roll d4 add result any way to any ability with no ability above 19. Only way to get a 20 ability is to apply the racial bonus to an 18.

 

[dm4hire]

If they stick with the point buy that's used in Pathfinder Society then there really won't be a lot of abuse. You only get 20 points to spend. Sure everything starts at 10 but to get more than one 16 without racial points you have to bit the bullet and really sock it to a stat or two as you can buy down to a 7 before adding modifiers, but can't have lower than a 7 when finished. A 7 gives you 4 more points to spend.

Here's the actual write up from the PFS guidelines:

In Pathfinder Society Organized Play, all characters are created equal. Each character’s ability scores are allocated by spending a pool of 20 points. The cost of ability scores
is on the table below:
Ability Score Costs/Score Points
7 –4
8 –2
9 –1
10 0
11 1
12 2
13 3
14 5
15 7
16 10
17 13
18 17
In the case of negative point values, the points are added to the character’s pool.
Note: No character may begin play with an ability score below 7. Keep this in mind when assigning racial modifiers.