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Message: <blockquote data-quote="WalterKovacs" data-source="post: 5061555" data-attributes="member: 63763">The concept of the increasing stats over time being lost would have an impact. Immediately, odd stats would be nearly worthless (and the stat prerequisites would be altered as a result). Stats increasing over time do not simply have an impact on attacks and defenses. There are skills (which would either significantly change, or use the 1/2 level trick, but not improve as much over time). There are also a number of rider effects that improve over time as your stats increase. If nothing else, an epic tier character has an extra healing surge to work with simply from the free 11/21 bumps. On a strategic level, there are decisions on how to handle character progression that would be removed as well. Starting with a 17 instead of an 18 in your main stat to use those last 4 points to meet prerequisites or having higher secondary or tertiary stats for your NADs, for example. Taking expertise now or later. Making sure you have the prereqs for feats at the right level, etc. Over time, you can slightly tweak your character as you level by perhaps changing your mind and pumping a different stat than you did when your character started. There was the trade off of how to fill the three necessary slots of weapon, armor and neck slot ... which was the most important for you to get that extra plus one ASAP, and which would you wait for the right rider effect, etc. With masterwork armor, you had the option of going for more AC, or for the bonus to a NAD, or even DR. While you did get bonuses over time ... the ones tied to feats allowed you to pick the time you got them. The ones tied to weapons were a matter of when you found them, or when you bought them ... not whn you leveled up. While it may make the math simpler and more pure (and could work very well for a low magic campaign) it does basically lock you into many of your choices at level 1. Your characters stats will remain the same for your entire career. Which means you have to meet every prerequisite that is stat based at level one, which is harsher than the current system (even if it's currently based to have a plan from level 1 forward ... you can at least start pumping a stat at every opportunity if you want to get a stat up over time to meet a prereq, or "set it and forget it" like a wizard starting with CHA 12 for spell focus and letting the auto bumps do the work). With paragon paths and epic destinies allowing for further stat bumps or boosts to attack progression (and specialized feats like the Gnome Illusions and Charms, or Tiefling Fire, etc) there are ways to get more attack boosts over time, at an opportunity cost, for those that want to get as much as possible (or to compensate for a lower starting stat, or putting both points into non-attack stats a couple times to shore up NADs or prerequisites, etc). The system would be a lot simpler, but a lot of complex options would be stripped down as well. Not to mention any feeling of the game not changing as you level up would be made more apparent by this system, as a party of 3rd level characters against a level 5 monster, and the same group at level 23 against a level 25 monster would, outside of variation of defenses based on role, have the same hit percentages for and against as they would before. If in both cases it was say, a soldier ... they would be practically the same. So the difference would come down to nastier condition effects available at higher levels mostly. While expertise and various defense bonus feats was a clunky "fix" to keep the PCs on par with monsters over their career, and the systems round about way to add up to effectively +1/level does leave traps for players that don't know what they are doing ... the alternative seems a bit bland as it removes a number of important decisions that players need to make over time (part of the idea was to give fans signifcant choices whenever they level). The choice of 2 stats meant that, while your attack stat is pretty much automatic, you still have to pick a second. You can't choose to improve all your NADs each time, you have to have a weak spot, or spread yourself thin. In some cases, you even have to choose between improving a second NAD, or going with STR/CON as a barbarian, or WIS/CHA as a prescient bard, etc. While some choice seems like only the illussion of choice, eliminating those choices completely and effectively making a characters attack and defense progression be on autopilot eliminates a lot of players control over their character over time. They get to pick the powers and the feats ... but from level one, most players will have a pretty good idea what their character will look like at level 30. And, since the only options the player is left to make are retrainable ones ... except for class, race, background, paragon path and epic destiny ... he doesn't really have many decisions outside of 1/11/21 where he needs to make the decision carefully as it will stick.</blockquote>

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