Falling Icicle
Adventurer
All of the discussion about saving throws has given me an idea. Give all characters a bonus equal to 1/4 their level to their ability bonuses, (i.e. +1 at 4th level, +2 at 8th, etc). This would replace the attack and spellcasting bonuses that are part of classes right now. For example, a level 20 fighter with a 20 strength would have a +10 total modifier for Strength (+5 from the 20 score, and +5 from levels). This would affect everything that's determined by ability scores: ability/skill checks, saving throws, attack rolls, etc.
Benefits:
* It's simple and easy. You would just have your modified ability bonuses and use those modifiers for everything that depends on them, whether they're ability checks, attack rolls or saving throws. You wouldn't have to keep track of any of those things separately. That makes for a much simpler character sheet, and makes the game a lot less confusing for new players.
* Everything would scale evenly, so the game remains balanced throughout all levels of play. Saving throw DCs wouldn't outpace saves. Attack rolls wouldn't outpace AC. Etc.
* Characters would grow in power, but bounded accuracy would be maintained. The bonuses are big enough to be appreciated, but small enough that lower level threats aren't rendered meaningless, and things like the DC tables for ability/skill checks wouldn't need to change with level.
[Edit] It works great with multiclassing, since you don't have to worry about different classes granting different bonuses to things, and how they might stack if you add their levels to each other, which was a big problem with the multiclassing in 3.x.
Possible Drawbacks:
* Characters of different classes, such as fighters, wouldn't have an attack bonus advantage over other classes. 4e didn't consider this to be a problem, but some people might. Fighters would still be distinguished by their superior deadly strike, proficiencies and combat maneuvers, but is that enough? Right now, the difference in attack bonuses between fighters and classes such as rogues is only within 1 or 2 points, anyway.
* Characters get universally better at everything, which was something that many people didn't like about 4e (i.e., why is my 20th level wizard an expert at swimming?). However, the bonus here caps at +5, which is quite a bit less than the +15 bonus characters got by max level in 4e. Ability scores thus don't end up being overshadowed as much by level bonuses, so this may not be as much of an issue.
I'd like to hear people's thoughts on this idea.
Benefits:
* It's simple and easy. You would just have your modified ability bonuses and use those modifiers for everything that depends on them, whether they're ability checks, attack rolls or saving throws. You wouldn't have to keep track of any of those things separately. That makes for a much simpler character sheet, and makes the game a lot less confusing for new players.
* Everything would scale evenly, so the game remains balanced throughout all levels of play. Saving throw DCs wouldn't outpace saves. Attack rolls wouldn't outpace AC. Etc.
* Characters would grow in power, but bounded accuracy would be maintained. The bonuses are big enough to be appreciated, but small enough that lower level threats aren't rendered meaningless, and things like the DC tables for ability/skill checks wouldn't need to change with level.
[Edit] It works great with multiclassing, since you don't have to worry about different classes granting different bonuses to things, and how they might stack if you add their levels to each other, which was a big problem with the multiclassing in 3.x.
Possible Drawbacks:
* Characters of different classes, such as fighters, wouldn't have an attack bonus advantage over other classes. 4e didn't consider this to be a problem, but some people might. Fighters would still be distinguished by their superior deadly strike, proficiencies and combat maneuvers, but is that enough? Right now, the difference in attack bonuses between fighters and classes such as rogues is only within 1 or 2 points, anyway.
* Characters get universally better at everything, which was something that many people didn't like about 4e (i.e., why is my 20th level wizard an expert at swimming?). However, the bonus here caps at +5, which is quite a bit less than the +15 bonus characters got by max level in 4e. Ability scores thus don't end up being overshadowed as much by level bonuses, so this may not be as much of an issue.
I'd like to hear people's thoughts on this idea.
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