Abilities in exchange for Experience points: Good or Bad Idea.

[Plane Sailing]

Dude, I sooo want to see that! Can I? Can I? Can I?

It is really simple...

It is possible to gain skills in-between levels by sacrificing xp. You must have had opportunity to train in that skill, and it can only be one of your class skills. By expending 100xp you gain +1 rank in that skill. This does not bypass the skill caps, but it does allow someone to (a) learn a language while they are in a new country (b) broaden their skill base. It doesn’t affect the normal “free” skills which they get when they go up a level.

I don’t anticipate abuse of this rule, because those xp soon add up!

 

[kreynolds]

Just to throw in my two cents, I'm against it for the same reason others have mentioned.

*cups hand to ear*

I don't hear any change hittin' the ground.

Seriously though, do you have anything to add to kenjb's or DonAdam's argument? Perhaps something all of us have overlooked? It'd be cool to get someone elses perspective on this.

 

[kreynolds]

It is really simple...

Very slick idea! Mind if I steal that? Oh, heh, why do I even ask?

 

[Petrosian]

I am against it for the same reasons i limit PCs to standard races and avoid all those ECL issues...

the further afield from a common point of reference you get the more problematic the balance issues become.

Frankly, the idea is IMO just as valid as monster races and so forth, where you are in effect paying Xp in the form of ecls for various PACKAGES of abilities that are notn really class features but natural advantages like higher strength for an ogre and so forth.

The catch is when this is more freeform, not packages but rather components bought ala carte, it makes the balancing tricks even tougher.

If you go with the idea that there is a workable ECL or other balancing system in place on top of the XP costs, then it is probably workable but IMO the development of that complex a balancing scheme is more work than allowing timmy the dwarf to purchase an extra con is worth.

So, since i see no need for it, i wouldn't be interested in it..

if yours works for your game, thats great, but why isn't this in house rules?

 

[Felix]

The idea of buying abilities for XP makes my spidey sense go off. This can't be good. Maybe I'm apprehensive of the powergaming potential; this reminds me of 2e Skills and Powers, and that was out of hand.

 

[The Proconsul]

Well, someone already mentioned already a solution, which seems to have been ignored:
To calculate a characters ECL with XP-buyed abilities, simply add the spent XP to his XP total, and see what level he WOULD be, hadn't he spent those XP.

edit: that's an awful lot XPs mentioned in that poste . Oh, I did it again! XP, XP, XP, XP!!

 

[Crothian]

The idea of buying abilities for XP makes my spidey sense go off. This can't be good. Maybe I'm apprehensive of the powergaming potential; this reminds me of 2e Skills and Powers, and that was out of hand.

Why? The only times you need to worry about powergaming is when the poeple you play with do it. I trust my players not to power game, I give them all sorts of options but they take only the ones that fit the characters not the ones to make powerful creatures. It is a system that can be abused, but again not everyone does that.

 

[Crothian]

if yours works for your game, thats great, but why isn't this in house rules?

The rules are in the books, it's not something people are making up.

 

[Ysgarran]

Help me out, what is the FRCS system? I don't recognize it and hopefully when I do see what it is about I won't have to slap myself on the forehead...

Part of the problem for me is that I like some of the flavor that some of these rules introduce. I hate the fact that it seems to be bypassing the core rules.

Plane Sailing: I'm going to have to go over to the house rules forum and see your rules on buying skill points...

more later,
Ysgarran.

 

[kenjib]

I've been testing two different methods, and both involve the concept of prestige races. With one, you spend XP and gain special abilities in +1 ECL chunks. In the other, you "purchase" levels in the prestige race, much like you gain levels in a regular class. When you gain a level in a class normally, you don't spend XP, but at the same time, you do. The only XP available for you to spend, in any system, is the XP you have between levels. All of the XP you have from previous levels is already "spent" anyway, so, you spend XP either way.

That's an interesting idea. What's the difference between that and a one level prestige class? Because it's more cafeteria style where you can pick from an assortment? Why not create a prestige class with no pre-reqs that you can take multiple levels of, and at each level you get to choose from a platter of special abilities? Then you keep your level intact and use the standard core rules mechanics. You achieve pretty much the same effect but don't need to use ECL. You just have a standard level X character with abilities to match.