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Ability Caps and 4e: Dumping the Dump Stat
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<blockquote data-quote="CM" data-source="post: 6168391" data-attributes="member: 18340"><p>I'm going to be starting up a FR Sundering campaign sometime next month and have been thinking about ability scores and some ideas are filtering in from 5e playtesting.</p><p></p><p>I have never been a fan of 3e and 4e's "dump stat" phenomenon and how the combat systems encourage one-dimensional characters who boost their primary stat at the expense of all others. Thinking back to 1e and 2e NPC stat blocks it was common to see the "legendary hero" type NPCs with multiple high-teen ability scores which just wasn't possible for player characters under point-buy ability score generation, and improbably rare for die-rolling.</p><p></p><p>Most 4e characters I have seen (and played myself) start out with one score in the 18-20 range, another 16-18, and the rest 8 to 11 with maybe a 14. At the 4th and 8th level stat boosts, the points almost always go into your two best class stats, with little incentive to boost your lower scores. The system itself encourages it, giving you more accurate attacks and more damage by continually pumping those scores ever higher.</p><p></p><p>What I proposed for my group is using one of the three standard arrays and applying racial bonuses as normal.</p><p>A: 16 14 14 11 10 10</p><p>B: 18 14 11 10 10 8</p><p>C: 16 16 12 11 11 8</p><p></p><p>Then at 4th and 8th, 14th, 18th, 24th, and 28th levels, increase your four lowest stats by one point. This represents how your character is growing as a person, meeting new people, being exposed to new ideas, challenging their beliefs, and gaining fame.</p><p></p><p>At 11th and 21st level, assign two points freely, either to the same or different abilities. This represents how the character applies all this gained experience toward improving their primary attributes.</p><p></p><p>Net result is your level 30 character will have ability scores something like 22/18/18/16/16/15 instead of 26/22/18/12/12/11. Over the 30-level spread they will fall behind 1-2 points in attack and damage bonuses, but will be higher in many skills and the differences between their NADs will be smaller. I don't anticipate any attack bonus issues because in my two previous high-paragon and low-epic games the characters never had a problem hitting. Thematically, I think that former array fits the idea of a legendary hero better than the latter. Characters will have better access to feats and will get more mileage out of class powers that incentivize secondary stats. MAD characters will step out of the shadows.</p><p></p><p>Any concerns or suggestions?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="CM, post: 6168391, member: 18340"] I'm going to be starting up a FR Sundering campaign sometime next month and have been thinking about ability scores and some ideas are filtering in from 5e playtesting. I have never been a fan of 3e and 4e's "dump stat" phenomenon and how the combat systems encourage one-dimensional characters who boost their primary stat at the expense of all others. Thinking back to 1e and 2e NPC stat blocks it was common to see the "legendary hero" type NPCs with multiple high-teen ability scores which just wasn't possible for player characters under point-buy ability score generation, and improbably rare for die-rolling. Most 4e characters I have seen (and played myself) start out with one score in the 18-20 range, another 16-18, and the rest 8 to 11 with maybe a 14. At the 4th and 8th level stat boosts, the points almost always go into your two best class stats, with little incentive to boost your lower scores. The system itself encourages it, giving you more accurate attacks and more damage by continually pumping those scores ever higher. What I proposed for my group is using one of the three standard arrays and applying racial bonuses as normal. A: 16 14 14 11 10 10 B: 18 14 11 10 10 8 C: 16 16 12 11 11 8 Then at 4th and 8th, 14th, 18th, 24th, and 28th levels, increase your four lowest stats by one point. This represents how your character is growing as a person, meeting new people, being exposed to new ideas, challenging their beliefs, and gaining fame. At 11th and 21st level, assign two points freely, either to the same or different abilities. This represents how the character applies all this gained experience toward improving their primary attributes. Net result is your level 30 character will have ability scores something like 22/18/18/16/16/15 instead of 26/22/18/12/12/11. Over the 30-level spread they will fall behind 1-2 points in attack and damage bonuses, but will be higher in many skills and the differences between their NADs will be smaller. I don't anticipate any attack bonus issues because in my two previous high-paragon and low-epic games the characters never had a problem hitting. Thematically, I think that former array fits the idea of a legendary hero better than the latter. Characters will have better access to feats and will get more mileage out of class powers that incentivize secondary stats. MAD characters will step out of the shadows. Any concerns or suggestions? [/QUOTE]
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