Ability Score Bonuses: +2 General vs. +2/+2 Specific

[Plane Sailing]

I haven't had a chance to play 4e yet, and actually haven't read nearly as much of it as I would like, but I have been giving some thoughts to some future house rules. These are house rules I would apply after playing some mostly-stock 4e.

In that case they belong in the house rules forum, I'll just shift it over there (taking a move action to do so)

 

[Malacoda]

In that case they belong in the house rules forum, I'll just shift it over there (taking a move action to do so)

Good point, thanks PS. I think I need to get used to the idea of a 4e house rules forum!

 

[Ondo]

My solution for this (described in full over in this thread) is to replace a +2 to a stat with 5 points spent on that stat in point buy. So a bonus to a stat you don't use much ends up being a +4, while the bonus to a key stat may only be +1.

I think it's balanced for the same reason the weighted point buy is balanced, and it makes race still matter while not restricting class choices. Bonuses to stats that aren't key stats for your class can really help qualify you for feats, as well as possibly boosting your defenses.

 

[Eldorian]

What if you gave each race an assignable +2 in addition to their two static scores, while decreasing the points available for point-buy? So humans get +2 to any two stats, Elves get +2 to Dex, Wis, and any one other, etc. (No stacking the racial bonuses!) Then, decrease the points available during character generation -- say, an 18-point buy.

In this fashion, every race can achieve an 18 or 20 in a stat for the same price as any other (buy it up to 16, then get a +2 racial bonus -- either a fixed bonus or an assignable bonus). The sliding-scale for point-buy still discourages high scores, but no race has too strong of an advantage in any one class, because everybody can achieve a high score in the crucial primary attack modifier for the same price.

The more I think about this, the more I like it. It is a little complicated, but preserves racial advantages without discouraging uncommon race/class combos.

-- 77IM

Awesome idea. +2 to one stat, not racial, for the cost of taking a 13 to a 15, or 14 to 16, works very well for me. Then you can have any race be any class very easily! And Humans still have the advantage of superior racial traits at the cost of fewer overall points on the point buy. Does slightly favor character that want to have two 18s tho. I'll have to look at it further.

 

[Zurai]

IMO -

The "+2 to two but no negatives" approach is far less of an enforced stereotype than old 3E racial stats with penalties were. It's not too terribly hard to make good characters that have no relevant racial stat bonus to their primary stat (Elf Fighters, Tiefling Warlocks, Dragonborn Wis-Clerics, etc). They're a little worse in some respects than characters that do have the racial stat mods, but they tend to make up for it in other ways.