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Community
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Ability Scores - Should they increase?
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<blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 5773875" data-attributes="member: 29398"><p>Stat increases should be very uncommon or extremely slow or both.</p><p></p><p>The percentile increment system that 1e Cavaliers had works well for all classes - you get to roll some dice each level-up (and IME people love rolling dice!) but you're only likely to have a stat or two go up by one point during your career due to it.</p><p></p><p>Rare and expensive stat-boosting items, both temporary and permanent, are also fine by me.</p><p></p><p>That said, the 3-18 bell curve lends itself so very well to the highly elegant roll-under-on-d20 ability check mechanic...which itself removes the need for about three-quarters of the 3e skill table and a bunch of other things. That right there is good enough reason to only allow stats to reach 20 in the most unusual of situations.</p><p></p><p>As for bonuses, I can easily live with a non-linear bonus set-up. I also don't mind a large range of middle (say, 7-14) numbers giving no bonus/penalty at all; this reflects that these individuals are at the middle of the bell curve.</p><p></p><p>What makes adventurers special is they get to roll (yes, roll) their attributes on 4d6 or even 5d6, as opposed to normal people who are stuck with 3d6. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p>Caveat: Strength is the one stat where this model falls down, as we need more granularity of bonuses over a larger range. 1e did this by adding percents to an 18 Strength; in my system this falls apart when trying to combine it with the Cavalier-like percentile increment system I refer to above. The answer I've found is to split out the 18.xx strengths into their own numbers but treat ability checks as is the Str is 18; but this is probably more complicated than people are looking for in 5e.</p><p></p><p>Lanefan</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lanefan, post: 5773875, member: 29398"] Stat increases should be very uncommon or extremely slow or both. The percentile increment system that 1e Cavaliers had works well for all classes - you get to roll some dice each level-up (and IME people love rolling dice!) but you're only likely to have a stat or two go up by one point during your career due to it. Rare and expensive stat-boosting items, both temporary and permanent, are also fine by me. That said, the 3-18 bell curve lends itself so very well to the highly elegant roll-under-on-d20 ability check mechanic...which itself removes the need for about three-quarters of the 3e skill table and a bunch of other things. That right there is good enough reason to only allow stats to reach 20 in the most unusual of situations. As for bonuses, I can easily live with a non-linear bonus set-up. I also don't mind a large range of middle (say, 7-14) numbers giving no bonus/penalty at all; this reflects that these individuals are at the middle of the bell curve. What makes adventurers special is they get to roll (yes, roll) their attributes on 4d6 or even 5d6, as opposed to normal people who are stuck with 3d6. :) Caveat: Strength is the one stat where this model falls down, as we need more granularity of bonuses over a larger range. 1e did this by adding percents to an 18 Strength; in my system this falls apart when trying to combine it with the Cavalier-like percentile increment system I refer to above. The answer I've found is to split out the 18.xx strengths into their own numbers but treat ability checks as is the Str is 18; but this is probably more complicated than people are looking for in 5e. Lanefan [/QUOTE]
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