A quick and dirty way to make attributes more powerful, not my thing but hey you are asking for advice, is to use a roll under mechanic for skills with modifiers of -5 (easy) to +5 (hard). If you want to attach a skill system give out points up to a -5 mod to the roll. You can have a ton of variation with this and yet keep all the math relatively simple.
Alt D20 Attribute system
- Thread starter garrowolf
- Start date
Desdichado
Hero
That depends on which version of D&D you're applying this to, and therefore, what skill system is in play.
Also, it depends heavily on what level you habitually play. Since I rarely play above 10th level, and in fact rarely play above about 6th level, the impact of attributes never becomes insignificant. At higher levels, that's less true.
bone_naga
Explorer
I've been doing this for my game and it has been well-received by the players. There are a few effects that I observed:
1) It is much easier on new/casual players since some of them constantly get confused on the difference between the ability score and the ability score modifier.
2) Because this causes every ability increase to be worth twice as much, I've been able to eliminate some of the boring feat taxes (like weapon expertise/focus, pretty much all the static bonus feats).
3) To compensate for the 1st level HP calculation, the bonus is now 10 + 2 x CON.
4) Ability score generation seems to happen more quickly (although this is also impacted by us using the array method of generation).
Dethklok
First Post
Aye. Game designers often like to program as much realism into the game as they can, but at some point you have to sit back and trust the GM. (This isn't actually that hard in practice, since when you are a game designer, more than half the time "the GM" is you.)
What's even worse is that yes, it absolutely is realistic for everybody to have a shot at a skill. "You are a magic user so you can't use a sword" has never been a plausible ruling. There are always rules out there that make games more complicated in the name of realism, but in fact make the game even less realistic than otherwise.
GMMichael
Guide of Modos
+1. To risk going off-topic, there are some skill limitations out there that just don't make sense. But then there are some that make great sense.
Does Napoleon (level 1) have a chance of performing an awe-inspiring nunchakus move? Yes.
Does Napoleon (level 20) have a chance of finding a magical trap? Yes.
Does a level 20 Napoleon resemble anything real-world? Well...no.
Does Napoleon have a chance at that magical trap, up to level 10? Now we're getting pretty subjective. But if you double your ability modifiers, Napoleon's odds get better and better.
Thanks bone naga! I'm glad that it is working out.
On generating ability scores I tend to use a +12 system. You can make it higher or lower depending on how powerful you want your characters to be. Take the +12 and spread it out among the stats. If you lower one stat below 10 then you get more points. It makes it much quicker to create characters and you have better control as a gm over the power level.
It would also make the added stat bonuses easier to deal with for some GMs.
On generating ability scores I tend to use a +12 system. You can make it higher or lower depending on how powerful you want your characters to be. Take the +12 and spread it out among the stats. If you lower one stat below 10 then you get more points. It makes it much quicker to create characters and you have better control as a gm over the power level.
It would also make the added stat bonuses easier to deal with for some GMs.
