D&D 5E Attribute progression

[Bill Zebub]

Right. I meant the system you proposed for most levels, but letting people actually just choose a stat to increase on levels divisible by 5 or some such.

Ah...I get it.

One downside to my system as described (or the variant somebody proposed) is that you get an increasing delta between players who get really lucky and those who get very unlucky. That would be fine for some tables, but not for others.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

I like this. I think this also how the Black Hack 2 uses ability increases.

I'd let the player have Advantage on ASI in the 2 stats that they also gain Saves proficiency at 1st level. Those are the class' main abilities.

And I'd let them gain a Feat instead of ASIs. Or maybe let regular ASI be automatic +1 any two stat of your choice without rolling.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I got this idea from Mausritter, but modified it as a replacement for ASIs:

Every time you gain a level, roll 1d20 for each attribute, in any order you choose. The first time you roll higher than the attribute, add +1 to that attribute and stop there. If you run out of attributes...well, better luck next level.

Even if you added +1 at every level that would average out to twice as many total points as the ASI method (for most classes), but with a strong bias toward non-primary attributes. It would make 20's exceedingly rare.

I think this would work particularly well with the old school "3d6 in order" rolling method.

Thoughts?

I like this quite a bit. My vote would be no ASIs at all after level 1, but this method would help me avoid being burned in effigy by my players.

 

[NotAYakk]

Suppose you have 2 attributes you care about. A 16 and a 14 at level 1.

Everything else you consider dross.

At level 2, you have a 20% chance to increase attribute A, and if not a 30% chance to increase attribute B. The number of rolls on attribute B is going to be (level-1-A increases).

A will take (on average) 5 levels ups to hit 17, then 6.7 level ups to hit 18, then 10 level ups to hit 19, then 20 level ups to hit 20.

B will take (on average) 3.3 level ups (less A level ups) to hit 15, 4 to hit 16, then follow A's path (minus the level ups that succeed on A.

So by level 20, you'd expect 18 (with a decent chance of 19) in primary attribute and 17 with a decent chance of 18 in secondary attribute.

That would consume about 6 of your level up rolls, leaving 14 for your remaining stats.

If your next stat was 12, it requires 2.5, then 2.9 to hit 14 (then follows the B track).

If your next stat was 10, it requires 2, then 2.2 to reach 12.

If your last stat is 8, it requires 1.7 then 1.8 to reach 10.

Starting with a 16/14/12/12/10/8 array, in the order we always pick increases, at 20 we reach roughly:

Total Increases:
2-3/3-4/4-5/2-3/2-3/2-3
Giving you an end-array of (around):
18-19/17-18/16-17/14-15/12-13/10-11

 

[Bill Zebub]

I just used my original method (roll d20 above the attribute, stop when you succeed) starting with 16, 14, 14, 12, 10, 8 (Standard Array with two +1 ASIs) and assuming that was the same order rolled. I did it 19 times for levels 2-20, and did that 10 times. The final stats I got were:

19, 20, 15, 15, 11, 12
20, 18, 16, 15, 12, 11
19, 18, 17, 14, 11, 12
19, 18, 16, 15, 12, 11
19, 15, 17, 16, 14, 12
17, 17, 18, 16, 14, 8
19, 18, 16, 16, 14, 9
20, 15, 16, 16, 13, 9
17, 19, 16, 18, 13, 9
17, 18, 19, 15, 12, 10