[FCTF] Quadruple skill points...

[SWAT]

It seems to me that if characters are created above 1st level, more specifically 5th level and above, they can take all their levels in Hero except one, declare their non-Hero level as being the last one they took, use Hero Points to boost their Intelligence, and gain an absurd amount of skill points (via Rogue or Specialist as non-Hero level).

This isn't so severe if characters are started at 1st, because to pull this off you have to survive quite a while with virtually no skills.

In such a case, does it seem fair and/or justified to remove all super hero Int bonuses for the purpose of quadrupling skills?

 

[RangerWickett]

It's much the same way as if a PC had some template that boosted his intelligence. He'd be out a few levels, and get some bonus skill points (and probably other abilities).

If you just wanted to go full-speed powergamer here, you could (in the revised rules) make a Hero 4/Rogue 1 with a natural 18 Intelligence. With your 32 Hero Points you could get an effective +X Intelligence, purchased in several powers.

Super Smart 1. +8 to Intelligence checks, +8 skill points/level. 8 ranks (8 HrPs). Total cost 16 ranks (30 HrPs).

Super Smart 2. 4 ranks (8 HrPs).

Super Smart 3. 2 ranks (6 HrPs).

Super Smart 4. 2 ranks (8 HrPs).

Skill Knowledge. You get 4 bonus skill points. 2 ranks (2 HrPs).

You end up with a 5th level character with 82 skill points. A pure 5th level Rogue with an 18 Intelligence would have 96 skill points. Now, if we continued this so we have higher level versions of each, things get more disparate. Hero 4/Rogue 6 (the change in level alters the layout of points, so now we get 20 ranks for +10 skill points/level) with 198 skill points vs. Rogue 10 with 120 skill points.


You could instead choose to make a Hero 4/Wizard 1 with an 18 Intelligence, and these abilities:

Heightened Intelligence 1. +8 to Intelligence checks, +8 skill points/level. 8 ranks (8 HrPs). Total cost 15 ranks (26 HrPs).

Heightened Intelligence 2. 4 ranks (8 HrPs).

Heightened Intelligence 3. 2 ranks (6 HrPs).

Heightened Intelligence 4. 1 rank (4 HrPs).

Heightened Defense. +3 luck bonus to AC. 6 ranks (6 HrPs).

He'd end up having a 28 Intelligence, 4 1st level bonus spells, and 52 skill points (vs. 5th level mage with 18 Intelligence, lots more spells, and 64 skill points).

So your plan isn't useful at this low of a level. You put too high a ratio of Hero levels in. More than half is probably a waste if you just want skill points.

 

[SWAT]

Well I didn't exactly mean it in the sense of getting more skills points than you normally would without Hero levels. What I mean is that being able to boost your Int at all before the quadrupling seems somewhat unfair if you start above 1st level. No matter how many skill points you get, you can get a bigger boost from the quadrupling than anyone not taking Hero levels.

Of course, if you consider that an Int boost can be a racial quality... well that kinda throws my point out the window... I suppose I should think about this...

On a different note, to avoid having to start another thread, the No Biology costing 0 Hero Points is a typo, right? It should really be 12? Thanks.

 

[RangerWickett]

I don't know why the chart says 12 HrPs, because it should be 0. There's really almost no benefit from the power. It just makes you different.