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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jasperak" data-source="post: 5269721" data-attributes="member: 2487">I prefer random ability generation. My issue with AD&D's exceptional strength is that it allowed a character to start the game with a +3 to hit and +6 to damage, but only if you had two exceptional rolls. The fact that I have seen more 18/00s than any other number combined strains the laws of probabilities, but we all know why it happened.In OD&D & BD&D, an 18 in Strength (No Bonus) for a Fighting-man equals a 10% bonus to experience.In B/X-BECM, an 18 in Strength (+3 Bonus) for a Fighter equals a 10% bonus to experience, +3 bonus to hit = levels difficult to calculate because of the chart but looks like between 4-8 levels/36. Both systems use a chart that generally increases by two every four levels, so a 1st-level fighter and a 3rd-level fighter have the same base THAC0 of 19, a 4th-level fighter and a 6th-level fighter have a THAC0 of 17. (+2/ 4 levels). This equates to about a 20-30% jump in combat ability, if the combat charts continue progressing all the way to 36. I don't think they do, so that jump in ability would probably be even greater. In AD&D2e, an 18/00 in Strength (+3/+6 Bonus) for a Fighter equals a 10% bonus to experience, a +3 bonus to hit = 3 levels/20 (+1 / 1 level). This equates to a 15% jump in combat ability.In 3e, an 18 in Strength (+4 Bonus) for a Fighter equals a +4 bonus to hit = 4 levels/20 (+1 / 1 level). This equates into a 20% jump in combat abilityIn 4e, an 18 in Strength (+4 Bonus) for a Fighter equals a +4 bonus to hit = 8 levels/30 (+1 / 2 levels). This equates to a 27% jump in combat ability.4e matches very closely with B/X-BECM mathematically, but whereas in B/X-BECM there is about a 1/200 chance of getting an 18, in 4e an 18 is almost a given. That to me is stat inflation. Granted, like I mentioned before about the 18/00 issue, most fighters had above average scores, but neither B/X nor BECM expected a 4th-level fighter to have the fighting ability of a 8th-12th level fighter with regards to hit probabilities. What does 4e expect a Fighter to have for Strength?ACs didn't scale very much with regards to the character's levels. As an example, how many monsters in B/X-BECM had ACs of -10? How many monsters in 4e have ACs of 30+. A quick look at the first page in the MM and I find that three of the four Aboleths (levels 16, 17, 18) have ACs at or above 30. In my experience, fighters hit all the time, but others like the Cleric hit ok, and the Thief hit very well with a bow/x-bow and an equivalent Dexterity but not as well as the fighter. And in general the higher the level of the fighter, the more likely he would be to hit. In 4e, if I am not mistaken, in a level-equivalent encounter the fighter will always have something like a 45%-65% chance to hit. No, I gave it a try for about three months. There were alot of things that I liked about it, and then other things that kept me from making it my go-to fantasy RPG.In essence, your 4e fighter took a 5% penalty to hit/damage (or a 2 level penalty) going from a 16 to a 14, to be cool in other ways. But would you drop his strength to 10? Would you take a 6-level penalty as a fighter? Would you be able to take a 15% penalty to hit for your character concept? Would the design of 4e penalize your character too much?I have written far more than I would have ever expected. I'm not even sure that I answered your questions. I will look again tomorrow and clarify.</blockquote>

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