House rule: Maximised chance to hit

[Sadrik]

Add a seventh ability. Call it Power and say that it starts at 20.
Players use this to roll to hit with their powers only. So damage bonuses are as normal.

Basic attacks would still go off of STR and DEX.

Also if they want to raise this they need to raise it with a stat boost.

 

[pokken]

I sorted this out in my game by using a different standard array --
A good starting array of stats for example by the rules is: 17 14 14 10 10 8

Characters in my game all assign: 17 15 14 14 10 8

This results in broader, but not particularly more powerful characters. It basically gives you an extra 14 for your "flavor" stat and basically guarantees no one is going to have a particularly atrocious defense.

It makes characters like Dwarven rangers playable (17 str with 15 dex, 16 con and 16 wis -- definitely usable!), and also denies anyone the ability to start with a 20 - which I find to be what really makes the numbers fly poorly for non-prime-stat races in a class (being 2 full points behind in bonus vs. being 1 point behind).

It also makes everyone just a little better at skills, and it makes sure that your Goliath barbarian (19 str / 17 con) has both usable defenses and at least a tiny bit of flavor (maybe he's a very charming barbarian, with 14 cha to back up his will defense).

 

[Doctor Proctor]

Before you go along with this house rule, might I suggest explaining to your players how the system works? Everything is sort of based around having a 16 in your primary stat, anything above that is just gravy. So, in the case where you get a racial bonus to your primary stat, you'll have an 18, which means you're slightly better off.

Buying an 18 (would be 20 if there's a stat boost) is usually rather inefficient due to the escalating point buy cost. You lose out on a LOT from your secondary stats, and only gain a small benefit to the primary. So really, the problems seems to be that your players overvalue getting an 18/20, not the system itself. When we did a Paragon one-off, for example, I rolled up an Eladrin Greatspear Fighter. He was really cool, and my only regret was that I actually bought an 18. It was overkill to be frank, and I wasn't able to increase WIS and get access to some of the Polearm feats (Greatspear is both a Spear and a Polearm) because of that 18, so it really limited my build.

The reason I'm pointing this out is that your house rule will most likely DECREASE differentiation between characters. If you're going with a Dragonborn Fighter, for example, why even put a high score in there? I'll just drop a 12 in STR and then have 16 CON, 16 WIS, 14 CHA and probably a 12 in DEX. Sure I lose out on some of the other STR bonuses, but the primary effect of adding to my hit bonus will be there, and it will be a +5! If you're playing a Dwarf Fighter though? Drop a 14 in STR, then you'll get a 16 in CON, 16 in WIS, which are actually both 14's, which will leave you a lot of room for further boosting of tertiary stats. Or heck, you could just go 18 in either WIS or CON while dumping INT or something.

I can just keep doing this ad-nauseum for every class/race combination you can think of, because there's almost no point in putting anything above the bare minimum into your primary stat anymore. I think you end up with much more interesting builds overall when there's sometimes a tradeoff between hitting as often, and doing some additional things that wouldn't possible with a higher primary.

 

[BendBars/LiftGates]

Like some other people have pointed out, I think this house rule would actually cause the opposite problem from the one it seeks to fix. With this rule in place, it's pretty foolish to have a key score that's anything higher than 14 and you'll find yourself in a game where no one maxes their class's most important stat. Fighters will want high-Strength races so that they can spend points on a natural 12 Str and boost it to 14, gaining even more points to spend on stats that demand a real investment.


So, this rule will effectively even out the race choices. Dragonborn fighters will be good because they only need to buy a 12 Str to have an effective 20. Eladrin fighters will be good because they don't need to spend those points on Str when they can just have an artificially boosted attack modifier. But you'll find yourself inexplicably surrounded by low-Strength fighters and low-Intelligence wizards, who get by on freebie points and not on a real ability score.

 

[Alex319]

Well, all the ideas about lowering monster defenses or giving everyone a static bonus kind of miss the point. No matter what the defenses are or what other static bonuses you get, a higher primary attack stat lets you hit often.

It seems like a good solution might be the following:

Heroic Tier Feat: Practiced Accuracy

Throughout your training, you have learned to make up for your weaknesses to deliver accurate attacks.

Select one ability score. Your ability modifier for this score is treated as if it were 2 points higher for the purpose of attack rolls only. This does not affect any other function of the ability, including damage rolls, other effects of attacks, defenses, skill modifiers, etc.

Special: This feat cannot raise your effective modifier in an ability score above +5 (at level 1-7), +6 (at levels 8-13), +7 (at levels 14-20), +8 (at levels 21-27), or +9 (at levels 28-30).

--------------------

This has a few benefits:

1. It makes it so it's not totally foolish to actually buy the full 20 - because that way it would free up that feat slot for other purposes.

2. It limits the boosting, thus preventing the strategy of taking a very low score in your primary attack stat and then getting the free bonuses (which several people have mentioned).

Optionally, you can add: "This feat may be taken more than once. Each time it is taken, it applies to a different ability score." That would also give players an option to become more versatile at the cost of some feats, and might make certain multiclass combinations more viable, increasing build options.

 

[Alex319]

Add a seventh ability. Call it Power and say that it starts at 20.
Players use this to roll to hit with their powers only. So damage bonuses are as normal.

Basic attacks would still go off of STR and DEX.

Also if they want to raise this they need to raise it with a stat boost.

Another idea: Do this, except that rather than the "Power" stat starting off at 20, they have to point buy it just like all their other stats. They use the standard point buy chart, except they automatically get the +2 "racial bonus," and the total point allocation is 27 instead of 22 to make up for the extra stat. Then if they want to they can buy a 16 in the power stat (costing 5 points, since it's 14 plus the 2 "bonus"), and have the same number of points as before to spend on everything else. Or alternatively they can buy it up, but have fewer points to spend on other stats. This will still enable people to trade off high attacks with other aspects of their character, thus increasing diversity, while at the same time eliminating the "uber-stat" by effectively dividing it into two stats. This change will also, as a side effect, reduce the "MADness" of many multiclass combinations.

 

[Garthanos]

Well, all the ideas about lowering monster defenses or giving everyone a static bonus kind of miss the point. No matter what the defenses are or what other static bonuses you get, a higher primary attack stat lets you hit often.

It lets you hit "more often" ...
But the noticeable difference is lower... if everyone hits 75% of the time.. the one hitting 85 percent will hardly notice the benefit ...
and that takes 4 more points of ability to get... sigh

For instance the above gives you 1.13 times the chances.. you likely roll 12 or so times to even notice one more shot hitting.... now if the
GM throws a lot of monsters with high levels of Armor...
Compare that to 30 percent upping the odds to 40 percent is like 1.33 times the average damage... in other words knocking down the oppositions defenses across the board makes a bonus to attack less useful... still useful.. just less noticeably so.

 

[keterys]

Like some other people have pointed out, I think this house rule would actually cause the opposite problem from the one it seeks to fix. With this rule in place, it's pretty foolish to have a key score that's anything higher than 14

Eh... why? The stat still applies to your damage, which I understand most people like, as well as your relevant defense for that stat pairing (also useful), class skills, etc.

For example, a rogue with a Dex 14 is worse at damage, reflex, AC, initiative, stealth, thievery, and acrobatics... things that a rogue might actually care about. Also, I hear there are feats a rogue might want based on Dex. Things like expanded crit range, and such. And you could maximize Str instead of Dex, but that's damage only with sneak attack instead of Dex which is all the time, more with basic melee, but less with any ranged, etc.

It would, OTOH, make it possible to have a rogue that cared about Int more... which is, I know, a truly disturbing possibility, but one I'm willing to accept. It would also make the more 3e style stats a little easier... more well-rounded 13s and 14s, cause it's less costly to do so kinda thing.

Just because something is different doesn't make it automatically bad. I'd been thinking of a variant on the suggested rule and was going to make a post about it, then found this thread... and the only potential problem I'm seeing so far is actually Twin Strike, maybe.

 

[Doctor Proctor]

Scary? Scary is a Dragonborn Fighter who took a 12 (+2 racial) in STR and doesn't care about qualifying for feats because he bought an 18 INT and Paragon Multiclassed Wizard so that he could mark all enemies in a Burst 1 At-Will. Such combinations are nearly impossible with the current rules, but become highly beneficial under these alternate rules.

Or heck, you might even see a Human buying a 14 STR and then an 18 INT (+2 Racial) for double 20 attack stats!

 

[keterys]

If everyone has a 20 attack stat... how does that matter? What's so scary about it? Heck, what's scary about a fighter marking everyone in burst 1 using Paragon multiclassing? I mean, step 1: you paragon multiclassed.

As far as I can tell, you're saying that because an option that is currently _horrible_ becomes passable or reasonable, that it's... bad?