Point Buy For 19+ Stats

[Dog Moon]

There doesn't seem to be any equation for the point buy in the DMG. I saw a while ago someone mention removing all stat enhancing items and spells from the game and instead giving characters extra points at each extra level [a number of points equal to level]. I was thinking about doing this, but I don't know what would be a good number of points to be needed for stats above 19 to make it from being neither too high or too low.

If anyone can help, I'd appreciate it.

 

[Jdvn1]

What's "too high" and "too low"? Different people are accustomed to different levels of play. I wouldn't hesitate to start a game with 32 or 34 point buy, but with that system, maybe I'd start with 28 or 30.

 

[Dog Moon]

Originally posted by Jdvn1
What's "too high" and "too low"? Different people are accustomed to different levels of play. I wouldn't hesitate to start a game with 32 or 34 point buy, but with that system, maybe I'd start with 28 or 30.

Oh, I was going to start at 28, but that wasn't my question. I may not have been clear.

13 points are required for a 17.
16 points are required for a 18.

The DMG only goes up to 18. I'm looking for how many should be required for 19+.
Would 19 points required for a 19 be good and then go up each be cumulative of 3? so:
19 points for a 19
22 points for a 20
25 points for a 21
28 points for a 22
31 points for a 23
etc.

[19 increase by 3 to 22, 22 increases by 3 to 25, 25 increases by 3 to 28, etc]

Or should the increase of required points grow to more than 3? Like:
19 points for a 19
23 points for a 20
27 points for a 21
32 points for a 22
37 points for a 23
etc.

[19 increase by 4 to 23, 23 increases by 4 to 27, 27 increases by 5 to 32, etc]

This sounds so much easier to explain when picturing it in my head than to write it down coherently.

 

[Jdvn1]

Oh, oh. It'd probably increase, but...

6 points for a 14
10 points for a 16
16 spoints for an 18
right? well...
20 points for a 19
24 points for a 20
29 points for a 21
34 points for a 22
40 points for a 23
46 points for a 24

Up to 14, it's 1 point per increase.
For 15 and 16, it's 2 points per increase.
For 17 and 18, it's 3 points per increase.
right? well...
For 19 and 20, it's 4 points per increase.
For 21 and 22, it's 5 points per increase.
For 23 and 24, it's 6 points per increase.
etc.

 

[Thanee]

I'm using something similar as a replacement of the free ability point every 4th level, and so far I have used the 19-20: 4pts, 21-22: 5pts, 23-24: 6pts, etc progression, but I think it could also be fine, if you just use a fixed amount for everything above 18; I would recommend 4pts for 19+ then. It mostly depends on how many points one has to spend.

If you give them their new level in points per level, that's quite a bit, so I would probably use the cumulatively increasing costs rather than the fixed costs.

It's surely best if you just make up a few ability spreads and look how you would improve them at each level up all the way to 20th level and then look at the results to see, if it looks too high or too low. If it's too high, I would then reduce the number of points gained each level (i.e. 1/2 new level in points every level). If it's too low, then going for the fixed progression might be ok.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Gruns]

The Official Unoffical word

Well, going by the official book... You pay whatever the current bonus is to go up a point. (Minimum of 1 point paid).
So if you currently have an Int of 15(+2 bonus), you pay 2 more to go to 16(+3 Bonus). Since your bonus is now +3, you pay 3 points to go to 17. Etc etc.
Since 18(+4) is a +4 bonus, you pay 4 more to go to 19(+4). You paid 16 total points to get to 18, so to get to 19(+4) you pay a total of 20.
Or you could just look at the charts that the previous posters have posted and eliminate a lot of math.
Later!
Gruns

 

[Thanee]

Or you could just look at the charts that the previous posters have posted and eliminate a lot of math.

That would be the OP's own charts then...

Bye
Thanee

 

[Gruns]

That would be the OP's own charts then

Yeah, but he started his 19 increase short by 1 point somehow, which threw off the rest of the chart.
JDVN's chart is right on, as is your verbal list.

Later!
Gruns

 

[Dog Moon]

Originally posted by Gruns
Yeah, but he started his 19 increase short by 1 point somehow, which threw off the rest of the chart.
JDVN's chart is right on, as is your verbal list.

Well, um, maybe I didn't want to switch to a 4 point increase yet. Maybe I wanted to give the PCs an extra point.







Okay, so I'm off by a point.

 

[Infiniti2000]

Btw, I would suggest you not allow base scores (unmodified by racial bonuses) above 18 for the initial build of the characters. I.e. the wizard doesn't start with 28 points in Int with 8's in all 5 other stats.