amnuxoll
First Post
Proposal: You no longer gain a bonus equal to half your level on defenses, attack rolls, skill checks, ability checks and initiative. Instead, every time you gain a new level you gain 6 "level points" that you can spend as follows:
- 1 point = +1 level bonus to one defense (Fort, Reflex or Will)
- 3 points = +1 level bonus to AC
- 2 points = +1 level bonus to all skills
- 1 point = +2 level bonus to a specific skill
- 4 points = +1 level bonus to attack rolls
- 1 point = +1 level bonus to initiative
You must spend all your level points as soon as you earn them. Your current level bonus to any of the above may never exceed 3/4 of your level.
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What does this do? At the cost of modicum of additional complexity it allows you to de-vanilla the probabilities in 4e without unbalancing it. Right now your probability of success or failure at *any* level appropriate task in 4e is pretty much fixed at around 50%. It doesn't matter if you're swinging a sword, climbing a wall or ducking a breath weapon. There is a little variability based on class, race and skill focus but not much. For the most part, it's always about 50%. I think that stinks. This house rule gives players the opportunity to make trade-offs and be better at some things in exchange for being worse at others. The 3/4 level limit prevents your base success probability from exceeding 75% so you still can't build a character who is always successful at something.
This also provides some nice mechanical hooks for roleplaying.
Example: The defender who is as strong as (and dumb as) a rock can concentrate on defenses at the expense of attacks, skills and initiative.
Example: The lilting swashbuckler can concentrate on attacks, AC, initiative and Reflex defense but fall behind on Fortitude, Will and skills.
Example: The MacGuyver rogue can maximize skill rolls at the cost of a little defense.
One potential negative: You do lose the guarantee that everyone in a 20th level party is better than a 1st level character at anything. I think the only time that this is a significant issue is with skills. If you wanted to, we could avoid that by keeping the fixed 1/2 level bump to skills and only spending 5 points per level.
FYI, if you balance the distribution of your points evenly you end up just slightly behind a PC who uses the standard PHB half-level bonuses. I figure you pay that small penalty in order to get the greater flexibility.
Just throwing it out there...
:AMN:
- 1 point = +1 level bonus to one defense (Fort, Reflex or Will)
- 3 points = +1 level bonus to AC
- 2 points = +1 level bonus to all skills
- 1 point = +2 level bonus to a specific skill
- 4 points = +1 level bonus to attack rolls
- 1 point = +1 level bonus to initiative
You must spend all your level points as soon as you earn them. Your current level bonus to any of the above may never exceed 3/4 of your level.
==========
What does this do? At the cost of modicum of additional complexity it allows you to de-vanilla the probabilities in 4e without unbalancing it. Right now your probability of success or failure at *any* level appropriate task in 4e is pretty much fixed at around 50%. It doesn't matter if you're swinging a sword, climbing a wall or ducking a breath weapon. There is a little variability based on class, race and skill focus but not much. For the most part, it's always about 50%. I think that stinks. This house rule gives players the opportunity to make trade-offs and be better at some things in exchange for being worse at others. The 3/4 level limit prevents your base success probability from exceeding 75% so you still can't build a character who is always successful at something.
This also provides some nice mechanical hooks for roleplaying.
Example: The defender who is as strong as (and dumb as) a rock can concentrate on defenses at the expense of attacks, skills and initiative.
Example: The lilting swashbuckler can concentrate on attacks, AC, initiative and Reflex defense but fall behind on Fortitude, Will and skills.
Example: The MacGuyver rogue can maximize skill rolls at the cost of a little defense.
One potential negative: You do lose the guarantee that everyone in a 20th level party is better than a 1st level character at anything. I think the only time that this is a significant issue is with skills. If you wanted to, we could avoid that by keeping the fixed 1/2 level bump to skills and only spending 5 points per level.
FYI, if you balance the distribution of your points evenly you end up just slightly behind a PC who uses the standard PHB half-level bonuses. I figure you pay that small penalty in order to get the greater flexibility.
Just throwing it out there...
:AMN: