Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rystil Arden" data-source="post: 3538413" data-attributes="member: 29014">And see, I don't think the 18 is going to make a difference, really.  I wouldn't want that 23 Point Buy (yup, you forgot to spend two points on the one with the 16!) Bard cohort in a game with Lasair, my 4th-level Telepath (especially if he's a half-elf and you ditch Persuasive), since Lasair has put a subtantial investment into having +18 Diplomacy at level 4, and the Bard is going to have +21 (+23 if Half-Elf).  The 18 does barely anything for the Bard, really--because it costs 8 points, the 18 Cha Bard at 30 PB is going to have 3 fewer points to spend elsewhere than the 25 PB Bard with 16.  And it's just another +1.I guess what I'm saying is--if the cohort is going to upstage a PC, she'll probably do it regardless of the PB.  Because 18s are overcosted in the standard PB system, using 18s will actually weaken the cohort overall, but it could still be nice for cohorts with that concept.I guess in summary--the difference between 16 and 18 in a casting stat is not really all that noticable compared to the price (5% chance per casting a DC spell that it makes a difference, and starting at level 7, it's one bonus spell, though you likely have a +2 item by then anyway).  Thus, it only really matters for a concept--and that concept may be important.Concrete example--I know because Vanitri leveled to 6 in one of my adventures that he was thinking of taking Leadership and bringing along an NPC friend from that adventure, though he eventually declined to take the feat due to the draconian restrictions we have on it here in LEW.  The NPC is (imo, since I made her) an entertaining, well-rounded personality, but much of it is focused around the fact that the NPC has 19 Int (she's the Hermionesque book-smartest student type).  Even with contemplating rearranging her other stats to fit 25 PB (since I made her, like most of my NPCs that aren't throwaway goons, using 30 PB), the 18 had to stay, or else her character makes no sense.  But in the end, she would be weaker for it overall than if she had just taken the 16 and dealt out the stat points somewhere else (or taken 17 and counted on the fact that cohorts start at level 4 and get a stat raise).</blockquote>

Verification