I've seen this idea talked about, and I thought I would formalize it. This is an idea to allow classes to customize their primary ability scores slightly, allowing for more customization and better multiclass synergy. It probably leads to a few hiccups as well, as lets take a look.
Altering Powers
Whenever you first take a class (or a multiclass), you have the option to choose one of that classes primary ability scores, and one of its secondary scores (see list below)
For any power that uses that primary ability score, you can now replace it with the secondary ability score. In addition, if those SAME powers use the secondary score, you can can replace it with the primary score.
Example: A paladin decides he wants to play a wise inquisitor more than a warrior paladin. He chooses strength as his primary stat, and wisdom as his secondary. When the paladin chooses piercing smite as his power, he now does a Wisdom attack vs reflex, does 2[w]+wisdom damage, and marks a number of adjacent targets equal to his strength mod.
However, if he chooses fearsome smite, the power would be completely unchanged, because it is NOT based on strength.
Example2: A fighter decides to play a bastion of health more than raw strength. He chooses strength as his primary, and con as his secondary. He chooses the power Armor-Piercing Thrust. The power is strength based, so he can now use his con for the attack and damage. However, the secondary stat is dex for that. Since the fighter did not choose dex as his secondary stat, that part of the power remains unchanged. However, if he had chosen crushing blow, he could have used his con for his primary attack and damage, and gotten extra damage with this strength.
Cleric
Primary: Strength, Wisdom
Secondary: Charisma
Fighter
Primary: Strength
Secondary: Con, Dex
Paladin
Primary: Strength, Charisma
Secondary: Wis
Ranger
Primary: Str, Dex
Secondary: Wis
Rogue
Primary: Dex
Secondary: Cha, Str
Warlock
Primary: Cha, Con
Secondary: Int
Warlord
Primary: Strength
Secondary: Int, Cha
Wizard
Primary: Int
Secondary: Wis
Comments: I think this mechanic can add a lot of variety to many classes. A fighter could choose to go hitpoints over better OAs, or could just the swashbuckler route and play a dex fighter who can more easily multiclass with rogue. A rogue could go for an even more brutal thug route, choosing his attacks based on strength and going a higher strength than dex. He would give up some AC and reflex defense for the ability to do even more damage on his sneak attacks, and have better OA's.
My main concerns are these:
1) The wizard really doesn't benefit from this mechanic at all. He doesn't use wisdom for much as a secondary stat, and giving up the AC boost of int is probably not going to work.
2) The warlord and warlock could get a much higher AC than normal using their secondary int stat instead of their primary, which might be unbalancing.
Altering Powers
Whenever you first take a class (or a multiclass), you have the option to choose one of that classes primary ability scores, and one of its secondary scores (see list below)
For any power that uses that primary ability score, you can now replace it with the secondary ability score. In addition, if those SAME powers use the secondary score, you can can replace it with the primary score.
Example: A paladin decides he wants to play a wise inquisitor more than a warrior paladin. He chooses strength as his primary stat, and wisdom as his secondary. When the paladin chooses piercing smite as his power, he now does a Wisdom attack vs reflex, does 2[w]+wisdom damage, and marks a number of adjacent targets equal to his strength mod.
However, if he chooses fearsome smite, the power would be completely unchanged, because it is NOT based on strength.
Example2: A fighter decides to play a bastion of health more than raw strength. He chooses strength as his primary, and con as his secondary. He chooses the power Armor-Piercing Thrust. The power is strength based, so he can now use his con for the attack and damage. However, the secondary stat is dex for that. Since the fighter did not choose dex as his secondary stat, that part of the power remains unchanged. However, if he had chosen crushing blow, he could have used his con for his primary attack and damage, and gotten extra damage with this strength.
Cleric
Primary: Strength, Wisdom
Secondary: Charisma
Fighter
Primary: Strength
Secondary: Con, Dex
Paladin
Primary: Strength, Charisma
Secondary: Wis
Ranger
Primary: Str, Dex
Secondary: Wis
Rogue
Primary: Dex
Secondary: Cha, Str
Warlock
Primary: Cha, Con
Secondary: Int
Warlord
Primary: Strength
Secondary: Int, Cha
Wizard
Primary: Int
Secondary: Wis
Comments: I think this mechanic can add a lot of variety to many classes. A fighter could choose to go hitpoints over better OAs, or could just the swashbuckler route and play a dex fighter who can more easily multiclass with rogue. A rogue could go for an even more brutal thug route, choosing his attacks based on strength and going a higher strength than dex. He would give up some AC and reflex defense for the ability to do even more damage on his sneak attacks, and have better OA's.
My main concerns are these:
1) The wizard really doesn't benefit from this mechanic at all. He doesn't use wisdom for much as a secondary stat, and giving up the AC boost of int is probably not going to work.
2) The warlord and warlock could get a much higher AC than normal using their secondary int stat instead of their primary, which might be unbalancing.
