Level Up (A5E) Where to put ability bonuses during character creation

[Guest 6801328]

Another thread mentioned doing away with the +2 racial and giving everyone a feat at 1st level. One of the feats could be the +2 Dex for elves or +2 Con for dwarves. This could be a decent compromise. I do not think I would be for a general +2 to anything and should keep the theme for each race.

My first reaction was that this doesn't solve the problem, because if you want to play, say, a rogue, then there's still a huge incentive to pick the halfling or elf and use your feat to get +2 dex.

But....that might not be true if there are other really compelling feats to choose from. Sure, your Dwarf rogue might only start with 15 Dex instead of 17, but maybe they get a cool feat that makes the rogue great in other ways.

While most feats are not as good as a +2 in your primary attribute, some are. We might need more of those.

Hmmm. Interesting.

@Charlaquin, what do you think?

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

I would be ok if each Background/culture/specie gave a choice of two +1s, and you pick one. The character cannot gain twice the same +1s.

I would force the character to be a little more diversified in their stat allotment without starting too high as to cap after only a few levels.

 

[FireLance]

On the basis that a feat should be equal to a +2 ASI, I would like to retain the +2 racial ASI but allow it to be exchanged for a racial feat. So if your goliath wizard doesn't want +2 Strength, swap it out for a racial feat that would be more useful.

For the +1 ASI, I'd like to have the flexibility to swap it out for another +1 based on background, as long as no ability score is increased twice. So no +2 Strength from race and another +1 Strength from background.

 

[Charlaquin]

For a moment, I thought this was going to be about where to put the stats in on the character sheet. And After a bit of deliberation I thought the middle of the page, with attacks/defenses on one side and skills on the other, would be best.

I think if you can’t just use the official 5e character sheet for an A5E character, something has gone wrong in the “100% compatible with 5e” department.

Obviously because of restrictions around trade dress, A5E will need its own character sheet to be fully standalone. But theoretically I think it should be totally possible to use a 5e character sheet in your home game if you want to.

 

[Zardnaar]

I think if you can’t just use the official 5e character sheet for an A5E character, something has gone wrong in the “100% compatible with 5e” department.

Obviously because of restrictions around trade dress, A5E will need its own character sheet to be fully standalone. But theoretically I think it should be totally possible to use a 5e character sheet in your home game if you want to.

From the sounds of it it's rewrites of races/class/backgrounds and some add ons.

 

[Charlaquin]

I would be ok if each Background/culture/specie gave a choice of two +1s, and you pick one. The character cannot gain twice the same +1s.

I would force the character to be a little more diversified in their stat allotment without starting too high as to cap after only a few levels.

You could go full PF2 with it: everything starts at 10, race increases two fixed scores and your choice of one other (or increases your choice of two different for humans and half-humans), background increases your choice of one from two fixed options and one other, class increases primary ability (or your choice of one of the class’s primary abilities for MAD classes).

 

[Charlaquin]

From the sounds of it it's rewrites of races/class/backgrounds and some add ons.

That wouldn’t necessarily prevent you from using an official 5e character sheet for an A5E character.

 

[Zardnaar]

I do like Pathfinder 2s floating +2. Just solves so many problems without being to complicated.

 

[Zardnaar]

That wouldn’t necessarily prevent you from using an official 5e character sheet for an A5E character.

Yeah that's the easiest way to go IMHO.

 

[Micah Sweet]

My first reaction was that this doesn't solve the problem, because if you want to play, say, a rogue, then there's still a huge incentive to pick the halfling or elf and use your feat to get +2 dex.

But....that might not be true if there are other really compelling feats to choose from. Sure, your Dwarf rogue might only start with 15 Dex instead of 17, but maybe they get a cool feat that makes the rogue great in other ways.

While most feats are not as good as a +2 in your primary attribute, some are. We might need more of those.

Hmmm. Interesting.

@Charlaquin, what do you think?

What would be a good enough feat for a rogue to take at 1st, instead of +2 dex?