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

[DND_Reborn]

You're absolutely correct. Even so, I've never run a game where everyone was ok with point buy or the standard array, so rolling is what we get. Maybe I can get away with point buy in a non D&D game where it's not a listed option, but to my players, rolling stats is a sacred cow of the game. I'm sure if we play Level Up it will be the same.

In games d20-style games, I've seen point-buy used about 50/50 with rolling. I prefer point-buy myself just because you won't have "lucky" PCs who can overshadow ones with lower rolls, which can especially happen at lower levels.

For example, in our main campaign (which started nearly two years ago), one player rolled 19, 16, 18, 13, 13, 13 or something like that after racial bonuses, while another player had 10, 10, 15, 12, 13, 16 after modifiers. That is a huge difference in points--just because of luck. shrug

 

[Micah Sweet]

In games d20-style games, I've seen point-buy used about 50/50 with rolling. I prefer point-buy myself just because you won't have "lucky" PCs who can overshadow ones with lower rolls, which can especially happen at lower levels.

For example, in our main campaign (which started nearly two years ago), one player rolled 19, 16, 18, 13, 13, 13 or something like that after racial bonuses, while another player had 10, 10, 15, 12, 13, 16 after modifiers. That is a huge difference in points--just because of luck. shrug

I'd love to run point buy some day, but my wife plays with us and hates it with the fury of a thousand suns. The ironic thing is, she's also scrupulously honest about her rolls. Hard to argue her point.

 

[DND_Reborn]

I'd love to run point buy some day, but my wife plays with us and hates it with the fury of a thousand suns. The ironic thing is, she's also scrupulously honest about her rolls. Hard to argue her point.

That's great! If a player is willing to roll and honestly accept the risk and not bitch and whine later on because of one or two bad scores, I am all for rolling. But, as I said, IME that is definitely the exception to the rule.

We do allow either point-buy or rolling, the player decides, so why not run a game where the player can choose which method they want to use? I see no reason why every player has to use the same method since (roughly) over all the scores are closely equal. shrug

 

[Morrus]

Here's a Q.

What would we use as culture?

1. Is it just subraces renamed (elves get dark, wood, and high but not mountain and swamp)
2. Would every species get access to all cultures?
   • If so would it be based on fantasy archetypes? (High, Dark, Light, Nature, Warrior, City)
   • tropes? (stout, lightfoot, smart, magical, sneaky, normal)
   • terrain? (arctic, coast, desert, forest, grassland, mountain, swamp, underdark, urban)
   • caste? (royal, noble, priest, warrior, merchant, craftsman, commoner)
   • class? (warrior, thief, mage, priest, bard)
   • psuedo background? (foreign, urban, classy, tribal)
   • a mix? (arctic, high, dark, tribal, commoner, stout)

Because to me, it kinda matters. It would determine the logical spread of ability score bonuses.

The first playtest candidate has Elf as a heritage, and wood, high, dark elves etc. as cultures. Any heritage can take any culture, so you can have the dwarf heritage and the wood elf culture. All biological features reside in heritage, and all learned features reside in culture.

 

[Micah Sweet]

That's great! If a player is willing to roll and honestly accept the risk and not bitch and whine later on because of one or two bad scores, I am all for rolling. But, as I said, IME that is definitely the exception to the rule.

We do allow either point-buy or rolling, the player decides, so why not run a game where the player can choose which method they want to use? I see no reason why every player has to use the same method since (roughly) over all the scores are closely equal. shrug

Yeah, but most of my players like the possibility of high rolls, and know I won't make them play a character whose stats they don't like. I might be able to make a game fly where my wife gets to roll and everybody else uses point buy. It's not like she's ever made an overpowered character.

 

[DND_Reborn]

The first playtest candidate has Elf as a heritage, and wood, high, dark elves etc. as cultures. Any heritage can take any culture, so you can have the dwarf heritage and the wood elf culture. All biological features reside in heritage, and all learned features reside in culture.

I would imagine for now using terms like Wood for a wood elf culture would eventually translate to more generic terms for culture such as nomad, rural, street, etc.?

 

[DND_Reborn]

most of my players like the possibility of high rolls, and know I won't make them play a character whose stats they don't like

Which means if you allow them to roll and they get bad results that they won't want to play, giving them multiple rolls or defaulting to a standard array, etc. means they have a chance for reward with no risk. Personally as a DM I wouldn't do that, but ultimately everyone wants to have fun so if you're happy with it, no issues here.

where my wife gets to roll and everybody else uses point buy.

I would suggest it. I don't see why any one would take issue with it, but I could be wrong since I don't know your table.

 

[Minigiant]

The first playtest candidate has Elf as a heritage, and wood, high, dark elves etc. as cultures. Any heritage can take any culture, so you can have the dwarf heritage and the wood elf culture. All biological features reside in heritage, and all learned features reside in culture.

So coolcoolcool. I can't wait to see how you guys did it.

I tried to do a species/culture/background split just to see how it would look. Both +1 to each and for +2 to species and +1 or +2 culture.
I had trouble getting the ability scores to spread around enough with a player driven 16 prime ability assumption. Some abilities were over represented.

But I did it based on fantasy archetypes and terrains.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Which means if you allow them to roll and they get bad results that they won't want to play, giving them multiple rolls or defaulting to a standard array, etc. means they have a chance for reward with no risk. Personally as a DM I wouldn't do that, but ultimately everyone wants to have fun so if you're happy with it, no issues here.


I would suggest it. I don't see why any one would take issue with it, but I could be wrong since I don't know your table.

I'm not really happy with it, but I've been out-voted, and I can live with it. I just struggle making combat challenging sometimes.

 

[Haldrik]

I like the terminology: heritage and culture. The heritage is like the hardware, and the culture is like the software. Really the heritage is morelike "firmware", in the sense that a magical culture can modify the inherited biology if it so chooses. Even so, there is a sense of ancestral traits versus generational traits.

I would probably prefer to rename the background, as individual "experience", in the sense of a job resume. But I can live background, in the sense that the foreground job is "adventurer".