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Community
General Tabletop Discussion
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Why is it considered good design to have all ability score adjustments an even number
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<blockquote data-quote="Janx" data-source="post: 1815443" data-attributes="member: 8835"><p>The reason +1/-1 aren't used is because a delta of 1 doesn't ALWAYS change the character.</p><p></p><p>In D&D2e, where the stat tables had modifiers at each point (in the upper and lower bands of 3-18), then a +1 or -1 had an impact. Also, the skills system directly used the Stats of the PC. Thus having a 14 or 15 stat made a difference.</p><p></p><p>Since 3e standardized the stat increase to be every 2 points, then applying a bonus or penalty needed to be a +2 or -2 increment to ensure EVERY character would be affected. A -1 penalty would have a 50% chance (applied to a random character) of actually impacting that character.</p><p></p><p>Here's a simple example. Suppose I'm the DM and I make up some lame poison that causes -1 to STR for 1d6 rounds. The player with 17 str who gets hit by it will laugh and say "Hah! I'm effectively immune!" Whereas, the player with the 16 or 18 strength will whimper, because they just lost 5% chance of hitting and +1 damage. By making it a -2 STR penalty, I ensure that the effect hits any character, and doesn't fall through the crack of some arbitrary stat assignment.</p><p></p><p>Given that when I make characters, I often hope for odd numbers and I put those odd numbers on my key stats. That way, when I get to 4th level, I can pump it up and get a boost to my character's major ability. So if you were to use 1 point deltas, I'd simply arrange my stats to minimize the impact on my character, effectively nullifying the stat penalty.</p><p></p><p>To sum up, well designed races have even stat modifiers. If the race is unbalanced, fix it another way. Most likely, the culprit is all the special abilities that have been stacked on it. And then, you've got the ECL system to account for "power-races"</p><p></p><p>Janx</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Janx, post: 1815443, member: 8835"] The reason +1/-1 aren't used is because a delta of 1 doesn't ALWAYS change the character. In D&D2e, where the stat tables had modifiers at each point (in the upper and lower bands of 3-18), then a +1 or -1 had an impact. Also, the skills system directly used the Stats of the PC. Thus having a 14 or 15 stat made a difference. Since 3e standardized the stat increase to be every 2 points, then applying a bonus or penalty needed to be a +2 or -2 increment to ensure EVERY character would be affected. A -1 penalty would have a 50% chance (applied to a random character) of actually impacting that character. Here's a simple example. Suppose I'm the DM and I make up some lame poison that causes -1 to STR for 1d6 rounds. The player with 17 str who gets hit by it will laugh and say "Hah! I'm effectively immune!" Whereas, the player with the 16 or 18 strength will whimper, because they just lost 5% chance of hitting and +1 damage. By making it a -2 STR penalty, I ensure that the effect hits any character, and doesn't fall through the crack of some arbitrary stat assignment. Given that when I make characters, I often hope for odd numbers and I put those odd numbers on my key stats. That way, when I get to 4th level, I can pump it up and get a boost to my character's major ability. So if you were to use 1 point deltas, I'd simply arrange my stats to minimize the impact on my character, effectively nullifying the stat penalty. To sum up, well designed races have even stat modifiers. If the race is unbalanced, fix it another way. Most likely, the culprit is all the special abilities that have been stacked on it. And then, you've got the ECL system to account for "power-races" Janx [/QUOTE]
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Why is it considered good design to have all ability score adjustments an even number
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