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View Full Version : Ability Score - Redistribution House Rule



Flarp
2009-09-13, 10:11 AM
I've been privately working with a house rule for redistributing ability scores after rolling. The idea is that the points are mobile and can be switched from one ability score to another, with some restrictions.


You can still choose which scores get which initial values.
You can't distribute more than 18 points to one ability, for obvious reasons.
You can't lower any ability to anything lower than your lowest initial value.
You can't add more than 3 to any one initial value.

As an example, let's say I rolled up 14, 17, 10, 12, 16, 13.

First, I assign these to abilities. I'll just go in traditional order for simplicity, but that doesn't need to be the case.


14 Strength
17 Dexterity
10 Constitution
12 Intelligence
16 Wisdom
13 Charisma

Now, I can't lower any ability below 10, because that was my lowest roll, and I can't raise any ability above 18, because that's the limit.

But let's say I want a tank - we're assuming I made this decision AFTER choosing which abilities got which scores. I could take two from Intelligence and six from Wisdom and get 18 Constitution, right?

Wrong. You can only add up to three to each score, so my maximum base Constitution is 13.

Discuss? Critique? Waffle Singularity?

Milskidasith
2009-09-13, 10:13 AM
So you get to roll, and then you get to get what's essentially a point buy where every attribute costs 1 point.

Well, it would get rid of those pesky odd numbers.

Flarp
2009-09-13, 10:17 AM
So you get to roll, and then you get to get what's essentially a point buy where every attribute costs 1 point.

Well, it would get rid of those pesky odd numbers.

Yeah, basically.

Kylarra
2009-09-13, 10:21 AM
The usual compromise I've done is you can burn a stat (down to 8) at a 2:1 ratio.

So in your model, rather than dropping your CHA to 12 and getting an 18 Dex at no apparent cost, you'd need to instead drop your CHA to 11 (an actual loss of modifier) in order to get a point to boost your DEX to 18.

Otherwise you just end up with SAD classes getting an 18 in their primary stat no matter what they rolled, generally speaking.

daggaz
2009-09-13, 10:28 AM
Yeah, this basically gives players a random pt buy determined only by how lucky they roll, where each point always costs 1, and where there are some very arbitrary limits, especially since I can choose where my stats go first (so no, I wouldnt put that ten on con if I was a tank and hoping to have at least a 16).

Its actually even more of an "unfair" system than rolling, because once you have the base points, you have a lot of power to rearrange as you see fit. Somebody who rolls poorly gets boned, somebody who rolls well can end up with a sweet array for just about any character concept. And somebody who rolls high but gets one really low mod can minmax like no tomorrow.

Nah... dont think I would use this sorry =(

Fitz10019
2009-09-13, 11:15 AM
Somebody who rolls poorly gets boned

Agreed. You're halfway to point buy. The only way to make this fair is to proceed all the way, or to retreat to static roll results.

FMArthur
2009-09-13, 01:05 PM
This is... really bad. I can sort of understand that people who are obsessed with randomizing everything want to just roll stats. I can easily understand that some people want a fair game and don't want to depend on a single set of rolls for year-long campaigns. And yeah, some groups enjoy the randomization but also recognize the potential for unfairness in rolling, so they add a small point buy to their 3d6 instead of rolling 4d6 and dropping the lowest.

I have no idea what the purpose of rolling your point buy total might be, though. Roll poorly, and you're just as screwed as in any other completely random method. Roll well, and you can make a strong character into a perfect character with this method. Widening the gap.