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Das Platyvark
2011-06-30, 08:18 PM
What the heck is it, anyway? What systems use it?
Any explanations? And how is it different from, say, point buy, or random generation?

erikun
2011-06-30, 08:54 PM
Are you talking about something like the old Shadowrun character generation?

It's been awhile, but I think it went something like this. You had five "ranks" or "priorities" to rate five variables during character creation: race, class, stats, skills, and money. Rating them at the highest priority (1st) would give the biggest bonus, while rating them at the lowest (5th) would give little to nothing. If you wanted to play a very simple character concept - human street samurai, for example - then there were no restrictions on what you could rate race/class. You would put the two into 4th and 5th priority, leaving the top three priorities (the most valuable) for your stats, skills, and money.

On the other hand, if you picked a very strong race, you were forced to rate it higher. Trolls, for instance, took up the 1st priority. Spellcasters like the mage or shaman took up 2nd or 1st priority. (You could always rate a race/class as higher than necessary.) If you wanted to play something like a troll shaman, that would take up your 1st and 2nd priority - meaning you needed to use the lower three priorities (the least valuable) for your stats/skills/money.

That sounds like what you are looking for.

DukeofDellot
2011-06-30, 09:02 PM
... Huh...

I wonder if this could be applied to d20 3.5e as a Tier system balancer/racial Level Adjustment replacement...

Nah... that's crazy.

Knaight
2011-06-30, 09:07 PM
Riddle of Steel does the same thing, as a point of notice. In general, a Priority system is a way of linking disparate parts of character generation and providing options, essentially acting as an overlay to a roll or point buy system (usually the latter).