CafeWoof
2014-12-07, 07:58 PM
Hey, so I was making some races for a science-fantasy campaign and I had a question regarding racial modifiers to ability scores.
Are the modifiers calculated before or after you actually roll for/build your base scores? Because my understanding is that you can not exceed a base score of 18 upon character creation. In my case, we have a points system where we're building the scores. Each score starts at 8, you get however many points (somewhere between 30 and 36). Up to a score of 14, each score costs one point. 15 and 16 cost 2, and 17 and 18 cost 3.
Anyways, if racial modifiers take effect AFTER you build the scores, you could then exceed 18. So, for instance, a race called the Cor has a +4 Strength modifier. If you put all of your points in STR and get a score of 18, that Cor racial modifier bumps it up to a 1st Level STR score of 22.
If racial modifiers take effect BEFORE you build the scores, the scaling points/score still takes effect. So, with the same Cor example, the STR score begins at 12 as opposed to 8, and it just requires less points to be invested to get to 18. You can't get above 18 in this case though.
The reason I'm wondering is because if the racial modifiers take effect after actually putting in your points and building your scores, the scaling points/score system can be abused. So say the Cor put enough points into STR for a score of 14, well now he has ignored the scaling (15 and 16 cost 2 points, 17 and 18 cost 3 points) and still has a STR score of 18 because of his Strength modifier. And now he has a bunch of extra points to put into other scores because he didn't have to really commit to getting that STR score up. However, even though this is the case, I would still think that this is how you'd do it, because making them take effect before would be kind of clunky if you were rolling for scores. I also believe it might be this way just due to the fact that if anyone was building for scores, it's almost like if the racial modifiers would mean nothing if they were calculated before. It would just mean your scores would start in different places, so you'd spend a little more points on some scores and less points on others.
So what do you guys think? I was just curious to hear some other opinions. Maybe this isn't applicable to many because they roll for instead of build for scores? Maybe I'm in the wrong for believing base scores can't exceed 18 at 1st Level? Maybe it's just up to DM discretion? I have no idea. I'm relatively new to all of this, so any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
Are the modifiers calculated before or after you actually roll for/build your base scores? Because my understanding is that you can not exceed a base score of 18 upon character creation. In my case, we have a points system where we're building the scores. Each score starts at 8, you get however many points (somewhere between 30 and 36). Up to a score of 14, each score costs one point. 15 and 16 cost 2, and 17 and 18 cost 3.
Anyways, if racial modifiers take effect AFTER you build the scores, you could then exceed 18. So, for instance, a race called the Cor has a +4 Strength modifier. If you put all of your points in STR and get a score of 18, that Cor racial modifier bumps it up to a 1st Level STR score of 22.
If racial modifiers take effect BEFORE you build the scores, the scaling points/score still takes effect. So, with the same Cor example, the STR score begins at 12 as opposed to 8, and it just requires less points to be invested to get to 18. You can't get above 18 in this case though.
The reason I'm wondering is because if the racial modifiers take effect after actually putting in your points and building your scores, the scaling points/score system can be abused. So say the Cor put enough points into STR for a score of 14, well now he has ignored the scaling (15 and 16 cost 2 points, 17 and 18 cost 3 points) and still has a STR score of 18 because of his Strength modifier. And now he has a bunch of extra points to put into other scores because he didn't have to really commit to getting that STR score up. However, even though this is the case, I would still think that this is how you'd do it, because making them take effect before would be kind of clunky if you were rolling for scores. I also believe it might be this way just due to the fact that if anyone was building for scores, it's almost like if the racial modifiers would mean nothing if they were calculated before. It would just mean your scores would start in different places, so you'd spend a little more points on some scores and less points on others.
So what do you guys think? I was just curious to hear some other opinions. Maybe this isn't applicable to many because they roll for instead of build for scores? Maybe I'm in the wrong for believing base scores can't exceed 18 at 1st Level? Maybe it's just up to DM discretion? I have no idea. I'm relatively new to all of this, so any help would be appreciated. Thanks!