(3.5) Help with creating a "unusual" means of ability score generation

[dethkruzer]

so I'm gonna be starting a new campaign soon, and wanted to do something slightly different for character creation. Specifically, for ability scores, my thought was that the characters would go through a number of small events representing various stages of their youth, and depending on the outcome of these events, the character would gain a boost in one ability score.

What I'm hoping people could help me with is giving suggestion or ideas in regards to these scenarios, both for the setup, potential outcomes, and what ability score said outcomes would increase.

Before anyone points it out, no the players will not be completely up the creek without a paddle here. At the end of the process they will be given a chance to increase their ability scores of choice by a few points.


To give just an idea of what I'm looking to find, I'll give an example. Please note that this is extremely simplified for the sake of making this brief.

Setup: You've been given a sweetroll. Before you have a chance to enjoy it, you are confronted by a bully demanding the treat for himself.

Outcomes:
if you manage to beat the bully down through sheer ferocity and brute force, gain +1 strength.

If you beat the bully through guile and dirty tactics, gain +1 dexterity

If you relinquish the sweetroll, recognizing the bully as a superior opponent, gain +1 wisdom

If you succeed in convincing the bully that he in fact does not want the sweetroll for whatever reason, gain +1 charisma.


Also, just gonna give a bit of world info here at the end: It is a fairly generic fantasy world, though in the last hundred years, magic, especially of the arcane kind has become scarcer, technology taking its place.

Thanks in advance to anyone who wishes to help.

[NOhara24]

So you want to create the GOAT for D&D. Seems like it could be fun.

You stumble upon a locked chest in your family's shed. Considering the time of year, you suspect it to contain you and your sibilings' (if there are any) winter festival gifts. You want to look inside, how do you bypass the lock?

A) Smash it with your father's sledgehammer (+1 STR)

B) Pick it using one of your mother's Bobby Pins (+1 DEX)

C) Search the house and find the lock to the chest (+1 INT)

D) Don't touch it. You'll have your answer as to what was inside in time, and that's good enough for you. (+1 WIS)

You could even go further and institute tradeoffs in the answers themselves.

E) Smash a hole in the side of the chest itself, leaving the lock undisturbed. (+2 STR, -2 INT)

However, balancing all this is not up to me thank God :smallbiggrin:

[dethkruzer]

yes, that sounds like a very good scenario. Also, this temr "GOAT" you used, is that an acronym of something, as I am unfamilliar with it.

[Pinkie Pyro]

yes, that sounds like a very good scenario. Also, this temr "GOAT" you used, is that an acronym of something, as I am unfamilliar with it.

Generalized Occupational Aptitude Test, from fallout

some bullies are picking on your friend, what do you do?

A: sock the biggest one in the jaw (+STR)

B: sweep the legs out from under the biggest one (+DEX)

C: come up with a clever insult (+CHA)

D: threaten to tell the bullies parents (+WIS)

[Vaern]

I used to play an online game whose character creation asked a series of questions which determined your base stats, after which a random number (something like 1d4 or 1d6) was added afterward to determine your final scores. Each of these also had one dummy answer which would not contribute to any attributes.

They were things like, "What do you prize the most?"
"You draw a card from a tarot deck. What is it?"
"A minstrel offers to sing you a ballad. Which story do you choose to hear?"
"An otherworldly messenger appears at the stroke of midnight. What form does it take?"

[GilesTheCleric]

Yes, I think there's a lot of games with these sorts of questionnaires. You might be familiar with Mount and Blade: Warband, a PC game with an age-based quiz. A mod for it, Floris Mod, has a more in-depth quiz, and the questions/ stat mods are available on the wiki. Iirc M+B uses the same stats as DnD, but the scaling is more AD&D, so you could just bump up the base (I think 4 or 6 is the minimum stat in M+B, rather than 8 or 10).

[gr8artist]

You are given a tomato, but you're not sure what to do with it or how tasty it might be. /joke

On a more serious note, I recommend having several situations planned, each leaning toward a likely resolution. This way, you don't need one situation with 6 possible outcomes. Three situations with 4 outcomes each could work just as well. The main issue will be coming up with problems that children can solve with Constitution (the passive attribute) or Wisdom (the one that kids wouldn't ever think of).

Bully: Fight (Str / Con), Flee (Dex), Trickery (Int), Diplomacy (Cha)
A cat in a tree: Climb (Str), Bait (Wis), Ladder (Int), Get Help (Cha)

If you make it multiple choice (rather than fill in the blank) you can get some more specific (and humorous) examples.
How did you spend most of your free time?
(Str) Climbing trees, getting in fights, throwing rocks through windows.
(Dex) Competitive games like tag and hide & seek, skipping rocks across the pond.
(Con) Playing in the woods, eating moss and funny looking plants... anything but bathing.
(Int) Arts and crafts, reading, or playing games with grandparents.
(Wis) Cleaning and organizing my things, learning how to do jobs, running a lemonade stand.
(Cha) Playing games with my friends, trying to get a boyfriend/girlfriend, and getting in trouble.

Bonus points if you actually start them off as a child, using the "Young" creature template and racial bonuses on a base 10 character. Run a short quest with several scenarios, and note which skills and stats they try to use. Lower all DC's since they're competing against bullies (instead of adult thugs). Treat the bonuses they earn as racial modifiers, to be added after some point buy. Make them pick race before the quest, but don't let them pick their class until afterward.

[dethkruzer]

You are given a tomato, but you're not sure what to do with it or how tasty it might be. /joke

On a more serious note, I recommend having several situations planned, each leaning toward a likely resolution. This way, you don't need one situation with 6 possible outcomes. Three situations with 4 outcomes each could work just as well. The main issue will be coming up with problems that children can solve with Constitution (the passive attribute) or Wisdom (the one that kids wouldn't ever think of).

Bully: Fight (Str / Con), Flee (Dex), Trickery (Int), Diplomacy (Cha)
A cat in a tree: Climb (Str), Bait (Wis), Ladder (Int), Get Help (Cha)

If you make it multiple choice (rather than fill in the blank) you can get some more specific (and humorous) examples.
How did you spend most of your free time?
(Str) Climbing trees, getting in fights, throwing rocks through windows.
(Dex) Competitive games like tag and hide & seek, skipping rocks across the pond.
(Con) Playing in the woods, eating moss and funny looking plants... anything but bathing.
(Int) Arts and crafts, reading, or playing games with grandparents.
(Wis) Cleaning and organizing my things, learning how to do jobs, running a lemonade stand.
(Cha) Playing games with my friends, trying to get a boyfriend/girlfriend, and getting in trouble.

Bonus points if you actually start them off as a child, using the "Young" creature template and racial bonuses on a base 10 character. Run a short quest with several scenarios, and note which skills and stats they try to use. Lower all DC's since they're competing against bullies (instead of adult thugs). Treat the bonuses they earn as racial modifiers, to be added after some point buy. Make them pick race before the quest, but don't let them pick their class until afterward.

yes, all of this is pretty much what I had intended on doing, esepcially the last part with them starting as a child.

Also a thanks to everyone else who has been suggesting scenarios.

[ComaVision]

Generalized Occupational Aptitude Test, from fallout

some bullies are picking on your friend, what do you do?

A: sock the biggest one in the jaw (+STR)

B: sweep the legs out from under the biggest one (+DEX)

C: come up with a clever insult (+CHA)

D: threaten to tell the bullies parents (+WIS)

I don't like this one because tripping is a Strength check.

[Flickerdart]

I would not recommend a simple "this choice = +1 to this ability score" test, especially when it's so obvious what you will get. In-character answers will produce atrociously min-maxed toons. A character like Peter Parker who always has a quip ready will come out with 18 Charisma and terrible stats everywhere else.

Instead, consider options that increase multiple stats or increase one stat while decreasing another. Alternatively, serve questions based on previous answers, so a character that's hit 18 Constitution won't have any more Constitution-raising options and gets a chance to round out the character while still roleplaying consistently.

[dethkruzer]

I would not recommend a simple "this choice = +1 to this ability score" test, especially when it's so obvious what you will get. In-character answers will produce atrociously min-maxed toons. A character like Peter Parker who always has a quip ready will come out with 18 Charisma and terrible stats everywhere else.

Instead, consider options that increase multiple stats or increase one stat while decreasing another. Alternatively, serve questions based on previous answers, so a character that's hit 18 Constitution won't have any more Constitution-raising options and gets a chance to round out the character while still roleplaying consistently.

thanks for the feedback. Been thinking of something like this. one thing I thought off is that if the characters hits the "in mini-scenario" cap for an ability score, each outcome would have a secondary stat that would serve as a sort of overflow buffer.

[Irreverent Fool]

thanks for the feedback. Been thinking of something like this. one thing I thought off is that if the characters hits the "in mini-scenario" cap for an ability score, each outcome would have a secondary stat that would serve as a sort of overflow buffer.

Actually, I think it still works if you use a point-buy system rather than a straight point-for-point value. Each answer could assign a number of points instead of a straight value. This means you might end up with some points allocated without enough being spent to actually increase the score. You could go the simple route and just round up, or have some sort of overflow/secondary for assigning the remaining points.

[gr8artist]

Actually, I think it still works if you use a point-buy system rather than a straight point-for-point value. Each answer could assign a number of points instead of a straight value. This means you might end up with some points allocated without enough being spent to actually increase the score. You could go the simple route and just round up, or have some sort of overflow/secondary for assigning the remaining points.
Oooh I second this suggestion. This way, continually solving problems with brute force will give progressively less and less growth to Strength.

[Pleh]

I'm a big fan of "Cinematic" gameplay at my tables. The GOAT in Fallout was cute the first time through, then I always skipped to the end in other playthroughs.

No, I'd aim for establishing events. A real, "Call to Adventure" style origins.

Say the village is attacked by marauding orcs and goblins, who have set a wildfire going to drive the villagers out of the safety of their homes where their worg riders can chase them down.

As a child, do you run to safety in the forest (+DEX, +WIS), or go back into the burning building and try to save the people trapped inside (+STR, +CHA)?

You get cut off by a Worg! Do you fight back (+STR, +CON), run away (+DEX), or trick the Worg into getting trapped in the collapsing, burning buildings (+INT, +WIS)?

You see your sister being carried off by Orcs, do you rush off to save her (+STR, +CHA), ask an adult to help you (+CHA, +INT), or leave her to her fate, you can't help her anyway (+WIS, +INT)?

This way, not only are you setting up their abilities with the opening prologue, you're also setting up backstory and possibly a few personal quests (like finding that missing family member) to start your heroes off.

[dethkruzer]

Yes, a point-buy could work as well. Maybe have certain options produce a nubmer of "floating points" that get distributed at the end? In fact, I was thinking now that I'll make it basically completely point-based, with the exception of maybe two or three significant scenarios which give just an outright plus to a stat.