Advice about Automatic Bonus Progression

[Susano-wo]

So, I was thinking about using ABP in a game (not the DM, but I will probably be helping them with some of the number crunching, and DM is fine if we want to use it)

Googling has produced a variety of opinions on this, though a lot of "this actually screws up stuff that you might not realize," and "it's one size fits all but it doesn't really fit everyone"

Has anyone had experience with this system and what did you think?

In case it helps, the reason it's attractive to me is that it allows me to easily keep up with the numbers I am expected to have without having to make sure I buy stuff on those slots, and relatedly, that it frees up those slots for things that are, subjectively, much cooler than just "numbers go up."

[Crichton]

I definitely understand wanting something more interesting than 'numbers go up' but this is already allowed via item pricing rules in Magic Item Compendium (pg 234 and elsewhere). If you want to encourage players to find interesting magic items for their slots instead of just stat boosters, just make the cost of adding the stat boosting effect be a flat price increase equal to the amount the stat boosting item would normally cost by itself. That way you're encouraging variety in items, but aren't just handing out free wealth discounts by not making them pay for the items. Or if that's not a concern, just add the stat boosting effect on to any appropriately-slotted items they have, for free

[Arkain]

I use it when I GM or advertise it in the rare case that I may not have to GM, so yeah, I like it obviously. That said, I haven't seen how it performs in the higher levels in practice, so maybe it does all fall apart there.

Generally I'll say that I like it because it's simple for players, which is particularly good for beginners. No don't forget to upgrade your stuff, no convenient loot, no loot just to keep up with the numbers. Everyone gets their stuff, period. No vendor trash "only" +2 weapons, which I found very nice, as it makes magical items (e.g. holy weapons) "more" magical. You've probably read things along these lines already.
In short, do try it, but be careful and eyeball it all. For instance, ABP assumes vastly reduced wealth, which hurts some classes much more than others, so keep an eye on that. You have to decide a couple things, such as how ABP works for monsters, NPCs (and NPC classes) and pets. For instance, I kept it as is for NPCs with class levels, which made low level enemies much more dangerous, as beginniing at level 4 any archer can shoot +1 arrows. No Protection from Arrows against that one, which nerfs these kinds of protections to only work against truly ill-equipped or underleveled threats (e.g. a soldier has a used the +1 for their sword but not crossbow). Right now I'm uncertain if ABP actually addresses pets, but obvious solutions are sharing bonuses or the pet getting their own progression based on their own hit dice, which is what I would recommend - of course there are special cases again, such as eidolons explicitly using the item slots of their Summoner. So, there truly are a lot of details that might come up and require rulings, but only if they do actually come up, mind you. Another one would be what happens to already enchanted items, which is incidentally something I completely ignore (as in: no, the sword doesn't get less magical because it's more magical, what the hell).
If you're wondering now whether this is truly worth all the trouble, that's a bit left to you, really. I began with things I really like about the implications ABP has for that precise reason, but I'll admit that the normal system of boring old big six items and is actually easier in the sense that you need to do less work overall. There are also rules for adding effects in item crafting (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/Magic-Item-Creation/#Adding_New_Abilities).
Also, we got alternatives to the alternative system as well :smallbiggrin: First, we got an alteration (https://paizo.com/community/blog/v5748dyo5lhdx?Unleashing-Unchained) to the ABP system, which makes everything more complex, but also less rigid. Another would be innate item bonuses (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/other-rules/unchained-rules/innate-item-bonuses/), which I've never tried and only vaguely eyeballed. My gut feeling is this is just a variant of the crafting thing - you simply need items in the corresponding slots to which you can then add stuff. Seems complicated to be honest, but what isn't? There's also the part about scaling items (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/other-rules/scaling-magic-items), which I know roughly nothing about.