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Path finder point buy1/6/2024 ![]() Alternately just apply the advanced template to all monsters, it really makes encounters rocket tag early though. ![]() At 30 point buy (maybe 25) you have effectively increased the APL by 1 and need to drastically alter encounters to make them at all challenging. You can almost think of it as 15 points is expert setting, 20 points is for average players and 25+ is for beginners. It does make classes like the monk much tougher to work with though. That said, 15 point buy is challenging but still quite fun. Seeing as 20 and is statistically close to what an honest 4d6 drop roll is you can argue that the game is designed around that as a base. In that case, why not choose the number of points that makes the balancing act easier for the GM, so he can concentrate on better things, like placing treasure? There comes a point where the presence of a GM balancing the game makes the number of points wholly irrelevant. My main point is that a number of players want higher points still, as though it will achieve something. I think you're projecting a little, here.īesides, 5 extra build points means, what, 2 or 3 ability mods get to be +0 instead of -1? That's not exactly "breezing" through the game. Loosening up ability score restrictions will not necessarily make the game boring for your players - it sounds like your players' "sweet spot" for maximum enjoyment is just the slightest bit easier. Leave the CRs the way they are, let the players be slightly more effective, everyone's happy. There's no reason why you have to tweak CR. The GM just has to put more effort in, and he's already putting the most effort of anyone at the game table. Your character does not get more effective with higher scores. If he doesn't, the players will breeze through things and the game will be boring. That said: If the players have more points, the GM loses CR as a tool for building encounters quickly - now he has to do all sorts of tweaking and math to get things where they should be. It is an easy and built in kicker option. I personally think the Advanced and Giant templates are great for this aspect. When you have higher abilities, more stuff, or more players the monsters need to get an additional kicker. And thus the baseline is set at the lowest common denominator for both characters, adventures, and creatures. It is easier to add things to an encounter to match the party then it is to remove things after the fact. Then DM can increase the toughness of the monsters by adding more HP to each creature or adding in a couple of more. By allowing a higher point buy, players have more spells land and people hit more often. With a 15 point buy, a fighter will miss more often and the bad guys will make the save more often. That being said, I think a lot of groups like to feel as if they are "succeeding" at what they are trying to do. Others prefer nothing more then going from one dice rolling fight to another dice rolling fight. Some groups really like the RP aspect of the game and will even get into a diceless system. ![]() taking away a player characters ability scores is like taking dice away from the player themselves! I have a HUGE collection of dead character sheets. I get my ass handed to me often enough as it is. I respect you a LOT, Evil Lincoln, but I think you're blowing this way out of proportion from the GM's end.įinally, if my DM retracted us down to 15 (currently 25), I'd strongly consider stopping playing. I don't see any difference in creating challenges for my players when they've got 25 points to buy with and 15. ![]() But if they players seriously find a few more ability buy points, it speaks loudly. Maybe your DMing style is just too darned clever for their playing style. While a 0% chance of failure takes all the tension out of the game, there's a middle ground somewhere.Ĭlearly your group feels they fail too often. But is balance really a good thing in this case? Having a 50/50 chance against The Bad Guys kind of sucks, especially if you expect to have a career against Bad Guys. Sure, around 15 point things might be balanced. It all comes down to the question of how much disparity your group wants between their successes and their failures. It doesn't matter if the ability score's purpose is to determine a to-hit, or the DC of a spell, or the PC's Skill modifier. In a nutshell, higher ability scores weight towards a PC's actions succeeding. Mechanically what we're talking about is likelihood of success. ![]()
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