Okay, so I’ve made a revision to character starting ability scores, and added a couple more. I got a chance to try them out this past weekend and I’m quite happy with most of them.
A change:
Starting Character Ability Scores:
I made the following changes:
- The total of all your scores added together must equal 72.
- The cumulative bonus from all your scores added together must not exceed +3.
- No score may be higher than 16.
- No score may be less than 7.
Essentially, this equates to 3.5’s elite array (15,14,13,12,10,8), but is far more flexible.
Something new:
INCREASING ABILITY SCORES
Starting at 3rd level, when a PC reaches a new level, the player may increase one of his ability scores by 1 point. You cannot increase the same score two levels in a row. No score may be raised higher than a total of 2 points above its original total.
This results in a PC (at least one with 14 levels) having all original scores eventually increased by 2, although the player has control over how the increase happens.
Something new:
HEROIC SURGE
Once per day, at the beginning of any round, a PC may declare a heroic surge. He immediately regains 1 HD + Level worth of hit points. These hit points are temporary hit points and damage is dealt to them first. They last for 1 turn. The PC cannot declare a heroic surge if he is at 0 or less hit points.
This got used in the session, and I was very happy with how it worked and felt in the context of the adventure. With the goal of mitigating the prevalence and dependency of magical healing (potions, wands, clerics, etc.), mechanic-wise, this is more-or-less equates to giving everyone one “potion of healing” or one “cure light wounds” each day. I reserve the right to have important NPCs make use of it as well.
I’m still not sold on my Dodge/Parry mechanic idea. It was there, but did not get any use. I love the chart and the idea of dodging and parrying being options, but I haven’t yet found a good way to include any of it yet.
I’m also considering something along the lines of a critical hit mechanic, but not in the traditional sense. I don’t really want a mechanic that simply deals more damage, but instead does the following:
- enhance the combat experience… perhaps the dodge/parry chart becomes an exceptional hit chart? A problem there is that I almost feel I would need two charts: one for humanoids and one for monsters.
- make use of degrees of success… attack throws succeeding by 5+, 10+, etc., so that very good attack throws are rewarded for succeeding by a very high amount.