Pathfinder Playtest: Part 2 - All About Abilities

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Introduction

In my previous post, I recounted my group's first experience with the Pathfinder Playtest.  We were uneasy about the new game, and struggled with character creation, and weren't able to get started on actually playing.  That was Sunday, this is Thursday.  We are scheduled to meet again this Sunday.

Character Creation

Efficient and soulless

Our first attempt at a session was Sunday, but we didn't get past making the characters.  This took and hour and a half, along with the time it took me to drive home, print out the character sheets, and come back.  We left a bit confused.

Over the past week, I have studied the rulebook closely, and have made several practice characters.  I feel I am pretty comfortable with character creation now, and it is no longer a daunting task.  Yet, it is also not a rewarding one.  Rolling off a character is quick, but there's not much joy in it.  It's soulless. 

Even a machine can do it

To further the soullessness of it, I wrote a program (actually a spreadsheet) that automates the process.  It was partly to take the work out of character creation, and part to understand the mechanics of it.  As of the moment, it will calculate your abilities, modifiers, skills, perception, saves, HP, DC, Resonance, proficiencies, and all that goes with that.  Teaching a program how to recognize each race and class' bonuses was quite helpful, really.  

So now, the stuff that Paizo doesn't want you to know about character creation (well they do, they just aren't good at wording it). 

Abilities

So this is a big thing, so I've given it its own heading.  The post is called "All About Abilities", after all.  This is how the new ability system works, in its entirety.

Four pages, or a sentence?

So part of the confusion is that the Ability section of the rulebook is 4 pages long.  3 pages on the new method, and 1 page detailing older methods.  

Their way:
  1. Start with 10 on all ability scores.
  2. Look up your ancestry.  
  3. Add in your ancestry boosts.
  4. Add in your ancestry flaw.
  5. Look up your background.
  6. Add in your background boosts.
  7. Take for free ability boosts.
  8. Take a class ability boost.
  9. Try to remember the difference between an ability boost and an ability point.  
It's not awful, but it's actually much simpler.  
  1. Assign your scores so your modifiers added together equals 9, don't go over 18, or under 10.
There you go.  That gives you the same results as their system.  Two further rules will help you adhere to the rulebook:
  1. You can only go to 8 on your racial flaw, and your key ability must be 12 or more.
  2. Your ability scores can only be even numbers.
So long as you are choosing modifiers that help your character, you will have an identical character to the one they listed.

The end of ability scores

So what is actually happening is they are changing the entire ability score concept by getting with of the score, and going entirely on the modifier.  It's bold, and I wish if they did it this way, they'd just go all the way.  They should just use an ability modifier, starting with "1", and a flaw dropping down to "0", capped at 5.  There, nice and easy.  It will tick off people who don't like change.

The Playtest way detailed

So I gave an overview of how the ability scores are done via the Rulebook.  Now, an quick overview of that.

Ability Boosts

Now, something I missed (because we were all passing the book around) is what an ability boost is.  A boost is adding +2 to any ability score, and a flaw is subtracting the same amount.  This is why I call it the end of ability scores - you will never have an odd ability score again using this method.

Ancestry

First, you do start with all tens.  Then when you choose a race ancestry, you get 3 boosts and one flaw.  2 boosts are pre-ordained, and one is free.  In the case of humans, one flaw and one boost cancel each other out, so you only get two boosts and no flaw (this still adds up to the same modifier: +2, +2, -2, +2).  So a human can never have a score below 10.  You now will have an ability set of 12, 12, 12, 10, 10, 8.  Or some variation, but your total ability modifiers will be +2.

Background

Now, choose a background.  Each background gives you two boosts.  One is a choice between two abilities (for instance, Acolyte lets you choose between Constitution and Wisdom), and the second is free.  You can choose whatever you like.  

So two things here.  First, get ready to be pissed after you make your character: the Doomsday Dawn module that they ask you to start with has its own backgrounds - if you choose a background from the rulebook, you have to remake your character.  That just sucks.  

Second, why bother with the second boost?  You get free boosts elsewhere, this just complicates things a bit.  Maybe it makes backgrounds sound cooler?  There's not really a point.  Just give us 5 free boosts during that stage, and forget mentioning the background boost at all.  There's no difference, except it makes things easier.

Your ability modifiers will be +4.

Class

Next, your class comes with a key ability.  That's right, another boost.  Your key ability goes up by +2 here.  If you are a fighter or monk, you can pick your key ability, too.  

Your abilities modifiers will be +5.

Free stuff

Now, you just get to pick 4 ability boosts.  This is where they should just stick the background boost.  Right here.  

Once you pick, your total abilities will be +9. 

Lots of numbers

The new way gives you some pretty strong characters. You likely will have a character with no detriment at all, and a lot of strengths. You can max out two skills without suffering for it. The problem is you will get tempted to just make characters by the book. Most of the time, you will end up with a character who is 18, 16, 14, 10, 10, 10 or perhaps 16, 16, 12, 12, 12, 10.

Compare this to standard array. 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8 (+2, +2, +1, +1, +0, -1), a total of +6 [Edit: This is actually +5]. Of course, you would add your racial bonuses to that (+2, +2, -2) for a total of +7. You could rearrange those numbers a bit for a +8 at most.

When using alternate methods of character creation, you still have to use ability boosts. You add your racial boosts (+4 modifier) and your background boosts (+2). Assuming your dice rolls are comparable to standard array, this gives you a +12 character.

I just rolled 4d6 - 1d6. I got (12, 15, 13, 13, 15, 8). That was a pretty good roll, and it gives a +6 modifier. Just like standard array. Now, I assign 15 to my set racial boosts (no free or flaw), so I'm 17, 17, 13, 13, 12, 8. Before I go further, there is a problem here:

Reading the abilities as modifiers, I am +3, +3, +1, +1, +1, -1. However, there is a hard cap of 18, and ability boosts only go in multiples of 2. So 17 is a hard cap, even though it's a total of +3. The use of odd numbers here makes for a strange problem. I could take -1 to a 13 and add it to the 17, or perhaps to the other 13. This brings my modifier up by 1. There are 4 odd numbers, so that's a potential +2.

Anyway, back to topic. Add my free boost, and my flaw, I have 17, 17, 15, 12, 11, 8. My modifier is +8. It has potential for +10 at this stage.

Now I add my background. 17 is capped, so I have to go 17, 17, 17, 14, 11, 8. Three maxed abilities right there. +10 with potential for +12.

Compared to a typical Pathfinder character, who should have +7 (3.5 would be at +6, or +5 for a half-orc).

Thoughts

New pathfinder characters are really beefed up. And it gives me an uneasy feeling, as the number of boosts encourages maxing out key skills. There's not really a penalty for ignoring lesser skills, the worst you can have is -1, and you likely won't have that.


So I am thinking about 4th edition, and how I got this same feeling. They made the characters OP at level 1, but forced you into a build. It never felt like "my character", they always felt generic. When you have massive boosts, yet put a hard ceiling, you end up limiting the character options somehow.


So I think, take out the free background boost, and the racial free boost, and things will be in more familiar territory. Then you get +7 from the new system, and if you are using 4d6-1d6, you'll be getting around +6/+8.

Conclusion, Part 2

Well, I'm done for tonight, but there's a lot of other stuff I'm observing and pondering. Hopefully I will get to writing a follow-up prior to Sunday's game, so I can focus more on that and Doomsday Dawn.

Meanwhile, I have gone over the other players' characters and made some notes for corrections. Getting the game started should be quick. Character creation really is fast when you figure it out.

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