Can you buy a racially boosted stat down to 7?

[Gwen Smith]

(I apologize if this has already been answered: I didn't find it on a search, but I didn't try all the possible search terms.)

We had a question come up about dumping stats that have a racial bonus. The applicable section of the PFS character creation rules reads as follows:

Quote:

Please remember that no score can be reduced below 7 or raised above 18. Racial modifiers are applied after the points are spent, so it is possible to begin play with a low ability score of 5 and a high ability score of 20, depending on your race choice.

(Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play, V 5.0, p. 7)

The way I read that, if a player has a Halfling who wants to dump Charisma, the player could buy down the stat to 7, then the racial bonus puts it back up to 9. So a character could never start play with a racially-boosted stat below 9.

Is this the standard interpretation?

We had a player who wanted to start with their Halfling's Charisma score at 8, and wanted to know what the bonus be (since the ability score table stops at 7). The GM said it had to be 9, and I agreed with that. I want to verify the decision before I post a notice on our regional message boards.

[Benrislove]

point buy determines the stats before racial adjustments. You cannot buy a stat below a 7.

so you are correct.

Edit: Technically your stats are determined before your race, if that helps make it clear-er

[verdigris]

I read it the same way you do, Dorothy. You set the scores first, so at 7, then halfling bumps it back up to 9.

[FLite]

yup you are correct.

[kinevon]

Now, that Halfling could wind up with a 5 in Str, since you can buy it down to 7, then that racial -2 lowers it to 5. (Just avoid meeting any Shadows, since it wouldn't even take a crit to potentially one-shot this poor Halfling)

[Dan Simons]

kinevon wrote:

Now, that Halfling could wind up with a 5 in Str, since you can buy it down to 7, then that racial -2 lowers it to 5. (Just avoid meeting any Shadows, since it wouldn't even take a crit to potentially one-shot this poor Halfling)

I saw this happen to a gnome summoner getting jumped by greater shadows during the Grand Convocation at PaizoCon 2012, and we were playing 10-11. GM Nani Pratt was as surprised as the rest of us.