Hello all,
For my next homebrew game as GM I was considering giving my group only a 10 point buy ability scores. What are your experiences with this? Does it demand heavy optimization of the players to survive normal CR encounters? Does it take away player freedom to make perhaps a slightly suboptimal build. How challenging does the game become?
low point buys will result in a huge power gap between certain classes... a wizard can still start with 18 Int without even dumping any stat (which they might still do to up dex/con), but a fighter will need to have at least one stat below 10 just to hit 14 in Str, Dex, and Con which will still result in a pretty unimpressive fighter.
the bigger problem is 'pet' classes... a druid can focus on Wis (with a little dex/con if they dump something) and play like a full-caster, but gets an animal companion that's just as tough as if you were playing in a 20 point buy! a summoner is even more egregious- they don't really need all that much Cha so they can have decent Dex/Con starting out and their eidolon will be far more effective in melee than a 10 point fighter.
low point buys definitely penalize some classes far more than others (and the ones who get screwed are mostly the ones that are generally considered weaker to begin with). personally i never go below a 20 point buy because i want some of the more MAD classes to be viable. IMO if you want to make your game harder use things 1 CR higher or just tack a +1 CR template on most things (like 'advanced' or 'giant'). another good option could be to increase the number of encounters per day (that will force players to pay more attention to their resource management and prevent them from 'nova-ing').
Hello all,
For my next homebrew game as GM I was considering giving my group only a 10 point buy ability scores. What are your experiences with this? Does it demand heavy optimization of the players to survive normal CR encounters? Does it take away player freedom to make perhaps a slightly suboptimal build. How challenging does the game become?
What would be your end goal in using a 10 point buy?
I ask because if the 10 point buy isn't the best way, then there might be a better one for another poster to suggest.