I am dissatisfied with the way feats work in D&D. It bugs me that when creating a character one generally must be overly careful or risk 'wasted feats'... I'll skip to the point.
I want characters who make ration decisions about their immediate future. Perhaps feat X will be useless at level 20, but often it can really help get you through level 6 alive. Furthermore, it is terribly annoying to have to take non-wanted prerequisites in order to get the feat you really want.
Feats are not created equally, so doing away with prerequisites would be ugly. Thus I would like to develop/find a point-buy feat system. Instead of the current system, characters would gain a class-dependent number of feat points per level. These can be used at level up to purchase the feats they care about.
I'd leave BAB and Stat prerequisites, just remove the feat tree. Clearly some feats improve directly on others (great cleave) - they would be taken sequentially.
Has anybody experimented with this yet?
I am dissatisfied with the way feats work in D&D. It bugs me that when creating a character one generally must be overly careful or risk 'wasted feats'... I'll skip to the point.
I want characters who make ration decisions about their immediate future. Perhaps feat X will be useless at level 20, but often it can really help get you through level 6 alive. Furthermore, it is terribly annoying to have to take non-wanted prerequisites in order to get the feat you really want.
Feats are not created equally, so doing away with prerequisites would be ugly. Thus I would like to develop/find a point-buy feat system. Instead of the current system, characters would gain a class-dependent number of feat points per level. These can be used at level up to purchase the feats they care about.
I'd leave BAB and Stat prerequisites, just remove the feat tree. Clearly some feats improve directly on others (great cleave) - they would be taken sequentially.
Has anybody experimented with this yet?
Its a neat idea but I think pricing all the feats would be a fairly long and involved task.
Its a neat idea but I think pricing all the feats would be a fairly long and involved task.
Agreed. I'm thinking of perhaps giving every feat an arbitrary base price of 20 then adjusting based on the relative merits. I haven't even begun this task yet and I already dread it.
I read a while back of a relative value document of class features for the creation of custom classes. Unfortunately I can't find the post - if anybody could direct me to it that could help as well.
The closest thing I'm doing is, essentially, converting feats to skills with ranks. You select Mounted Combat as a feat, but don't immediately get the full benefit. However, as you gain ranks in Mounted Combat, you get better at it, and eventually gain abilities that used to be included under Trample, Spirited Charge, etc.
The link will begin a download, it's a zip file that's 295KB. It should be what you were looking for
The link was dead for me. Do you know the name of the tool so that I can try to find it myself?
Class Creation Tool.
Thanks. Got it. If anybody else has the problem I had I found it in http://www.dndadventure.com/dnda_classes.html. This might help - thanks.
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that's the link that I posted. I used to use that site a lot, though not so much anymore.
And no problem, I've used it to carve out the idea for a few new classes in the past, but you reminded me of it. I actually could use it just as much as you at this point in time, since I'm preparing for a new campaign.
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I've actually used it a few times. It is not entirely accurate, and designing a class with a lot of unique abilities can be time consuming, BUT it does give you a great start in terms of balancing some key elements such as proficiencies, skills, spells, and level-dependent features like BAB.
I still go to it first when I have an idea for a new class.
Also, Sean K Reynolds has a good article about pricing feats with points (covering all the PHB feats, with rules to help you price other ones) at his website here.
Also, Sean K Reynolds has a good article about pricing feats with points (covering all the PHB feats, with rules to help you price other ones) at his website here.
Woooot! That is perfect, and exactly inline with my original thinking.
The second part of my plan is to introduce entropy into character building. PCs will be able to reassign a limited number of skill and feat points on level up. They won't be able to re-write their character, but it allows a certain amount of tweaking.
Imagine Bob the fighter who had 7 ranks of jump at level 3. He's now level 9 and has jumped a total of four times in the last few years. Conceivably he's not as good at jumping anymore.
I would like to keep the amount of reassignment random (to avoid over-planing at level one). Perhaps d10+5% of total skill/feat points. d20%?
Also, Sean K Reynolds has a good article about pricing feats with points (covering all the PHB feats, with rules to help you price other ones) at his website here.Woooot! That is perfect, and exactly inline with my original thinking.
The second part of my plan is to introduce entropy into character building. PCs will be able to reassign a limited number of skill and feat points on level up. They won't be able to re-write their character, but it allows a certain amount of tweaking.
Imagine Bob the fighter who had 7 ranks of jump at level 3. He's now level 9 and has jumped a total of four times in the last few years. Conceivably he's not as good at jumping anymore.
I would like to keep the amount of reassignment random (to avoid over-planing at level one). Perhaps d10+5% of total skill/feat points. d20%?
Instead of a percentage of skill points, why not a number equal to the number of skill points they are gaining this level. So if you take a level of fighter, you can re-assign a number of skill points equal to 2 + your Int mod. (This is in addition to the number of skill points you gain for going up a level.) I guess this means a high level rogue can go from having zero ranks in Forgery to 16 ranks in Forgery, but I'm willing to take that risk.
I am dissatisfied with the way feats work in D&D. It bugs me that when creating a character one generally must be overly careful or risk 'wasted feats'... I'll skip to the point.
I want characters who make ration decisions about their immediate future. Perhaps feat X will be useless at level 20, but often it can really help get you through level 6 alive. Furthermore, it is terribly annoying to have to take non-wanted prerequisites in order to get the feat you really want.
Feats are not created equally, so doing away with prerequisites would be ugly. Thus I would like to develop/find a point-buy feat system. Instead of the current system, characters would gain a class-dependent number of feat points per level. These can be used at level up to purchase the feats they care about.
I'd leave BAB and Stat prerequisites, just remove the feat tree. Clearly some feats improve directly on others (great cleave) - they would be taken sequentially.
Has anybody experimented with this yet?
Do you realize how dangerously close you are wandering to the realms of GURPS and the Hero System?
Do you realize how dangerously close you are wandering to the realms of GURPS and the Hero System?
I think a lot of people fail to realize what those systems offer due to misinformation.
Do you realize how dangerously close you are wandering to the realms of GURPS and the Hero System?I think a lot of people fail to realize what those systems offer due to misinformation.
Ohhh! Pathfinder for Fantasy Hero would be Awesome! :D
Indeed, a lack of quality adventures (and "adventure paths") has been my only major gripe with HERO Games.
(I only have so much free time. :( One of the downsides of being a working adult.)