Were about to start up a new campaign soon and I asked my players if they were up for rolling character "old-school", i.e. rolling 3d6 (no rerolling) for each stat. They like the idea so it looks like were going to do that.
So now I need to get a set of ability requirements for the classes. I could just lift the number from AD&D for the most part which would be:
Fighter: Str 9
Paladin: Str 12, Con 9, Wis 13, Cha 17
Ranger: Str 13, Dex 13, Con 14
Wizard: Int 9
Cleric: Wis 9
Rogue: Dex 9
Bard: Dex 12, Int 13, Cha 15
Now these doesn't cover all of the classes. Barbarian, Druid, Sorcerer, Monk and the APG classes are missing.
So I'm wondering, how would you guys go about this, and would you keep the numbers from AD&D as is or alter them somewhat for Pathfinder use? Would you include the racial restrictions too?
Why do you need ability requirements? That looks to me like you're basically disallowing Paladin, Ranger and Bard as classes..
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So I'm wondering, how would you guys go about this, and would you keep the numbers from AD&D as is or alter them somewhat for Pathfinder use? Would you include the racial restrictions too?
Oh man, old school... I remember how much that sucked. Taking character creation out of the hands of your players and putting it into the hands of the random whims of the dice is, generally speaking, a terrible idea. If you want to roll that way, it's cool; it's not like it's BADWRONGFUN or something. I just tend to find that madness lies that way.
If you really want to go for it, though, go all the way. Put in racial restrictions, don't allow multiclassing or prestige classes, and have casters roll randomly for their spells known.
The original point of the ability score modifier requirements was to place a minimum value on a character so they could have a bonus in the stat they were supposed to be best at, and make better classes harder to get into. If you want to reflect that similarly in PFRPG, then a lot of the minimums need to be reworked, since the bonus scale is set up differently. Here's the one I would use:
Bard: Dex 9, Int 13, Cha 13
Barbarian: Str 13, Con 13
Cleric: Wis 11
Druid: Wis 13, Cha 13
Fighter: Str 11
Monk: Str 11, Dex 13, Wis 13
Paladin: Str 13, Con 11, Wis 11, Cha 13
Ranger: Str 11, Dex 13, Con 11, Wis 13
Rogue: Dex 11
Sorcerer: Cha 11
Wizard: Int 11
Alchemist: Con 13, Int 13
Cavalier: Str 13, Cha 13
Inquisitor: Str 13, Wis 13
Oracle: Wis 13, Cha 13
Summoner: Int 13, Cha 13
Witch: Int 13, Wis 13
The reason for the higher minimums on some of the classes is so that it's possible for them to use their class abilities (since in d20, a caster can't cast spells without at least a 10 in his casting stat). The lower requirements on some of the other classes are designed to represent both the alternate way bonuses are calculated from BECMI and AD&D1 to d20, and to make the bell curve redistribute more evenly.
Anyway, good luck!
Jeremy Puckett
Why do you need ability requirements? That looks to me like you're basically disallowing Paladin, Ranger and Bard as classes..
Well, the general idea was to change up the way we play a bit. I haven't talked to the players about ability restrictions yet, and if they are really against it we probably won't use it. But if they do like the idea we'd go with it, if not we could still use them as a quick guideline when the players roll their characters.
I'm not out to disallow classes at all, those numbers are straight from the 2nd ed. PHB and I was pretty sure that they wouldn't fit well for Pathfinder but could work as a baseline (hence why I made this thread).
That looks great Jeremy. Thanks. Going to look over it later (kinda in a hurry atm)
Not sure how you roll you're characters' stats, but one thing I hated was rolling each stat straight. I prefer being able to roll all 6 numbers and then figuring out where to put them.
Not sure how you roll you're characters' stats, but one thing I hated was rolling each stat straight. I prefer being able to roll all 6 numbers and then figuring out where to put them.
We usually roll with what in our circle is known as hero maker rules (does anyone else use that term?). 4d6 and re-roll all 1's and take the three best, usually result in crazy high stats. Now, however, we're going to try the exact opposite. 3d6 straight for each ability.
Two of the players like the idea with ability requirements on classes so far.
Is this a newer group of gamers? In one of my groups, most of us have only been gaming for under 2 years or so. I say this because at one point we decided to go with low stat players intentionally, just to enjoy the added challenge. It was nice to have to role-play out of situations just as often as fighting out of them. I know that high-stat characters tend to make the players default to, "A problem? I smash it." And that is no fun, especially for the DM.
The group itself is fairly new. When I got the core book in January I dragged a couple of people together to start playing. But most of us have been playing for a while. I've been playing a bit over five years now, while some of the players have played for far longer and some maybe a bit less than five but more than three years, at least.