So, I've seen a lot of threads and posts made where people criticize cookie-cutter characters. Charisma seems to take the most hits since it's the most common dump stat and the most useless ability for many game styles and many character classes. The fact is, though, that every class has a dump or two, and that under point buy rules, it's very hard to afford these stats.
Now, assuming you have a high point buy, a lenient GM, and a group who favors fluff and diversity over optimization, it can be possible to play that 14 Int, 16 Cha Fighter, but let's be honest: the system is not set up to accommodate these sort of builds. You're working uphill by doing so, just as though you were choosing to play a Commoner.
However, this does indeed have its consequences. Droves of Cha 7 martial characters. Fighters who can't afford any skill points. Wizards who can barely lift their staves. Things we'd thematically like to get past sometimes, but that simply aren't in the same realm of necessity as the primary abilities of each class.
I've been thinking about a mechanic that would perhaps lower the point buy values for certain secondary ability scores, and/or would raise the default value of a score above 10.
This is what I'm thinking: to avoid multiclass abuse, a player would have to swear off certain classes upon character creation. For example, let's say you're making a Fighter and you'd like a little more Charisma without forfeiting your Dex and Con for it. Now, it wouldn't be fair to get that Charisma on the cheap and then go Paladin at level 2. So the Fighter would select a (I wish I could say Archetype, but I'll call it a "Nature" for now) Nature which prohibits him from taking any levels in Bard, Oracle, Paladin, Sorcerer or Summoner (possibly Cleric). With these classes removed, the amount of raw potential left to the Fighter by having a boosted Charisma is severely reduced; thus, the Fighter can both afford a non-vital stat, and cannot easily exploit that non-vital stat.
Part of my inspiration for this idea was the Abyssal Sorcerer's inherent Strength bonuses. Those would be extraordinarily valuable on any martial character, yet for the Sorcerer, it takes work to really find ways to apply that Strength - it is quite simply less valuable than it would be to a Fighter. If we all know some of these abilities are less valuable than others to some characters, then I think there could be definite advantages to pricing them as such.
Obviously, some ability scores would be difficult to incorporate - most 3/4 BAB classes can have very viable high-Str builds, and the Sorcerer can always go Dragon Disciple. There might be other ways than simply barring classes, such as giving the stat a bonus, but capping it there.
Is anyone familiar with any such systems, or have you ever incorporated one yourself?
It sounds really complicated, and which ability scores are secondary might depend on the build more than the class.
An easier way is simply to increase the diminishing returns. Make the cost of a stat increase stat-10 (minimum 1), so buying a 13 costs 1+2+3+=6 points while buying a 14 costs 10 points. Increase the point buy to whatever you want. Maybe 30 points or something.
That way, the wizard may have to chose between Str7/Int18/Cha7 and Str8/Int17/Cha8, not really a hard choice for any optimizer. With this system, it would be S7/I18/C7 or S11/Int17/C11. That's quite a fair bit harder to choose.
I agree it's complicated, and the only justification there for still doing it would be that the relationship of ability scores and various classes is complicated. Even so, it'd take a lot of work to not make it bloated.
Your proposal is solid, though. It'd more or less achieve what I was going for. I might offer it the next time a game starts up.
Another option, which I will not take credit for because it was suggested by some other forumite(s) whom I cannot recall name(s) for, is to simply continue the point buy after level 1. So, yeah, your first level adventures aren't going to end up much different than under other systems, but once you get a few levels under your belt, things start to look different.
Under the continuous point buy system, you gain an ability point every single level. If you've got a fighter with a 10 wisdom and a 17 strength, he has two options at level 2. He can either invest his one point to turn his 10 wisdom into an 11 wisdom or he can save his one point for later. At level 3, he can turn his 11 wisdom into a 12 or he can again save his point. At level 4, he can use his point to turn his 12 wisdom into a 13 or he can (once again) save his point. At level 5, he can finally spent his saved points to turn his 17 strength into an 18, or he can spend his point to bump his intelligence from an 8 to a 9.
You just have to extrapolate the point-buy system past 18, which isn't that hard. Basically, whatever the resulting modifier is, that's how many points it costs to increase that ability by one. Going from 18 to 19 costs 4 points and going from 21 to 22 costs 6 points. I would exclude racial modifiers from these calculations, essentially subtracting them from the score, calculate the cost and spend points, then re-add the racial modifier at the end. Also, buying up from a negative modifier would cost the absolute value of the modifier; that is, going from a 7 to an 8 would cost 2 points and going from a 9 to a 10 would cost 1 point. (Note: at my table, I'd be easily persuaded to allow moving from a 7 to an 8 to only cost 1 point, to encourage the stupid characters to move away from borderline mental retardation.)
You get two things from this system. First, playing through level 20, you have a maximum base score (before tomes and belts/headbands) 22 (24 with racial modifier). Add a +4 tome and a +6 item and you max out at 30. Under the current system, I think it's closer to 36 by normal means. Secondly, you get a fighter who starts investing in mental stats because it starts taking too long to invest in other things and he can gain a +1 after just two levels or so, or a wizard who puts some points in strength and dexterity. Essentially, you are going to get more rounded characters.