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I've been working up a couple of character sheets, one for SFS and one for a home game, and I've come to an interesting conclusion: the +1 to an ability score you get from your theme means very little. Since point buy is a flat rate, 1 to 1, your theme's bonus ensures that you will end up with at least 1 odd score, which as we know ends up having the same modifier as the even score value below it.
This would all be fine, except for the interesting way ability score increases work. Since they are +2 for scores 16 and below, and +1 for scores 17 and above, it takes exactly the same amount of ability score increases to reach a score of 18 in a stat for any given modifier. For example, scores that give a +3 modifier, 16 and 17, take 1 ability score increase to get to 18, while scores that give +1, 12 and 13, take 3 increases.
If we were working off the old point buy method, the +1 from your theme would be invaluable, but as it stands it seems to me to not have much in-game effect, save for effects that actually lower an ability score (do those exist?), or times when you need a certain score to qualify for something, such as the 13 strength needed for the Cleave feat. Has anyone else noticed this? Am I totally off base? I'd appreciate any thoughts on this.
There's a thread discussing this:
http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2uji1?Theme-ability-points-dont-actually-do-any thing
Basically, the consensus is that yeah, the odd ability score point isn't very useful, though it has some fringe benefits, like meeting odd ability score feat requirements. And it's a potential way to add some flavor to your character.
To look at it from a design perspective, if you want the power level of PCs to be about 12pts, and a 13pt buy is virtually equivalent, which point buy should you let players use? 12 pts or 13 pts? Since 13 pts has some fringe benefits, and adds a little flavor, why not go with 13?
Thanks, I knew I couldn't have been the first person to notice this but I couldn't find a thread talking about it. I agree it's fine as it is, just led me to an odd moment of fridge logic. It forces you to prioritize the interesting parts of your theme, rather than taking the one that gives you the mechanically best attribute benefit.
plenty of uses, just not necessarily traditional ones.
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I haven't done any math and this is just my assumption...but I assume it would make a difference in a game where you're only playing to level 11-14 until the campaign ends.That's over 90% of all campaigns. It's reallllllllllllly rare a game goes above 15
That's basically my point. All this theory crafting is being done to show that "this is useless at 20", well, all that theory crafting is basically useless because the "level 20 play" is just theory crafting. Obviously that's exaggeration/hyperbole, but it proves my point.
But in your example, the +1 still doesn't do anything. The +2 to 4 does a lot, but the theme bonus is just a useless rider on whatever your worst stat is.
You're qualifying for the odd feats through the even advances, which seems pretty sensible anyway. If you're bothering to grab those feats, you might as well do something with those stats.