GM changing how often we get attribute increases, looking for other opinions on it.


Homebrew


So our GM has very few home rules for Starfinder so far, but one is (I think) possibly a big change. He decided that getting 4 attribute boosts every 5 levels did not jibe for his view and so is instead giving one attribute boost every level past first, with the caveat that you can only increase any particular stat once per 5 character levels.

Obviously this is not only going to result in 3 more overall attribute increases (19 as opposed to 16) but it also means that we will get higher stats consistently sooner across the board.

I am looking to get other peoples opinions on this? Will this be a bad decision? Will this seriously affects level balance? Do people like it?

I am honestly undecided at this point. Obviously it is nice to have been able to boost my Int and Dex by 2 each by third level on my Mechanic but I am not sure how that is going to effect overall balance.

What do you guys think of this rule change? Perhaps other eyes on the idea can reveal things I have not thought of?


Not something I'd do personally. I don't feel like characters in Starfinder generally need more buffing than they have. Maybe he has something in store for you where he thinks you'll need this, though? Hard to evaluate without knowledge of what the adventure is.


Realistically it’s not going to buff your main stats any more assuming you also cap at 4 increases per stat, it’ll mean you get a few more points in your dump stats and your main stat increases a few levels earlier


Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Huh, interesting. Like you've pointed out, characters are going to be just a bit better at the things they want to be good at, especially at early levels, where each +1 really counts. Because everyone needs good ability scores, it should lift the party roughly equally (and, in my opinion, balance between party members is far more important than balanced enemies). I don't think it's a bad decision, at least, but I'm not convinced it will have a huge impact on your play.


CeeJay wrote:
Hard to evaluate without knowledge of what the adventure is.

He is running the AP. We just hit level 3 as we landed on the drift rock.


Hm. If he's just running the AP as-is then it shouldn't be necessary. It's already designed with the RAW character progression in mind.


Seems it's mostly the GMs preference to not simply plop down a bunch of bonuses to stats all at one time at level 5 (as the OP said) so it's not a necessity as you say but more a feel and continuity thing for the GM.

I don't think it should cause any huge issues.


Characters could be slightly more powerful than normal, but shouldn't be anything major.

Starfinder characters are generally not as strong as Pathfinder characters, with bonuses to things being a lot harder to come by. Characters will be a bit stronger than they otherwise could be, but not by a large margin. Ultimately I think this would be fine.


The primary reason it should be fine from a balance perspective is the rule about waiting 5 levels to pick the same stat again - it means the "extra" stat points will all accrue onto a 5th stat, as opposed to whatever original set of 4 you would have picked, so everyone's weaknesses will shore up.

From a party variety standpoint, that count be construed as bad, because it will tend to flatten everyone's statline, for the same reason - with everyone pouring statpoints 2 at a time until 17/18 and then 1 after, there will be a higher tendency than in base Starfinder for the entire party to have more or less the same statline. If you have multiple players with the same class, that might threaten the GM's ability to ensure different party members all get chances to shine.


Almost Everyone dumps str and cha anyway lol, so his party will have a higher carry capacity


Robert Gooding wrote:
Almost Everyone dumps str and cha anyway lol, so his party will have a higher carry capacity

Oh I play with a very special group of people who don't believe in dump stats. In fact the major table complaint from a few players is that scores are too low, because they are used to our usual GM's super/hyper generous starting stat points (92 points at level 1, all stats purchased 1 for 1, all stats start at 0).

I am sure once we get a few more table sessions under our belt that they will realize that we don't need our old way of doing things in this system given it's design parameters.


92 points?!

Without doing anything special you can have at least a 15 in every stat! With a couple stats you don't care about you will have 18 in a few stats (20 with racial bonus)!

That is a radically different game from what I'm used to.


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber
Gilfalas wrote:


Oh I play with a very special group of people who don't believe in dump stats.

Differing definitions of dump stat. If you have stat you put less resources into than any other you're dumping it. I suppose if you started with all all stats within 1 or 2 of each other and made efforts to maintain that balance them throughout the game, I might believe your group didn't have dump stats. But I find that highly unlikely irregardless of your stat generation method.


Yeah, the definition of dump stat I guess varies.

For me dump stat literally refers to a stat which you purposefully reduce (dump) to get more points (for point buy character generation) to increase stats you care about (more).

In Starfinder, there is no "dump stat" by my definition because you don't get anything for choosing to reduce a stat. There are stats you can neglect by virtue of not buying the (limited number of) stat increasing items or applying any of your level up stat increases to a particular stat. But that's not "dumping", that's more neglecting.

This of course assumes you are using the provided point buy system in Starfinder. If you're using another method of stat generation I guess it could have stat dumping.


Maezer wrote:
If you have stat you put less resources into than any other you're dumping it.

That is a different definition than the one I am commonly familiar with or use myself.

To me and my gaming friends a dump stat is one you lower to try and get more points to put in other stats. Not just the stat that happens to be your lowest.

One of the reasons I like Starfinders creation rules is it gets rid of that option.

Claxon wrote:
92 points?! ... That is a radically different game from what I'm used to.

Yeah I think it is complete overkill as well but she likes her high powered games and I cannot convince her otherwise.

She has been the GM for 13+ years and does make entertaining games and stories/NPC's though so there is a lot of good with the bad.


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber
Gilfalas wrote:


To me and my gaming friends a dump stat is one you lower to try and get more points to put in other stats. Not just the stat that happens to be your lowest.

So in you're 92 point buy system starting at 0. Having a 1 in a stat is just your lowest... but having an 8 in D&D 3.5, a 7 in Pathfinder, or a 10 in starfinder and you're "dumping?" Really. All you're doing is change the minimum amount of resources you have to invest in a stat.

If the minimum allowed is an 17, and you leave it at an 17 while raising other stats, you've dumped a stat as much as you possible can.

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