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I note that all Backgrounds published so far include a "free" / unspecified ability boost. Unless the intent is to save space for future Backgrounds that might specify both boosts and have none free, this seems unnecessarily repetitive.
Would it make sense to instead just add a fifth free ability boost during the "four free ability boosts" step of character creation and save space in the Backgrounds?
(I note that the optional "rolling ability scores" rule on page 21 specifies that you omit the free boost from your background -- which suggests future backgrounds couldn't have two specified boosts without breaking this, and seems another point in favor of moving the free boost out of the background so that it doesn't have to be negated here?)
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I note that all Backgrounds published so far include a "free" / unspecified ability boost. Unless the intent is to save space for future Backgrounds that might specify both boosts and have none free, this seems unnecessarily repetitive.
Would it make sense to instead just add a fifth free ability boost during the "four free ability boosts" step of character creation and save space in the Backgrounds?
(I note that the optional "rolling ability scores" rule on page 21 specifies that you omit the free boost from your background -- which suggests future backgrounds couldn't have two specified boosts without breaking this, and seems another point in favor of moving the free boost out of the background so that it doesn't have to be negated here?)
Future 2-boost backgrounds are possible, so that's one reason (rolling scores is optional, and doesn't have to be supported going forwards).
But the reason it can't be a 5th of the 'four free boosts' is that you can put it in the same score as one of them, and can't put them in the same score as each other.
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I think the free ability boost at ancestry and background level allows you to get an 18 in your classes key ability with any background and any ancestry that doesn't have a flaw. It increases build diversity.
For example when making a wizard you can pick any ancestry and background and get an 18 Int. Goblin Blacksmith, Dwarven Sailor, whatever put your free boosts in Int and get to casting.
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I think the free ability boost at ancestry and background level allows you to get an 18 in your classes key ability with any background and any ancestry that doesn't have a flaw. It increases build diversity.
For example when making a wizard you can pick any ancestry and background and get an 18 Int. Goblin Blacksmith, Dwarven Sailor, whatever put your free boosts in Int and get to casting.
+1 to this. It is supposed to encourage choosing a Background based on its fluff and not just its mechanics.
Well, among other things it makes Dwarves better fighters (which they always should have been good at) and allows someone to counteract an ability flaw they don't like, which encourages build diversity.
The perils of cascading changes acknowledged, something along the lines of "five boosts, not more than 2 to any single attribute" could address that.
It makes sense within the character building paradigm, but having the rule repeated ten times within the backgrounds seems....surprisingly inelegant, considering the work done overall to make options clear and modular.
...And I'm very much biased by coming from a group which has never really taken a liking to point buy, so it's a repeated rule that I'll have to remind my players not to apply it.
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I feel like the benefit of the ABC system is that in many cases you can have two people, one with a conceptual idea of who their character is and the other with a mechanical idea for their character, and at each step they can make the choices that best fit their vision, and they will both end up with comparably powerful characters in most cases.
Since in PF1 "I want to play a Dwarf Paladin" (without that one archetype) was a thing that made a lot of conceptual sense, but you were genuinely mechanically behind the 8-ball since you had no bonus to any stat the Pally cares about primarily and a penalty to one of the big 2.
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I think having the free ability boosts is fine the way it is. If word count is a concern, you could add a general note about there being a flexible ability boost, but I feel like people would miss it a lot if you did it that way.
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I also like the free boost from ancestry since it helps you tell a bit of a narrative during character creation.
I was born to dwarven parents and like all dwarves I was tough (+2 Con) and wise (+2 Wis), but I was more charismatic than most (free +2 cha counters flaw)
I worked as a blackmisth in my younger days and while I became tough (+2 Con) from long days at the forge like many blacksmith's I found I had a knack for dealing with costomers and became good at talking with people (+2 Cha)
I eventually left the mountains and decided to become a traveling pupetmaster (+2 Cha bard key ability) honing my natural inclanation and the conversational skills I picked up when working the front desk at my blacksmith masters shop.
Through my basic bardic training I learned to be quick and funny (+2 Dex +2 Cha) as well as learning many bits or lore (+2 Int) and long days on the road further strengthened my dwarven fortitude (+2 Con)
Obviously that's all just my interpretation but I think I will encourage it when my players make characters next week.