Sooo I was thinking about getting rid of Ability Scores entirely, instead just using the Ability Modifiers. All the Feats I've seen in the CRB use even Ability values as prerequisites, and I haven't seen anything that interacts with Ability Scores yet. Maaaaybe it's gonna be a bit less comfortable when applying boosts among several levels, but given we get an even number of Ability Boosts, I was thinking to just require a player to spend 2 if they want to increase an Ability above +4.
What do you guys think?
You might want to impose an upper limit on how high ability score modifiers can get by level. For example:
1st level: Key ability score maximum +4, other ability score maximums +3
5th level: All ability score maximums +4
10th level: Key ability score maximum +5, other ability score maximums +4
15th level: All ability score maximums +5
20th level: Key ability score maximum +6, other ability score maximums +5
I don't think it would be a problem - as you note, with four ability boost per 5 levels, it would just take two boosts to increase a score from 4->5 or 5->6.
I feel like there was a proposal to scrap scores during the playtest, but it didn't happen due to concerns with how unfamiliar or nontraditional it would look?
I've run a handful of one-shots (playtest and 1e) where we used only modifiers, and all but one player were at ease with it immediately.
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If I were given the option of increasing my primary ability score modifier from +4 to +5 at 5th level at the cost of being able to increase only two other ability modifiers rather than three, I suspect most players would gladly take it. Repeat that option three more times, and the primary ability modifier would reach +8 (equivalent to ability score of 26) at 20th level instead of the +6 (equivalent to 22) that you could reach under the current rules.
If you are only allowing a single boost to each ability score at each applicable level, then you are introducing an unnecessary complication, as you have eliminated the obvious method (the actual ability score value) for indicating that you have taken one of the two boosts needed to increase your ability score modifier beyond +4.
killing the sacred cow here.
Default/average ability = 0
ability=modifier
race/ancestry/class/background gives +1 bonuses or -1 penalties.
1st level max ability: 4
10th lvl max ability: 5, costs 2 increases from 4 to 5
15th lvl max ability: 6, costs 3 increases from 5 to 6
20th lvl max ability: 7, costs 4 increases from 6 to 7
Mutants & Masterminds did away with showing ability scores for their 3rd edition, just using the ability score modifier.
They did keep the cost (system is entirely point-buy) to raise an "ability" the same: 2 points spent for a 1 point increase in ability rank.
It's actually rather functional.
For Pathfinder 2, I'd go with each ability boost increasing the "ability" by 1, unless the ability is +4, then it would take two separate ability boosts to increase the ability by 1. Essentially, the same way you'd advance ability scores now, just that you're only recording the ability score modifier.