Gradual ability boosts

[aobst128]

Thinking about implementing this varient rule in an upcoming homebrew game. Anyone have experience with this one? Seems fairly benign at face value for a quality of life varient but I figured I'd ask opinions on it. Certain classes like inventor and thaum disproportionately benefit from it since they can get an 18 in strength/dex at 2nd instead of 5th. That's the most notable thing I can think of. Grabbing multiclass archetypes would be easier too now that I think about it.

[shroudb]

i've played two games with it active.

it is a good variant for helping classes like alchemist and etc that they dont get an attack primary, yes, but on the flipside it's also a big boost for the classes that do start with an 18 primary since those get to boost to 22 at level 16 instead of 20. so that evens out.

the second benefit is for classes like casters that they get to increase their dex to 18 asap so they get a boost to their AC bringing them closer to what other classes have.

both the above i think are good additions to the balance btw, i mean, they are stats that "eventually" everyone maxes out, so it brings them to that level earlier.

a final good thing about it is that it helps smooth out the sense of progression instead of it being a massive boost at 5/10/15

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but for the negative, i found that it required a lot of housekeeping. When you get to the midlevels, i had to keep going back in notes to see what stat i have already boosted for that set of 4 boosts and etc.

[aobst128]

Only now realizing this also allows a 20 in your key stat at 7th instead of 10th which is very good for everyone. Definitely a power boost.

[aobst128]

Think that might screw with the math too much?

[shroudb]

it's certainly a noticable increase in power, but not by that much imo.

i personally like it in more heroic stories since it lets the players reach their potential sooner but i wouldnt want to use it in a more "realistic" or grim story.

[aobst128]

shroudb wrote:

it's certainly a noticable increase in power, but not by that much imo.

i personally like it in more heroic stories since it lets the players reach their potential sooner but i wouldnt want to use it in a more "realistic" or grim story.

That's fair. Not going for a grim sort of vibe so I think I'll go for it. Starting at 1st level so this should help make progression feel a bit better.

[YuriP]

As already said, this variant is good the help some MAD classes to have a welcome improvement but also this is an interesting variant for partys that's complain about game difficult and just want to improve their powers just a bit.

IMO is a more power enforced variant than Free Archetype or Ancestry Paragon once it's allows to speedup a direct stat improvement instead of give a char more flexibility like the extra feats do.

[Captain Morgan]

YuriP wrote:

As already said, this variant is good the help some MAD classes to have a welcome improvement but also this is an interesting variant for partys that's complain about game difficult and just want to improve their powers just a bit.

IMO is a more power enforced variant than Free Archetype or Ancestry Paragon once it's allows to speedup a direct stat improvement instead of give a char more flexibility like the extra feats do.

That's why I am not a huge fan of it. It changes the fundamental math of the game in a way more feats does not. But if you want an easier game it is fine. (Though it creates more book keeping as mentioned. If you want an easy game because your players are newbs you're better off putting them a level ahead of schedule than using variant rules.)

[shroudb]

I find free Archetype to offer more of a boost tbh.
Gradual boost increases some stuff by +1 a few levels earlier, which is a noticeable increase as I said above.

But free archetypes, at least from the archetypes I see more often, is usually either action economy enhancers, or extra spell slots, or auras and buffs, or in combat healing, and etc. And some times even straight up number increases.

All of those imo contribute more, power wise, rather than gradual boosts.

Although I do find that this contribution is done in a more *fun* way compared to gradual ability boosts (often coming from active abilities or the ability to spam more actual spells rather than cantrips).

Overall, I think that if I had to compare the two, I'd say that:

Free Archetype offers an increase in both the power level and the fun factor.
Gradual boosts offer an increase in the power level and smoothness of level progression.

[aobst128]

With some system mastery, free archetype can be pretty gnarly at higher levels considering things like FOB and triggerbrand salvo. I'm currently running a thaum/barb that hits with d10s and I'm working my way towards FOB as well. It's a monster.