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If a fighter was not limited to 20 Strength, there would be no point to increasing any other stat.  It would remove the freedom to choose, which is a great appeal of the current system.

Oct 15, 2012 -- 10:47AM, Plaguescarred wrote:

Oct 15, 2012 -- 10:26AM, Gwathir wrote:

The caps are in place to keep a sense of realism. A human with the strength of a giant just doesn't make sense - even in fantasy.

And yet a Human with a STR 20 is as strong as a Giant. That's why i think the cap is still too high since we can't reduce the Strenght of Giants, the cap should go down to 18.

Well yes that is definatelly a problem as well, either the cap needs to be adjusted or the creatures.

Here is what I am leaning toward.

Heroes use a slightly above average array: 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9.

Then +1 class.

Then +1 race.

So a maximum possible score at level 1 is 16 for the primary ability.

Then +1 background to a nonprimary ability.



Results include:

16, 14, 12, 11, 10, 9
16, 13, 12, 11, 10, 10
15, 15, 12, 11, 10, 9



Then allow abilities to improve at levels 5, 10, 15, 20, so the primary ability possibly reaches 20, at level 20.

Magic could add on top of this, but magical boosts would make any expected ranges for abilities a joke, and DMs should probably avoid magical boosts. Items such as Books, Belt of Giant Strength, and Circlets of Intellect, can provide their effect temporarily, thus keeping the expected Strength and Intelligence within reason.

I hope the designers rethink the stats for the Human race, so it works more smoothly, using the same mechanics as other races. Hopefully the Human racial ability adjustment is +1 any, along with racial features that represent Human desire, aggression, cooperation, and adaptation. Several forumers have suggested excellent features along these lines.

With stacking bonuses from race and class, the cap has to be there to retain balance.  Without it, if you don't pick a race that grants a bonus to your primary stat, and choose that stat for your class bonus, you'll always be less effective than someone of a difference race.  With a cap, at least you'll catch up later, so an "optimal" choice is less critical.

Personally, I prefer the 13th Age method, where both race and class grant +2 to a stat, from a list of appropriate choices, but they don't stack.  So an elf fighter would get +2 Str from being a fighter, and either +2 Dex or +2 Wis from being an elf, but an elf rogue might take the +2 Dex from being an elf, then take a secondary option from rogue (e.g. +2 Cha).