Question about rules: Prime Requisite

[memoryLeak]

Hello All,

So I picked up a copy of Basic Fantasy and its cost, simplicity, and quality is quite nice. The book states that it is using 3.5 SRD D20 and is heavily influenced by "old school" D&D. I get the vibe that it is influenced by the so-called "Basic" D&D sets due to the mentions of Moldvay, Cook, etc.

Having said that it seems that Prime Requisite experience bonus is absent in BF. For example, in Basic D&D, a wizard's intelligence gives a penalty/bonus for low/high intelligence with regard to earned experience points. So a wizard with a 16-18 intelligence would get a 10% bonus. This seems to be a nod to the fact that an intelligent wizard would be more successful than an ignorant one.

I guess what I am wondering can be stated as what is the difference between a wizard of intelligence 18 versus intelligence 9? The higher intelligence guy knows 3 more languages? Contrast this with a fighter with prime requisite strength of 18 versus 9. The guy with 18 strength will be a much better fighter due to the +3 attack/damage bonus.

Please do not interpret this as critique I am just curious. And I do realize this could be easily house-ruled, but I like to understand the intent of the rules before I go mucking around with them.

Anyway, first post: great game! Best wishes. Thanks for any feedback.

[CptClyde]

Welcome to BFRPG!
I'm sure the creators will reply here shortly with an official answer for you, but in the mean time I would like to make it known I like how BFRPG did away with the PrimeRequisite XP adjustment and simply went with the "Minumum Attribute score of 9" requirement. And I LOVE the way humans get the 10% bonus instead. Great way to balance races.
Referencing the D&D Rules Cyclopedia, it shows that the classes never actually had any minimum attribute requirements for the basic 4 classes, just XP adjustments. Seems odd, and makes me wonder why bother, since pretty much every PC will have an XP bonus. Seems like it was "power creep" and an after thought to the rules.
But hey, this is the land of the open-source, DIY roleplaying! If you want to use those XP adjustments go right ahead and do it! You could even write up a supplement and offer it here for others to enjoy as well! You can even download the editable version of the Core Rules and change it with your rules. You get to play the part of game designer with BFRPG if you want to.

[SmootRK]

I always thought it was a dumb part of those early games/editions.

Having better stats (and thus certain bonuses) already should logically make one better at adventuring, and thus easier to accumulate experience. Piling experience bonus on top of other such factors just never made sense.

I always felt the same about giving XP for gold and stuff like magic items. Dumb. The bonus of getting treasures is the benefit of having such resources, and thus being more effective moving forward by using those resources. For instance, having excess gold would mean one can hire additional retainers (equals greater success). I could also see spending gold upon actual training (in which there is a transaction that expends those resources). Having a Magic Item means greater success at whatever, magic sword means better at combat, magic armor means greater survival, etc. (again, equals greater success and more experience over time).

So, back to experience bonus... the rules you are referencing is just a freebie given to a character that ought to be acquiring xp more easily anyhow. The bonus of having that superior ability scores is the benefit itself that leads to increased experience points.

[Rookie555]

Prime Requisites in BF don't really make much impact besides if having a low score from 3d6 being generated. I personally like it that humans get the +10% experience bonus regardless of having a 9-18 ability by class. Though most importantly I don't think experience bonuses based on ability scores shouldn't be to much of a hassle when playing. but you can add that detail into the game if you like.

[Dimirag]

Solo can surely give a better an official answer

Besides the roleplaying aspect INT helps against some spells like charm person, a 15+ means more chances of finding secret doors, the bonus is used on Saving Throws against Illusions, and the score improves the chances of a successful magical research roll.

If you use the optional rule of ability roll it help with that, and with the preparation of spell w/out a spellbook

It also help on whatever roll a GM ask, either a d20 under score or the 1+Ability mod chances on a d6.

[Solomoriah]

Smoot actually already gave my answer.

[memoryLeak]

Thanks, all.

So I did an electronic search for "intelligence" in the pdf file (more efficient than using my hardcopy ) and came up with the following (with respect to my magic-user example -- and I believe all were reported to me in your responses):

* language bonus
* affects resistance to charm person
* finding secret doors
* saving throws versus illusions
* preparing spells from memory (I like this idea. is it unique to BF?)
* greatly affects magical research
* ability rolls (I am guessing for the case of magic-user one could GM it as, for example, this is just a crazy example, but maybe recognizing an ancient spell written on a scroll or maybe identification of a magic item, etc)

So, based on what I read on the responses here those items listed above would make an 18 intelligence MU more effective than a 9 (all other things equal).

And by the way, I never understood the XP bonuses in basic either. As a kid, I never even really paid attention to them, but then I figured out as an adult they were probably there to represent how a more 'qualified' character would advance quicker and thus provide differentiation based on gradations of the prime requisite. That is at least my speculation any way. I was just wondering how BF handled it; and that is handled from the bullet points above that I gleaned from my text search.

Any way thanks all for the responses. It is great to hear from the creative team too as well as the originator of the project! Great work. Appreciate it. Best wishes.

PS: my example above was for the magic user, but the same exercise could be done for cleric, etc, as well.

[Tazer_The_Yoot]

Prime Requisites and how they worked in B/X are an OD&D carry over and a reflection of Gary's personal philosophies on the fiction of the game. The way bfrpg handles it has already been covered with eloquence here by others. It encourages a different mentality and play style and doesn't punish players as much for bad luck with ability score generation.

[memoryLeak]

Prime Requisites and how they worked in B/X are an OD&D carry over and a reflection of Gary's personal philosophies...It encourages a different mentality and play style and doesn't punish players as much for bad luck with ability score generation.

I hear ya, man. Thanks for confirming my suspicion. Like I said I was just curious, not critiquing.

BF is a really good game and I bought 6 paperback books of it so far. Cannot beat the price to quality ratio and I think this game ticks the boxes for many disparate types of players.

best wishes to you Tazer and all the helpful responders in this thread.