Ability Rolls

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Boggo
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Ability Rolls

Post by Boggo »

For a long time, decades before the birth of BFRPG I've had an issue with Ability scores not being that important, effectively in game terms there is no difference between (for example) a Strength of 12 and a Strength of 15 (AD&D and 3e improved this slightly by reducing the bonus mod to every 2 points of a stat instead of 3) but I still feel every point of an ability score should mean something.

Another thing I'm not 100% happy with in BFRPG is the Target rolls for Ability Checks being level based, so I've worked up a house rule for handling it. I've only just played with this once so far (and it's been tweaked since then, but I though I'd post it to invite some discussion (and maybe ideas for improvement as it's still not exactly feeling right)

Ability Rolls
An ability roll is made to perform a task, either intentional or involuntary that is not covered by other game mechanics.
Examples of Ability checks are
  • Strength: Swimming (Moderate)
  • Intelligence: Perception (Passive Moderate)
  • Wisdom: First Aid (Hard, Moderate for Cleric)
  • Dexterity: Ride (Moderate)
  • Constitution: Holding Breath (Moderate)
  • Charisma: Sing or Act (Moderate)
Ability rolls are made with a target of 22-ability score, with a natural 1 an automatic failure, and a natural 20 an automatic success as per normal dice rolling conventions.
Ability Score__Target Number
3_______________19+
4_______________18+
5_______________17+
6_______________16+
7_______________15+
8_______________14+
9_______________13+
10______________12+
11______________11+
12______________10+
13______________9+
14______________8+
15______________7+
16______________6+
17______________5+
18______________4+
Standard bonus’ for task difficulty on the dice roll.
+4______________Incredibly Easy
+2______________Very Easy
+0______________Easy
-2_______________Moderate / Average
-4_______________Hard
-6_______________Very Hard
-8_______________Incredibly Hard
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Dimirag
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Re: Ability Rolls

Post by Dimirag »

Moved to The Workshop.
Sorry for any misspelling or writing error, I am not a native English speaker
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Seven
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Re: Ability Rolls

Post by Seven »

I don't think strength works for swimming.
People with a high percentage of body fat tend to float easily.
I've seen bodybuilders who just sunk to the bottom of the pool.
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SmootRK
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Re: Ability Rolls

Post by SmootRK »

Seven wrote: Mon Mar 13, 2023 12:05 pm I don't think strength works for swimming.
People with a high percentage of body fat tend to float easily.
I've seen bodybuilders who just sunk to the bottom of the pool.
Agree. Swimming does benefit from Strength, then holding breath is an application of Constitution, and there is a skill factor (better swimmers are quite skilled at the techniques, and if you don't know how to swim... uh oh).
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JoCool
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Re: Ability Rolls

Post by JoCool »

Interesting ideas for scaling. May work very well at a table.

I personally like the scaling by level listed in the book with the character level weighing higher on success than ability score or bonus. All that experience to reach a higher level could make a character better at adventuring in general. I am also a fan of faster and simpler, and relying on fewer numbers always wins for me.
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Boggo
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Re: Ability Rolls

Post by Boggo »

JoCool wrote: Mon Mar 13, 2023 1:21 pm Interesting ideas for scaling. May work very well at a table.

I personally like the scaling by level listed in the book with the character level weighing higher on success than ability score or bonus. All that experience to reach a higher level could make a character better at adventuring in general. I am also a fan of faster and simpler, and relying on fewer numbers always wins for me.
It's actually less looking up numbers, the target is always 22- stat then apply modifiers to the roll, if you want to keep it tied to levels (which I personally don't agree with) add the characters AB
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Solomoriah
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Re: Ability Rolls

Post by Solomoriah »

JoCool wrote: Mon Mar 13, 2023 1:21 pm I personally like the scaling by level listed in the book with the character level weighing higher on success than ability score or bonus. All that experience to reach a higher level could make a character better at adventuring in general.
THIS. This is what I was thinking when I wrote the rule.

Sometimes I even use it...
Boggo wrote: Mon Mar 13, 2023 7:45 pm It's actually less looking up numbers, the target is always 22- stat then apply modifiers to the roll, if you want to keep it tied to levels (which I personally don't agree with) add the characters AB
Yeah, and you know what I think about doing math at the table.
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Boggo
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Re: Ability Rolls

Post by Boggo »

Solomoriah wrote: Tue Mar 14, 2023 8:06 pm
JoCool wrote: Mon Mar 13, 2023 1:21 pm I personally like the scaling by level listed in the book with the character level weighing higher on success than ability score or bonus. All that experience to reach a higher level could make a character better at adventuring in general.
THIS. This is what I was thinking when I wrote the rule.

Sometimes I even use it...
Boggo wrote: Mon Mar 13, 2023 7:45 pm It's actually less looking up numbers, the target is always 22- stat then apply modifiers to the roll, if you want to keep it tied to levels (which I personally don't agree with) add the characters AB
Yeah, and you know what I think about doing math at the table.
Thats why I provided all the targets for all stats from 3-18, though honestly 22-your ability score as the target roll isn't hard to remember, and personally I hate the scaling for levelling up, why does a Magic user become a better swimmer as they level up for example? This is working ok so far in my game, we haven't come across anything that needs adjusting to date, but then since I play straight dungeon crawl ability checks don't come up that often
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Solomoriah
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Re: Ability Rolls

Post by Solomoriah »

Boggo wrote: Tue Mar 14, 2023 8:17 pm... personally I hate the scaling for levelling up, why does a Magic user become a better swimmer as they level up for example?
Adventurers become more proficient at adventuring as they go along. Any time a character's success at a task might improve as that character becomes more experienced, the rule in the book is appropriate; if not, I tend to use a version of the 1d6 ability score roll, which makes ability scores much more important.
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Boggo
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Re: Ability Rolls

Post by Boggo »

Solomoriah wrote: Tue Mar 14, 2023 9:35 pm 1d6 ability score roll, which makes ability scores much more important.
whats this?
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