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These are what the current ability score bonuses are: Might: + all damage (spell/melee/ranged), +fortitude Constitution: + Endurance, + Health, + Fortitude Dexterity: + Action speed, + Reflex Perception: + Interrupt, + Deflection, +Reflex Intelligence: + Area of effect (all abilities), + Duration (all abilities regardless of physical, mental, or magical), + Will Resolve: + Concentration, + Deflection, + Will As a result most characters focus on might and int, except for a couple of builds. Why should all potent mages, priests, ciphers, archers, all damage dealers look like arnold schwartzenhager? They shouldn't, its absurd. Why should any character who wants to maximize their abilities durations, regardless of physical or magical orientation have to max out intelligence? Why do all potent barbarians, priests, etc... have Einstien like intelligence? They shouldn't, its absurd. That doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to make that kind of character if you want (at the expense of other areas), but it should definitely NOT be the norm for those classes. The current allocation of bonuses are unintuitive, lack common sense, and go against most RPG mechanic norms. Deflection is a measurement of not being hit and DR is a measurement of shrugging off some of the damage after being hit. Why then does resolve affect deflection, but not dexterity? This current system fails on so many levels. I'd never play a table top pnp rpg with this at the core of its character creation. In my humble opinion (30+ years of running table top rpgs), I would have done something more along the lines of this: Might: + melee damage, + fortitude, + might requirement for equiping various weapons and armor Constitution: + Endurance (not a %, but actual integer per level bonus), + Health, + Fortitude Dexterity: + Action speed, + Reflex, + Deflection Perception: + Interrupt, + Defelction, + Ranged physical damage (guns/bows, basically your aim), +Reflex Intelligence: + Area of effect, + Will, + Damage (spells) Resove: + Concentration, + Will, + Duration The current system creates a lot of dump stats for most character builds. It should give each stat considerable weight so people don't want to dump them without taking a big hit, but still allow for unique builds that are not mainstream. To be honest, I was really disappointed with the basic ability score mechanics in the game. I've been looking forward to this game for 2 years. And I know the developers are big time pnp gamers. So why then did they utilize mechanics from the worst version of D&D ever made (4th ed), and why did the ability score mechanics fall so flat? Seems crazy to me.

Forum search didn't turn up much specifically for this, so I thought I'd start my very first topic. (I got the idea from the Barbarian thread, 8P) What kind of problems and qualities are there in various racial bonuses and traits (sometimes penalties, for balance) from previous games, and, naturally, how could this help determine how to handle them in P:E? Personally, I'm not a fan of the "this race is basically meant to be these 2 classes, and that's it" "bonuses" that are sometimes seen in RPGs. "Sand Elves -- Suffer an inherent -3 to STR, but get 150 bonus mana!" That's basically saying "You want to make a Sand Elf Warrior? *snicker*... okay, you totally can... *snicker snicker*" Really, I don't think the penalties are even necessary at all. I mean, if a Half-Giant gets +3 to STR, then everyone else automatically gives up a +3 STR bonus by picking something other than a half-giant. A Sand Elf with no STR penalty will still always be 3 STR weaker than a Half-Giant. And bonuses shouldn't be quite so narrow, I don't think. Especially in a game based so heavily on souls being a common source of ability power, regardless of class, it's probably much less restrictive (yet still varietous) to grant our fictional, example Sand Elves +10% soul energy or something, which would apply to all classes (still hypothetically, as I have no idea how soul power will mechanically function.) I just mean that the lore would support something like that. Racial bonuses should allow for some kind of benefit to almost any class, even if it's not the same for each one (Just like a common bonus to Soul Energy might allow a Rogue to maintain Stealth for longer, whereas it might allow a Wizard to cast more spells at once, or even target more enemies with the same spell at the cost of additional energy... the mechanics of soul energy could be different for each class.) Similarly, weapon proficiency bonuses should be decently varied, if they exist, so as to account for a variety of class choices. If you grant Sand Elves a bonus to effectiveness with wands, staves, and tomes, you're basically making any non-caster class choices pointless. I mean, even if it's possible, no one's gonna make a Barbarian who runs around dual-wielding wands... So, just thought I'd strike up a communal brainstorm on the matter.