Attribute Bonuses are pointless

[Bohemond]

The current system makes attribute bonuses meaningless. Sure, being a human may give you an extra point of Might, but that doesn’t make any difference in terms of your final character, unless chose to start with the maximum  or minimum might. Because you can move points between your statistics, your bonuses are irrelevant unless you are one of the two extremes.

 

If you want to make stat bonuses mater, you need to implement some sort of cost scaling systems, where attributes either cost more as you get them at higher value, or different races get a discount (or bonus) when purchasing certain stats.

[Billy O]

I agree with you completely though I doubt it will change. They seem to have a no bad choices mentality when it comes to builds. I understand they don't want to limit you but bonuses should feel like bonuses.

[Qiushui]

Pretty much agree. Maybe they could make it a slightly bigger bonus like +3 to +4?

[Prometheus]

I don't like scaling costs, they remove a lot of builds because you need to build your character so that he doesn't have any points left.

[Mazuo]

I'm not certain about scaling costs either, but presently there isn't any real feeling of impact when choosing your beginning stats.  For trying to avoid the concept of dump attributes, I still find myself maxing 3 I really want and spreading the rest as I can.  A mild percentage difference just doesn't come across as very meaningful.  Dexterity for example tells me I'm getting some flat value to accuracy, but it's really difficult to conceptualize how much of a bonus it really is at different levels.

 

Probably need some more time using it as well with the confusing aspects of might affecting all damage, etc.

[umooner]

Yeah...I kinda like the implementation as is. You could probably strike a balance somehow of making them cost more for character types, but your adding a lot of complexity then.

[Sensuki]

The only difference is a higher minimum and a higher maximum. That's it really.

[Answermancer]

Yeah I don't like scaling costs either. However, they could make the bonuses bigger like someone suggested (+4 or more) and then lower the total number of points available slightly (or not, if it's balanced).

 

If you had less points to spend but a race gave you +6 Might or something then the races would feel a little more differentiated in that regard.

[Silent Winter]

^but then you're pretty much down to 'wanna play a might character? - gotta pick Dwarf (or whatever).

As it stands, you can choose the race you want and still make the sub-type you want.

[Answermancer]

Not really, it depends on how they balance it and how many points they give you to spend. The limit is 18 one way or the other, so say Dwarves gave you +6 might, it would make it cheaper to max out Might and you'd have more points left over for other stuff, whereas with another race you'd get +6 to something else, or +3 and +3 to two other things and you could still max out Might at 18 easily it would just cost more points to do so but you'd have a buffer in two other attributes to make up for it.

 

Ultimately it's just flavor at that point though, since you can probably min-max it however you want, it just gives those races a stronger initial push towards that stat.

 

Nevermind, for some reason I thought it worked this way (I thought it did when I made my first character) rather than adding the points on top of the cap. Not sure why I thought it was working that way.

Edited August 19, 2014 by Answermancer

[Sensuki]

This is probably due to the fact that point buy is not weighted, and rolls are not being used.

 

In 3rd and 4th edition, they used a weighted point buy, the +1 / +2 was more valuable because it was "free" rather than costing heaps of points.

 

2E had a system with a lot of different factors - racial minimums and maximums and class minimums and maximums, which made the bonuses matter most of the time.

 

Attribute bonuses mattered in Knights of the Chalice because you can only reroll once (toggle-able in the options)

 

If it is important for attribute bonuses for races and cultures to be a big deal, perhaps a new point buy system needs to be used

[Bazy]

Sure, being a human may give you an extra point of Might, but that doesn’t make any difference in terms of your final character, unless chose to start with the maximum  or minimum might. Because you can move points between your statistics, your bonuses are irrelevant unless you are one of the two extremes.

Well said. The bonuses from race and culture only really effect the extremes. For what that is worth. 

[Pray]

I'm not certain about scaling costs either, but presently there isn't any real feeling of impact when choosing your beginning stats.  For trying to avoid the concept of dump attributes, I still find myself maxing 3 I really want and spreading the rest as I can.  A mild percentage difference just doesn't come across as very meaningful.  Dexterity for example tells me I'm getting some flat value to accuracy, but it's really difficult to conceptualize how much of a bonus it really is at different levels.

 

Probably need some more time using it as well with the confusing aspects of might affecting all damage, etc.

 

How much it is at different levels will probably make more sense as you're playing through the game, feeling the changes on a per level basis instead of just dumping all your points in at 1 level with no game context.