Skip to main content
Role-playing Games

Return to Answer

added 165 characters in body
Source Link
Darth Pseudonym
Darth Pseudonym
  • 77.2k
  • 12
  • 198
  • 352

Who is this item for?

I'm not really going to answer the question of what rarity this item should be, because I think there's a deeper problem here -- the item itself doesn't make sense at any rarity level.

Do you haveIs this item intended for a specific player in your group who actually wants to multiclass, but didn't get the stats up front to do it? It's a very rare situation that you seem to be trying to address here. Most of the time, if a player wants to multiclass, they will know that from 1st level and arrange their ability scores to allow for it, or have planned to put an Ability Score Increase in the right place at 4th level to allow for it.

Furthermore, let's face itFor a player who isn't trying to get to some prereq they couldn't manage up front, adding to an ability score with a low maximum means you'll pretty much only ever be affecting a dump stat. If a player has a 12 or lower in an ability score, it's because that score isn't particularly important to them. Could this increase help with a bad save bonus or elevate a skill they took but aren't all that good at? Yeah, possibly, but it's going to suck most of the excitement out of the thing. When you hear "permanent ability score increase", that's exciting -- but then you look at the limitations and think about them, and it's a let-down. "Oh, good, I can be marginally better at something I'm bad at. Wheeeee."

And that saidEven if the item were good enough to be interesting to more than a very rare player character, in general, you should avoid items that provide a +1 bonus to an ability score. There's a reason every item in the books is either setting your score a specific number ("your Strength score becomes 19 if it is normally lower") or adding an even number to the score. Odd ability increases have a weird, lopsided effect; whether the effect is good or not depends on the character's specific scores in a way that you see almost nothingnowhere else in the game depends on. Worse, whether the item is good or not has no reflection in the game world -- why does a +1 strengththis item make this guy significantly more dangerous in melee combat, but doesn't do anything for that guy? There's no answer. It's just how the system mechanics shake out. A +2 will have essentially the same amount of benefit for people who had an odd score to start with, and will make the item interesting for even-scored people as well.

Who is this item for?

I'm not really going to answer the question of what rarity this item should be, because I think there's a deeper problem here -- the item itself doesn't make sense at any rarity level.

Do you have a player who actually wants to multiclass, but didn't get the stats up front to do it? It's a very rare situation that you seem to be trying to address here. Most of the time, if a player wants to multiclass, they will know that from 1st level and arrange their ability scores to allow for it, or have planned to put an Ability Score Increase in the right place at 4th level to allow for it.

Furthermore, let's face it, adding to an ability score with a low maximum means you'll pretty much only ever be affecting a dump stat. If a player has a 12 or lower in an ability score, it's because that score isn't particularly important to them. Could this increase help with a bad save bonus or elevate a skill they took but aren't all that good at? Yeah, possibly, but it's going to suck most of the excitement out of the thing. When you hear "permanent ability score increase", that's exciting -- but then you look at the limitations and think about them, and it's a let-down. "Oh, good, I can be marginally better at something I'm bad at. Wheeeee."

And that said, in general, avoid items that provide a +1 bonus to an ability score. There's a reason every item in the books is either setting your score a specific number ("your Strength score becomes 19 if it is normally lower") or adding an even number to the score. Odd ability increases have a weird, lopsided effect; whether the effect is good or not depends on the character's specific scores in a way that almost nothing else in the game depends on. Worse, whether the item is good or not has no reflection in the game world -- why does a +1 strength make this guy significantly more dangerous in melee combat, but doesn't do anything for that guy? There's no answer. It's just how the system mechanics shake out. A +2 will have essentially the same amount of benefit for people who had an odd score to start with, and will make the item interesting for even-scored people as well.

Who is this item for?

I'm not really going to answer the question of what rarity this item should be, because I think there's a deeper problem here -- the item itself doesn't make sense at any rarity level.

Is this item intended for a specific player in your group who wants to multiclass, but didn't get the stats up front to do it? It's a very rare situation that you seem to be trying to address here. Most of the time, if a player wants to multiclass, they will know that from 1st level and arrange their ability scores to allow for it, or have planned to put an Ability Score Increase in the right place at 4th level to allow for it.

For a player who isn't trying to get to some prereq they couldn't manage up front, adding to an ability score with a low maximum means you'll pretty much only ever be affecting a dump stat. If a player has a 12 or lower in an ability score, it's because that score isn't particularly important to them. Could this increase help with a bad save bonus or elevate a skill they took but aren't all that good at? Yeah, possibly, but it's going to suck most of the excitement out of the thing. When you hear "permanent ability score increase", that's exciting -- but then you look at the limitations and think about them, and it's a let-down. "Oh, good, I can be marginally better at something I'm bad at. Wheeeee."

Even if the item were good enough to be interesting to more than a very rare player character, in general, you should avoid items that provide a +1 bonus to an ability score. There's a reason every item in the books is either setting your score a specific number ("your Strength score becomes 19 if it is normally lower") or adding an even number to the score. Odd ability increases have a weird, lopsided effect; whether the effect is good or not depends on the character's specific scores in a way that you see almost nowhere else in the game. Worse, whether the item is good or not has no reflection in the game world -- why does this item make this guy significantly more dangerous in melee combat, but doesn't do anything for that guy? There's no answer. It's just how the system mechanics shake out. A +2 will have essentially the same amount of benefit for people who had an odd score to start with, and will make the item interesting for even-scored people as well.

Source Link
Darth Pseudonym
Darth Pseudonym
  • 77.2k
  • 12
  • 198
  • 352

Who is this item for?

I'm not really going to answer the question of what rarity this item should be, because I think there's a deeper problem here -- the item itself doesn't make sense at any rarity level.

Do you have a player who actually wants to multiclass, but didn't get the stats up front to do it? It's a very rare situation that you seem to be trying to address here. Most of the time, if a player wants to multiclass, they will know that from 1st level and arrange their ability scores to allow for it, or have planned to put an Ability Score Increase in the right place at 4th level to allow for it.

Furthermore, let's face it, adding to an ability score with a low maximum means you'll pretty much only ever be affecting a dump stat. If a player has a 12 or lower in an ability score, it's because that score isn't particularly important to them. Could this increase help with a bad save bonus or elevate a skill they took but aren't all that good at? Yeah, possibly, but it's going to suck most of the excitement out of the thing. When you hear "permanent ability score increase", that's exciting -- but then you look at the limitations and think about them, and it's a let-down. "Oh, good, I can be marginally better at something I'm bad at. Wheeeee."

And that said, in general, avoid items that provide a +1 bonus to an ability score. There's a reason every item in the books is either setting your score a specific number ("your Strength score becomes 19 if it is normally lower") or adding an even number to the score. Odd ability increases have a weird, lopsided effect; whether the effect is good or not depends on the character's specific scores in a way that almost nothing else in the game depends on. Worse, whether the item is good or not has no reflection in the game world -- why does a +1 strength make this guy significantly more dangerous in melee combat, but doesn't do anything for that guy? There's no answer. It's just how the system mechanics shake out. A +2 will have essentially the same amount of benefit for people who had an odd score to start with, and will make the item interesting for even-scored people as well.