Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Point Buy

I know the +2/+1 floating attributes is probably a WotC thing, but it's kind of silly to have two different mechanics (point buy then +1/+2) to accomplish the same thing. I think you should just have a 36 Point Buy (with 16 and 17 costing 3 points each). That will make the 17/16/15/8/8/8 min/max build viable, but make more balanced builds even better. I personally think it would be fine to buy up to an 18 (for 19 points total), allowing a min/maxed 18/17/10/8/8/8 (or, more likely, an 18/16/13/8/8/8), a "maximally balanced" 14/14/14/14/12/12, or something in between. This is basically the 3.5e point buy system (with no racial modifiers), which worked just fine. I'd also allow you to reduce an attribute to 7.

While purely cosmetic, I'd automatically "spend" 12 points to start characters off with a 10 in each attribute to denote the "average." You could then reduce from average if you wanted.

It really is silly. What's the point of a floating +2/+1 if every race has it and you're using point buy? I agree, just fold the +2/+1 into a larger point buy pool at that point.

While undoubtedly more complex (and even more unlikely to be implemented), I think ASI should be changed to ASA "Attribute Score Adjustment," which would allow you to reduce any attributes you want (and recover the points you spent to buy them) and add another 6 points to spend; you could limit this to reducing an attribute by a maximum of 1. This will generally result in worse min/maxed builds at higher levels for those who take only ASA, but improved balanced builds. It would also allow you to drop odd attributes without respec.

I understand that might make min/maxers unhappy, so you could also drop the minimum for an attribute by 1 each time you take ASA. For example, you could reduce it to 7 when you took ASA the first time. to 6 if you took ASA a second time, and to 5 if you take ASA a third time (Rogues and Fighters could reduce to 4 if they took ASA a fourth time). The math for a min/max 17/16/15/8/8/8 build would get you a 18/16/16/8/8/7 at 4th Level, 20/16/16/8/6/6 at 8th Level (or 6th Level for a Fighter), and 20/18/16/7/6/6 at 12th Level (or 8th Level for a Fighter or 10th Level for a Rogue), assuming you were trying to replicate the most min/maxed attribute array currently possible. It's objectively worse in that context, but the penalty is only -1 worse for one, two, or three of the 3 attributes (which would each be 8 under the current rules) you were min/maxing, which shouldn't matter much because that's what min/maxing is. You can "keep up" with current rule min/max builds (on the maximum end) by dropping the floor by 1 each time. A 12th Level Fighter or Rogue would fare a little more poorly with a 20/20/16/6/6/4 instead of a 20/20/16/8/8/8, but I'd argue that's still fine for a min/maxed character (in the sense the player probably won't be mad).

Strongly disagree unless/until the attributes are adjusted so that there aren't uber-stats and correspondingly obvious dump stats. And even if so, it still doesn't really make sense why adventurers would be getting weaker (less intelligent/wise/charismatic/hardy/dexterous) the more they adventure.

Setting stats lower than 8 should either be allowed at character creation or only allowed through in-universe deals with e.g., hags, devils, warlock-type-patrons, cursed books, etc (ideally at a steep cost: e.g., gain 1 point at the cost of 2 or 3 points).
And if you messed up your stats so badly during character creation that you need them changed, then you should work with the DM to just change them/change your character.

You can already min/max to get exactly the same maximums as if the change was made and you can get any abilities you want during respec as you can during character creation. "Making sense" from your perspective is already out the window. Making it more interesting is my goal. The only reason I would suggest the lower stats are "needed" is so that min/maxers could get close to what they could get under the current rules, albeit with some slightly bigger penalties for min/maxing on the minimized attributes, and then only if the ASI is changed to ASA, which I suggest so you can make these changes without respec. In other words, a nod to legacy characters.

That being said, the reduced attributes was more of a thought experiment. My primary point was simply that +2/+1 is unnecessary with Point Buy; you can just give more points. ASA is never going to happen.