Starting ability scores

From: BEThexton <bethexton_at_...>
Date: Fri, 05 Sep 2003 14:04:21 -0000

>
> ... Not *quite* as astonished as I was when I learned that heroes'
> distinctive abilities are the ones with the *lowest* ratings at
> character generation (as that affects all player characters, not
just
> ones who have zippy personal magic and then advance in a cult or
> whatever), but astonished nevertheless.
>

I generally love the hero wars/hero quest character generation system. "Just make a list or write a 100 words describing the hero." Simple, brilliant, flexible.

But then putting numbers to those scores....well, I could rant on in detail about _why_ I think the scoring system is messed up, but I imagine that most of the people who would read it get the concept anyway: unique abilities that are actually at a useful level are a good thing, and you shouldn't be penalized in power level for having such.

What I really want to ask is, does anyone have a different house rule for starting scores, or have a suggestion for one?

The simplest possible approach would probably be to start everything at 17. On the other hand, it does make things interesting to have stronger and weaker abilities, so I'd love to hear some other suggestions.

Regards;

Bryan