Optional Attribute Point System

(Version 1.00 - Last Modified: 05/08/2007)

• Introduction
• Recommended Point Pools
• Attribute Point Cost Chart
• Sample Character Attributes

Introduction

One of the problems in more traditional role-playing games is randomly determined character attributes. It creates unfortunate unbalances among the players and while this can lead to good role-playing opportunities, I prefer such opportunities to be the choice of the player, not the fate of the dice during character creation. There is also the problem of cheating and dishonest players or power gamers that roll set after set of attributes to find the perfect set for their vision of their character. A system for buying attributes with a set amount of points allows players to choose the attributes that they want and ensures that no player cheats or no player is unfairly penalized by rolling bad attributes. It also allows a player to have a bad attribute if they want to have those role-playing opportunities.

The point system gives each player a pool of points with which to increase their attributes from a starting base value. The amount of points an increase costs and an attributes starting value varies depending on the number of dice used to roll that attribute. For example, a 3D6 attribute has a base value of 8, but to increase that attribute to 11, it would cost 3 points. It is up to the GM to decide what kind of campaign he or she is running, whether it is a low-powered campaign where characters have more average attributes, or a high-powered campaign where characters several above average attributes and one or two that are really high. Finally, attribute bonuses and penalties from a character's race are added after the points have been for spent on the attributes.

Another important feature of the Palladium System attributes is the bonus die available if a player rolled a 16, 17, or 18. This point system duplicates this bonus die by charging players 5 points for a bonus 1D6 (or 1D4 for attributes that use that type of die) in that attribute. However, the player must reach a minimum attribute before the bonus die can be purchased. For example, a character must spend 8 points to get a 3D6 attribute to 16 before the extra 5 points can be spend to get the bonus die.

Recommended Point Pools

• Low-Powered Campaign - 25 points
• Mid-Powered Campaign - 30 points
• High-Powered Campaign - 35 points

Attribute Point Cost Chart

For attributes that use dice that are not on the following list, such as a Spd attribute of 1D4x10, GM's should roll that attribute as per the normal rules and decrease that player's remaining points by 1/8 of the total points. Using the example above, that player would roll Spd using 1D4x10 and then only have 22 points to determine the other attributes (25/8 = 3, 25-3 = 22). The following chart should cover nearly all of the most common attributes available to characters.

* = for 5 extra points, gain +1D6 to the attribute.

Sample Character Attributes

The following are two characters, a Human and an Elf, built using the above point buy system for low-powered, mid-powered, and high-powered campaigns.