FAQFile for PLAYER'S OPTION(TM): Skills & Powers There've been quite a few questions on the Skills & Powers book, and I've attempted here to answer some of the most common basic questions regarding the book. (An errata file also is being compiled and will be posted as soon as it's put together.) My point here has been to address nuts-n-bolts rules questions, not getting into the whys and wherefores behind the rules. So, if you've more questions, please be as specific as you can and phrase your question in a manner that a "yes" or a "no" will answer it (when that's possible). My thanks go to Jim Butler and Sean Reynolds (TSR's AOL crew) for fielding all the questions and comments on S&P until I had the time to devote to assembling this file. Please check this file often as it will be updated from time to time. Dale Donovan CHAPTER 1 Q. Can CP earned by level increases be used to buy new Racial or Class abilities? A. No. The only time Race and Class abilities can be purchased is during character creation. One good standby rule is this: If the book (and this goes for any kind of rule book, not just S&P or other TSR products) doesn't specifically say you can do something, then assume that you cannot. Q. Can CPs be used to add to attributes? A. I'm not sure what's meant by attributes, but I'm assuming you mean the 6 standard ability scores. If that's what you mean, the answer is no. CPs do not truly come into play until after the 6 scores are generated (not counting the reference in Method X on page 9). CHAPTER 2 Q. Can subabilities exceed racial limits for ability scores? A. Yes, subabilities can indeed exceed racial limits. Q. Can PCs have subabilities above 18? For example, if I purchase "Aim +1" and my PC already has an 18 Aim? A. Yes, a character with an 18 Dexterity can have up to a 20 in one of his subabilities, with the other subability being a 16 (remember the "within four points" rule on page 12). One flaw in this is the fighter who has an 18 Strength. Any gamer worth his salt will take a 16 Strength/Stamina and a 20 Strength/Muscle (which grants a +3 bonus to attack rolls and a +8 damage bonus). Oops-sorry about that DMs. One way to reduce this unbalancing outcome is to count each category of Exceptional Strength as one point in the "within four points" rule. Therefore, a fighter with an 18 Strength at best could have an 18/51 Strength/Muscle (granting much more reasonable +2/+3 attack/damage bonuses) and the 16 Strength/Stamina. Q. Can CPs gained from high Intelligence be use buy Racial or Class abilities and/or traits? A. No. Bonus CPs from a high Reason subability can be spent on proficiencies only. See page 17 and remember the "standby rule" rule mentioned above. Q. Can rangers and paladins have exceptional Strength (and Strength subabilities) in the PLAYER'S OPTION rules? A. Yes, all members of the warrior group of classes can possess exceptional Strength and Strength subability scores. Page 13 of S&P mentions "a fighter"; replace this with "a warrior". Q. There were some mentions in the C&T book to particular subabilities. These exact subabilities didn't appear in the S&P book. Can you give conversions? A. Sure. Below is the list of those subabilities which changed names in the production of the S&P book. * Strength/Power became Strength/Muscle. * Constitution/Toughness became Constitution/Fitness. * Intelligence/Learning became Intelligence/Knowledge. * Dexterity/Agility became Dexterity/Balance. CHAPTER 3 Q. Can Racial CPs unspent be used to buy Class abilities? A. Some races allow a player to "roll over" CPs from the Race portion of the character-creation process. Those CPs can be spent in the class section, on proficiencies, on traits, or they can be held for use during the game. See page 23 under "Character Points" for how many points races can roll over. Q. In the Races chapter, humans are said to receive 10 CPs. But in the Compiled Tables on page 181, they are listed as receiving 15. Which is correct? A. The text on page 36 is correct. Humans receive 10 CPs as their racial allotment. CHAPTER 4 Q. Do the thieving bonuses from Aim & Balance apply in addition to the Dexterity bonuses as listed in Table 29? A. No. That's an error. In my opinion, Table 29 shouldn't even be in the book as the adjustments are covered in the Aim and Balance tables on pages 14-15. Q. Mages can now cast spells in armor, why can't bards? A. Bards already can wear up to chain mail armor and cast their magical spells. They can't wear armor with a better AC than that because the PHB doesn't allow it. Besides, a wandering minstrel in full plate armor isn't an image I wanted to cater to. Q. Is the +2 AC bonus for unencumbered warriors and rogues apply in addition to the Defensive bonus which thieves and warriors can purchase? A. Yes, but bear in mind that the +2 bonus that can be purchased by warriors and rogues apply only to unarmored and unencumbered characters. Q. With regard to multi-class characters. Do they get CPs for each class they have? How can they spend those points? A. Multi-class characters do indeed get CPs for each class. However, each class' CP allotment must be spent in buying abilities for that class and only that class. In other words, a fighter/mage would receive 15 CPs to spend on fighter-class abilities and would also receive 40 to spend on mage-class abilities. Further, remember the rule that only 5 CPs can be "rolled over" from the class-ability portion of the character-creation process. That's 5 CP total, not per class. Therefore, the fighter/mage mentioned above could leave the class-ability portion of the process with only 5 CPs, not 10 (5 per class and having two classes). Q. As above, but for proficiencies: Do multi-classed PCs take the best CP amount from their classes or do they get them for each class they have as a lump total? A. Note that the opening paragraph under multi-class characters states that all normal rules for theses characters still apply. The PHB says that a multi-class character gets the highest number of proficiencies allowed to any of his classes. Applying that idea to the S&P rules, a multi-class character gets the highest single allotment of CPs available to any one of his classes. He can buy proficiencies from whatever lists his classes allow him access to, but he only receives the single-highest CP proficiency allotment. Q. Do bards get the music/instrument trait for free? A. No. They already receive the Singing and Musical Instrument proficiencies for free. I do not believe any class automatically receives any trait for free (please correct me if I'm wrong). Q. There are references to "divine disfavor" in the book, but no rules. What happened? A. Without going into too much detail, there were to be rules in the S&P book that affected the effects of clerical (and wizard) spells. However, when the PLAYER'S OPTION: Spells & Magic book was put on the 1997 schedule, those rules were removed. Unfortunately, not all the references to those rules were caught. CHAPTER 6 Q. Table 46 shows Traits with an "initial rating". This makes no sense to me since you can't improve traits and you should have no reason to be able to do so. I assume this is the character point cost? A. You are correct. The heading is simply wrong and will be fixed in a later printing. Q. Gaming is listed twice in the NWP charts. Which do I use? A. Use the Gaming listed under the General proficiencies list and disregard the one in the Warrior list. Q. How can CPs from disadvantages be spent? A. CPs gained from taking disadvantages can be spent on acquiring traits, proficiencies, race abilities, or class abilities. All or some also may be saved for use during play. All normal rules apply when spending these CPs. Q. Can CPs gained in the NWP and WP section be used to buy Racial or Class abilities? A. No. With the exception of "roll over" points, all CPs either must be spent in the part of the character-generation process in which they were given (race, class, etc.) or held for use during play. See each chapter for details on "roll over" points. Q. It says in the Spellcraft proficiency that a check can be made to determine if an item is enchanted. Does this mean this skill now allows one to detect magic? A. Yes. CHAPTER 9 Q. Why wasn't the new Psionics section given the CP treatment? A. Okay, this is one of the most asked questions I've heard. The answer's not short, but here goes: The lack of CPs in the Psionics Appendix was deliberate. It was done to make the psionics system in the S&P identical to the system that will be included in the revised DARK SUN(R) campaign setting by Bill Slavicsek. When Bill and I both received mandates to do new, simpler psionics systems for the two products, we decided to put our heads together. Bill and I are good friends, and together we assembled the new psionics system. We wanted to keep the "two" systems identical to avoid confusion (and have only two psi-systems for the AD&D(R) game, rather than three). In the next few months, Bill & I (together and separately) will cover the topic of the "new" psionics in articles in DRAGON(R) Magazine. One of these articles will include CP costs and so on for the "S&P psionicist". GENERAL Q. Are there plans to incorporate S&P stats into future products? A. Yes and No. There is one product--an adventure--on 1996's schedule that'll take advantage of much of the material in the C&T book (the name escapes me at the moment, sorry). Most of the material in S&P regards only characters, not an adventure or campaign setting and should be usable with any other AD&D game products. Q. Is TSR going to produce all future NPCs with CPs, subabilities, traits, disadvantages, and so on? A. No. The PLAYER'S OPTION line is just that: optional. TSR tries not to assume that players own any optional sources. This avoids confusing those folks who, in this case, don't own the PLAYER'S OPTION books. This is TSR's policy regarding all our optional products (PHBRs, HRs, Tome of Magic, etc.). If you have noticed any errors different from those detailed above, please contact TSR, Inc. in any of the following ways. E-Mail U.S. Mail TSRJim@aol.com TSR, Inc. TSRINC@aol.com ATTN: AD&D Product Group 201 Sheridan Springs Road Lake Geneva, WI 53147 AD&D, DARK SUN, and DRAGON are registered trademarks of TSR, Inc. PLAYER'S OPTION is a trademark owned by TSR, Inc. Copyright 1995 by TSR, Inc. All Rights Reserved. TSR grants permission to distribute this document in its original form. Last Updated: 9/8/95