19 dexterity for halflings

[Bolo]

Each time Bolo has gone up a level, I've applied his percentile ability increase to his dexterity. Right now he's at 18/50 or thereabouts. (I forget the exact fraction.) He's due to level up again the next time he sleeps (if he lives that long and doesn't get level-drained). I've been planning to keep upping his dex, aiming for at least 19. You may recall that we spoke hypothetically last session about how his thief abilities and second-weapon modifier would be affected by a 19 dex.

I now see, however, that according to Table III on page 15 of the Player's Handbook, the maximum dexterity for a halfling is 18.

On the other hand, Table II.E on page 9 of Unearthed Arcana clearly provides for halfling thieves of dexterity 19 and even 20.

What is the house rule regarding the maximum dexterity for a halfling?

[Wolfgar]

I believe there is a typo on p 15 of PHB. The maximum dexterity (instead of constitution) for halflings should be 19.

[venger]

Table II.E on page 9 of Unearthed Arcana is specifically for racial level limits and doesn't really have any bearing on thieves who have unlimited advancement. It refers to prime requisite ability scores: in the case of halfling druids and clerics that's wisdom, in the case of fighters that's strength.

Halfings get +1 dexterity and -1 strength, but they also receive a constitution savings throw bonus vs. magic & poison like dwarves.

I would agree that their racial max for dexterity should be 19.

[Bolo]

Oct 6, 2011 9:24:09 GMT -5 venger said:

I would agree that their racial max for dexterity should be 19.

OK, that's great. Thanks. That leads to another question:

If/when Bolo's dex goes up from 18 to 19, the incremental dex adjustment to his thief function scores will put at least one of them over 95%. But the house rules say that 95% is the maximum for these scores. I can imagine various ways to resolve this:

(a) The max is 95%, and any points in excess of that are just lost. I should have planned ahead and applied those points to another thief function.
(b) The max is 95%, and any points in excess of that are redistributed to one or more of the other thief functions, either (i) equally or (ii) at the DM's discretion or (iii) at the player's discretion.
(c) The 95% maximum applies to the adjusted roll, but the unadjusted score carried on the character sheet can exceed 95%.

Example of (c): The chance for picking pockets is adjusted down by 5% times the level of the victim. The score after this adjustment cannot exceed 95%, but the score carried on the character sheet can. IMHO, this interpretation makes good sense, because otherwise even the highest-level thief -- even a thief deity with a 25 dex -- can never have a good chance of picking the pocket of a high-level victim.

[Ginger]

I thought the limit was 99% and not 95%, in that there is always a chance of failure.

In any case, you can reallocate your thief skills by training. That will cost time and money, per the normal training rules, but it'll let you optimize.

[venger]

I think the most points you can allocate to a thief skill are 95%.

If racial modifiers, dexterity, no armor, etc. bump this to a higher %, than the max is 99%. If it goes higher, it only applies to modified rolls. For example:

You encounter a difficult lock with a negative modifier of 50%. You've maxed out locking picking to 95%, which is then modified to 115% for dexterity, having no armor, etc. Your chances of opening the lock would be 65% and not 49%.

Also you can reallocate by training, like he said.

[Bolo]

Excellent. Thank you.

[Bolo]

Some points of clarification:

1. Bolo's max dexterity is 19. He's currently at 18/72 and needs another 28% to max out. (These numbers are approximate.) What happens if he rolls more than 28% the next time he levels up? Say he rolls a 58%. What happens to the extra 30%? Is it just gone? Or can he split the roll and put the extra 30% on another ability? Or does his dex become 19/30, which is effectively just 19, except that if, on some future occasion, he somehow lost a dex point to a curse or whatever, then he'd be at 18/30 rather than 18/nothing.

2. How does being noticed when picking pockets work with the 99% cap? According to the Players Handbook (p. 28) a failed attempt to pick pockets is noticed only if the roll fails by 21% or more. Is that correct under the house rules? Or is the chance of not being noticed also capped at 99%? For example,

base chance 75% ==> fails on 76% or higher, noticed on 96% or higher
base chance 95% ==> fails on 96% or higher, noticed on ___?
base chance 115% ==> capped at 99% so fails on 100%, noticed on ___?

3. I believe we agreed a while back that at 19 dexterity there is no minus for using a second weapon in the off hand. Can you confirm that? (I saw someone suggest otherwise on Dragonsfoot.) If it's correct, is there any change to the rule that the second weapon must always be a dagger or hand axe? It seems to me that if there's no minus for the off hand, it isn't really an "off" hand any more, and maybe one could use two short swords (say) rather than a short sword and dagger.

[Dead Greyhawk]

With respect to question 3, you can wield a short sword in the off hand. Several previous characters have. Eledwhen and Basil come to mind.