So, for those of you familiar with CONFLICT PVP, it's a 3rd Party Pathfinder RPG supplement that allows character building to be built solely on ONE resource: BATTLE POINTS. You spend battle points to build a character.

1. First, you buy their points for ability scores. Each ability point costs you 1 battle point (max 25).
   
2. Second, you buy their race. Each race point costs you 1 battle point (suggested max 25).
   
3. Third, you buy their class levels. Total character level costs go up according to a table in the book (no max).
   
4. Fourth, you buy their equipment. 100 gold = 1 battle point (no max).
   
5. Lastly, you buy their source books. Every source book used beyond the CORE RULE BOOK costs 1 battle point (no max). (the book says you get 1 freebie but bollocks to that)

Add up the total battle points. That's what the characters "power level" is in the PVP arena.

And you're done.

You don't have to worry about awarding loot or XP or keeping track of consumables used. Each "battle" they are in allows them full use of all their stuff. If they buy/sell stuff, they're really just swapping out their battle points for different gear.

When a consumable is used, the character merely has to wait until another roleplaying opportunity to "find loot" or "earn coin" before they can re-spend their battle points on more potions, scrolls or whatever. The GM determines the time they need to wait for this opportunity, so, how powerful or weak it is to regenerate consumables is entirely up to the GM's personal interpretation of it.

It's that easy.

Wonderful idea. However, I have a bit of a problem with their cost ratios, but the IDEA is solid. SUPER great for a GM who doesn't want to pull their hair out keeping track of little details. Everything can be answered by "how many battle points do you have" and "how many battle points did you spend on that".

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So, here is my VARIANT to the battle points (the cost ratios I think should be changed for gear and character level).

Lets start with the 100 gold = 1 battle point.

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/character-advancement

Normally, the book only goes up to about 2,000 BP to get to 20th level, but that's pretty awkward considering such a character normally has 880,000 gp (8,800 BP worth of gold). Such a ratio implies that magic items and loot are about 4 times more powerful than the class levels that they are associated with, which I find to be preposterous.

I valued them equally instead. MY assessment is that its a 1 to 1 ratio, where a character's total wealth is 1/2 of their power level. You may disagree, but that's the ratio I'm using for this exercise (you can make up your own ratio if it suits your fancy). This would replace the costs found in the Conflict PVP book:


Using this ratio ensures that deciding between 10 more ability points or an additional character level is a legitimate concern at 1st level and deciding between a +1 full plate (25 BP) and being 3rd level instead of 1st is a legitimate concern as well. The decisions aren't easy to make.

Starting characters (your 1st level starting out types) should start with about 20-40 battle points, depending on how powerful the GM wants them to be. And this is all just my opinion about it, but I really just wanted to share these ideas with people. Liquidating stats into battle points helps GMs organize characters immensely, and I'd love to see other people play with this idea and comment constructively on it.

SIDE NOTE: You can divide a monster or trap's XP value by 100 to get the BP rewards it grants for defeating it. BP can be awarded as liquidated BP (XP) or as premade items the BP value was spent on (loot). Any items actually listed on the monster's person are destroyed and replaced with whatever the loot is (which, hopefully, the GM makes to look and function like the items the monster had).

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UPDATE

You can find the SRDs here: http://paizo.com/prd/ and http://www.d20pfsrd.com/

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CREATING A CHARACTER

Every character is built using battle points (BP). You buy your race, level, equipment and even the source books that you use by spending BP. Your power level in the arena is determined by you BP total, not your level. All rewards and penalties will be in BP form.

Ability Scores: Each battle point gives you 1 ability point to spend (maximum 25). Your scores all start at 10 as normal.

Battle Points: You start with any number of battle points, as determined by your GM. Typically, 35 points is the default for 1st level adventurers but I personally prefer to start at 100.

Traits: You don't start with any traits nor can you choose alternate racial traits. However, you can take the Additional Traits feat to acquire traits.

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PLAYABLE RACES

A playable race costs an amount of BP equal to their race point cost. If a race doesn't have a race point cost, it cannot be played (except kitsune which costs 10). You cannot have a custom race or monster nor use racial traits that don't have an RP cost. You cannot replace your base racial traits with alternate racial traits but you can ADD alternate racial traits to your race by buying them with BP (based on their race point cost). You cannot add completely new or unique racial traits, nor can you add racial traits that conflict with your existing racial traits (such as a Halfling's Craven). If you add racial traits, your race changes to Advanced RaceNameHere. For example, if you selected Dwarf (11 RP) and added Rock Stepper (1 RP), Magic Resistance (3 RP) and Mountaineer (1 RP), your race would become Dwarf (16 RP).

You must have a minimum character level equal to at least 1/4th your race points -1 in order to play a particular race. For example, humans are 10 RP and 10/4=2.5-1=1, so, to play a human, you must be at least level 1. Ogres are 28 RP and 28/4=7-1=6, so, to play an ogre, you must be at least level 6.

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CHARACTER LEVEL

You buy your total character level using the following table for BP cost. You gain ability boosts, hit points, skill ranks, feats and class features for level ups, as normal.


Mythic Tiers: Each mythic tier is equivalent in cost to two levels on this table. For example, a character with Mythic tier 3 has to pay 160 BP to have that tier (equivalent to a 6th level character). This is calculated separately from a character's level.

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SOURCE BOOKS (optional to reduce power-gaming via splat books)

All materials and rules must be from the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook. If you choose to use any other sourcebook, it will cost you BP to use it. Unless noted otherwise, you can use any existing FEAT, ITEM, RACE, SPELL, BASE/CORE CLASS or CLASS ARCHETYPE (and their associated features) from a sourcebook you have access to. If the source book is 3rd-party Pathfinder-compatible and not actual Paizo-published Pathfinder material, it counts as 2 sourcebooks for these purposes.

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EQUIPMENT
For every 1 BP you spend on equipment, you get the equivalent of 100 gold. Each character will be limited to carrying up to 20 items, regardless of their carrying capacity, wealth or slots. In addition, a character gets basic clothing, a backpack, a belt pouch, a dagger, a sling, a spellbook and spell component pouch for free (these don't even count against your limit or carrying capacity). Sheathes and other items used for storing carried gear are assumed as part of the clothing and do not even count towards carrying capacity or item limit unless they are magical or alchemical in nature, in which case they count normally. Items that normally don't take up item slots still count against this limit and all items weigh at least 0.1 lb. You cannot customize items unless you have the ability to craft it (assuming you take 10 with all checks involved). The ability to craft an item merely allows you to acquire it for half price. You cannot sell it for a profit. There will be no exceptions to these rules, not even RAW.

STOLEN GEAR
If gear is stolen from you, you merely lose access to that BP until you steal it back or abandon it and spend the BP on something else. You can't buy new gear until you get to a location where you can buy gear or back to your "base of operations" to craft it yourself. If you steal gear from another character, you are forced to invest BP in order to utilize it properly. If you don't have enough BP to do so, the gear will be treated as having the "broken" descriptor, you crit fumble on any attack roll or check made with it on a 5 or less, and you have a 25% chance of dropping the gear when you use it (or 25% chance of falling prone if you wear it by tripping on it or getting stuck on your armor, etc. each round that you have it). In addition, the gear itself will vanish after 24 hours of not having BP invested (fall apart, self destruct, get stolen by another NPC, magically teleport away, whatever). Reselling gear only gives you the chance to invest BP in gear or wealth but doesn't give you new BP.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:37, Sun 18 Oct 2015.

I have not played enough Pathfinder to say whether the ratios look right nor wrong to me. In fact, I only a couple of weeks ago built my first PF character (a ranger from Vikmordere who specializes in clubbing baby seals). I don't feel qualified to offer much insight.

It looks like this system is trying to combine character building points, experience, and treasure together into a single mechanic. I see how this could create a lot of problems in certain campaign concepts; like in a game in which the PCs are neighborhood heroes who are supposed to be part of the underclass protecting their plebian friends from explotive nobles, but the PCs are spending all of their battle points on becoming rich instead of acquiring levels  so they quickly become wealthier than the robber barons. for most game sessions, this would probably work quite well. I am generally a fan of streamlining as much of a game as is feasible, and this may be a step in the right direction.

The one aspect I particularly is the name, Battle Points. It's a misnomer. I do not know if XP in Pathfinder is given exclusively for battle, but it so, that would be a regressive rule. Furthermore, some of the ways to spend Battle Points may have nothing to do with battles either.

I think that the system was typically used for 'arena' games, thus the naming of Battle Points, however if used for more normal campaigns you certainly could name it Development Points, or something similar.

Going back to the original post, I agree that treating Gold as a linear resource would cause it to change the dynamic of its usage significantly, so your suggestion of using the standard wealth has distinct merit.  I'll admit a certain inclination to limit how much higher the wealth can be above the actual level, or impact its progression above level by reducing how much extra gold is gotten, or how much it costs in points... but despite my natural inclination to do so... I'm not sure it is necessary.

My point being, why can't you have a Brat who is the child of a really wealthy merchant or noble who has given their child amazing equipment, and effectively even perhaps made it much harder for them to learn the hard lessons of life (keeping level down) by having tools that makes things so easy for them, they don't learn as quickly.

But someone could consider some kind of cap or extra expense for surpassing such a wealth cap if it was important to their view of the 'environment' being used.  For instance... why hasn't someone relieved the runt of their holy avenger sword who is a better more worthy wielder?

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@chupabob
Yes, the name "battle points" is actually just there because that's what the book calls it. It's designed for PVP arenas, but I just happen to see an opportunity to streamline everything by utilizing this method. It could easily be renamed "character points" or whatever.

I suppose characters could try to acquire wealth instead of level up, but only to a certain extent. At some point the costs of acquiring stronger items becomes exponential and the usefulness of lots of cheap items becomes less and less useful as you go. At some point, they'll be unable to defeat the robber baron's bandits and keep getting mugged into poverty, unable to access their funds/gear until they [accomplish X task/quest/mission]. So, just as a wizard who prepared ONLY "identify" in ALL their spell slots for the day would be useless, so too would a character who put ALL their points into wealth be useless when they are mugged and can't get their gear back (and are forced to spend it on a level up or continue being worthless for a while). You have to be PARTICULARLY negligent for that to become a problem. In which case, the GM probably needs to have a discussion with that player.

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@LoreGuard
Yes, you're absolutely right. It was designed for arena games.

Yes, someone could mug the little runt. ^^^ See my response to chupabob above. ^^^

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This message was last edited by the GM at 02:23, Thu 02 July 2015.

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Huge update to this after working with another GM and testing it in the Pathfinder arena game. It's very popular, well-balanced (for this game anyway) and simple to use (well, for this game anyway).

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CREATING A CHARACTER

Every character is built using battle points (BP). You buy your race, level, equipment and even the source books that you use by spending BP. Your power level is determined by you BP total, not your level. All rewards and penalties can be liquidated and scaled in BP form.

Ability Scores: Each battle point gives you 1 ability point to spend (maximum 25).

Battle Points: You start with any number of battle points, as determined by your GM. Typically, 35 points is the default for 1st level adventurers but I personally prefer to start at 100.

Traits: You don't start with any traits nor can you choose alternate racial traits. However, you can take the Additional Traits feat to acquire traits.

---

PLAYABLE RACES

A playable race costs an amount of BP equal to their race point cost. If a race doesn't have a race point cost, it cannot be played (except kitsune which costs 10). You cannot have a custom race or monster nor use racial traits that don't have an RP cost. You cannot replace your base racial traits with alternate racial traits but you can ADD alternate racial traits to your race by buying them with BP (based on their race point cost). You cannot add completely new or unique racial traits, nor can you add racial traits that conflict with your existing racial traits (such as a Halfling's Craven). If you add racial traits, your race changes to Advanced RaceNameHere. For example, if you selected Dwarf (11 RP) and added Rock Stepper (1 RP), Magic Resistance (3 RP) and Mountaineer (1 RP), your race would become Dwarf (16 RP).

You must have a minimum character level equal to at least 1/4th your race points -1 in order to play a particular race. For example, humans are 10 RP and 10/4=2.5-1=1, so, to play a human, you must be at least level 1. Ogres are 28 RP and 28/4=7-1=6, so, to play an ogre, you must be at least level 6.

---

CHARACTER LEVEL

You buy your total character level using the following table for BP cost. You gain ability boosts, hit points, skill ranks, feats and class features for level ups, as normal.


Mythic Tiers: Each mythic tier is equivalent in cost to two levels on this table. For example, a character with Mythic tier 3 has to pay 160 BP to have that tier (equivalent to a 6th level character). This is calculated separately from a character's level.

---

SOURCE BOOKS (optional to reduce power-gaming via splat books)

All materials and rules must be from the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook. If you choose to use any other sourcebook, it will cost you BP to use it. Unless noted otherwise, you can use any existing FEAT, ITEM, RACE, SPELL, BASE/CORE CLASS or CLASS ARCHETYPE (and their associated features) from a sourcebook you have access to. If the source book is 3rd-party Pathfinder-compatible and not actual Paizo-published Pathfinder material, it counts as 2 sourcebooks for these purposes.

---

EQUIPMENT
For every 1 BP you spend on equipment, you get the equivalent of 100 gold. Each character will be limited to carrying up to 20 items, regardless of their carrying capacity, wealth or slots. In addition, a character gets basic clothing, a backpack, a belt pouch, a dagger, a sling, a spellbook and spell component pouch for free (these don't even count against your limit or carrying capacity). Sheathes and other items used for storing carried gear are assumed as part of the clothing and do not even count towards carrying capacity or item limit unless they are magical or alchemical in nature, in which case they count normally. Items that normally don't take up item slots still count against this limit and all items weigh at least 0.1 lb. You cannot customize items unless you have the ability to craft it (assuming you take 10 with all checks involved). The ability to craft an item merely allows you to acquire it for half price. You cannot sell it for a profit. There will be no exceptions to these rules, not even RAW.

STOLEN GEAR
If gear is stolen from you, you merely lose access to that BP until you steal it back or abandon it and spend the BP on something else. You can't buy new gear until you get to a location where you can buy gear or back to your "base of operations" to craft it yourself. If you steal gear from another character, you are forced to invest BP in order to utilize it properly. If you don't have enough BP to do so, the gear will be treated as having the "broken" descriptor, you crit fumble on any attack roll or check made with it on a 5 or less, and you have a 25% chance of dropping the gear when you use it (or 25% chance of falling prone if you wear it by tripping on it or getting stuck on your armor, etc. each round that you have it). In addition, the gear itself will vanish after 24 hours of not having BP invested (fall apart, self destruct, get stolen by another NPC, magically teleport away, whatever). Reselling gear only gives you the chance to invest BP in gear or wealth but doesn't give you new BP.
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:18, Sun 18 Oct 2015.