In order to face the dangers of the game, characters in the game normally need items that grant bonuses to their statistics. With this variant, characters instead gain those bonuses automatically as they increase in level, allowing them to use magic item slots for more interesting items.
All characters gain the abilities listed on the table below when they reach the appropriate level. Decrease character wealth by level to half the normal amount.The automatic bonuses are often more beneficial than that reduction in wealth, but characters have less flexibility, so the advantages and disadvantages balance out.
Items that grant the same type of bonuses as ABP (such as a Belt of Giant Strength or a Cloak of Protection) do not exist. Magic weapons and armor do exist, but grant only special abilities, not enhancement bonuses; calculate their prices with the table at the bottom. Other items that would normally grant ABP bonuses in addition to other effects can still be purchased and will need their effects and costs adjusted accordingly on an individual basis.
| Level | Bonuses Gained |
|---|---|
| 1st | - |
| 2nd | - |
| 3rd | Resistance +1 |
| 4th | Armor attunement +1, weapon attunement +1 |
| 5th | Deflection +1 |
| 6th | Mental prowess primary +2, physical prowess primary +2 |
| 7th | Resistance +2, toughening +1 |
| 8th | Armor attunement +2, weapon attunement +2 |
| 9th | Deflection +2, mental prowess secondary +2, physical prowess secondary +2 |
| 10th | Resistance +3 |
| 11th | Mental prowess primary +4, physical prowess primary +4 |
| 12th | Resistance +4, toughening +2 |
| 13th | Armor attunement +3, weapon attunement+3 |
| 14th | Resistance +5, mental prowess secondary or tertiary +2, physical prowess secondary or tertiary +2 |
| 15th | Armor attunement +4, weapon attunement +4, mental prowess primary +6, physical prowess primary +6 |
| 16th | Deflection +3, toughening +3 |
| 17th | Armor attunement +5, deflection +4, mental prowess secondary or tertiary +2, physical prowess secondary or tertiary +2, toughening +4, weapon attunement +5 |
| 18th | Deflection +5, toughening +5, 1 legendary gift |
| 19th | 3 legendary gifts (4 total) |
| 20th | 4 legendary gifts (8 total) |
The entries below describe the bonuses characters gain.
The character can attune herself to one suit of armor or one shield in her possession; she can change that attunement once per day as a free action. If she selects a normal set of clothing as her armor, it counts as having a starting armor bonus of +0. The attuned suit of armor or shield gains the enhancement bonus listed in the table. If the character is using both a suit of armor and a shield, starting at 8th level they can choose to gain the full enhancement bonus on one item and half the enhancement bonus (rounded up) on the other item. For example, at level 17 they have a +5 enhancement bonus, so they could choose to enhance a suit of full plate to +5, and a heavy shield to +3.
The character gains the deflection bonus listed in the table to their AC and CMD.
The character gains one legendary gift at 18th level, three more at 19th level, and four more at 20th level. Select these legendary gifts from the following list.
Legendary Ability: Gain a +1 inherent bonus to any ability score. You can select this legendary gift multiple times, and it stacks up to +5 in any one ability score.
Legendary Armor: Your enhancement bonus from armor attunement increases by 2. If you are attuned to a suit of armor and a shield, you can either increase both bonuses by 1 or increase one bonus by 2. The enhancement bonus on a single attuned item can't exceed +5, but you can use the excess to add special abilities to the armor or shield (see Magic Weapons and Armor). You can select this legendary gift multiple times; it stacks up to +10 on any one suit of armor or shield.
Legendary Body: Increase your bonuses from physical prowess to +6/+6/+4. This counts as two legendary gifts.
Legendary Body 2: Increase your bonuses from physical prowess to +6/+6/+6. You must already have legendary body to select this legendary gift.
Legendary Mind: Increase your bonuses from mental prowess to +6/+6/+4. This counts as two legendary gifts.
Legendary Mind 2: Increase your bonuses from mental prowess to +6/+6/+6. You must already have legendary mind to select this legendary gift.
Legendary Shieldmaster: Gain a +5 enhancement bonus from armor attunement for both your armor and your shield. You can select this legendary gift multiple times, choosing a different attuned suit of armor or shield each time.
Legendary Twin Weapons: Gain a +5 enhancement bonus from weapon attunement for two weapons at the same time. This counts as two legendary gifts. You can select this legendary gift multiple times, adding an additional attuned weapon with a +5 enhancement bonus each time.
Legendary Weapon: Your enhancement bonus from weapon attunement increases by 1. If you are attuned to more than one weapon, you can increase only one weapon's enhancement bonus in this way. The enhancement bonus on a single weapon can't exceed +5, but you can use the excess to add magic abilities to weapons (see Magic Weapons and Armor, below). You can select this legendary gift multiple times, and it stacks up to +10 for any one weapon.
At 6th level, the character chooses one mental ability score (Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma) to be their primary score, it gains a permanent +2 enhancement bonus. At 9th level, the character chooses a second mental ability score to be their secondary score, it gains a permanent +2 enhancement bonus. At 11th level, the primary bonus increases to +4. At 14th level they increase their secondary or tertiary (the one not chosen previously) bonus by +2. At 15th level, the primary bonus increases to +6.. At 17th level they increase their secondary or tertiary bonus by +2, they can only increase the secondary bonus if it is +2.
At 6th level, the character chooses one mental physical score (Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution) to be their primary score, it gains a permanent +2 enhancement bonus. At 9th level, the character chooses a second physical ability score to be their secondary score, it gains a permanent +2 enhancement bonus. At 11th level, the primary bonus increases to +4. At 14th level they increase their secondary or tertiary (the one not chosen previously) bonus by +2. At 15th level, the primary bonus increases to +6.. At 17th level they increase their secondary or tertiary bonus by +2, they can only increase the secondary bonus if it is +2.
The character gaines the resistance bonus listed in the table to all their saves.
The character gains the toughening bonus listed in the table as a enhancement bonus to their natural armor. This stacks with existing natural armor, but not other enhancement bonuses to natural armor (such as from Barkskin).
The character can attune herself to any one weapon in her possession, and can change that attunement once per day as a free action. The attuned weapon gains the enhancement bonus listed in the table. Starting at 8th level, if the the character is wielding two weapons they can choose one weapon to recieve the full enhancement bonus, and the other gains half the listed bonus (rounded up); if the character is wielding three or more weapons they can instead choose to give all their weapons half the enhancement bonus (rounded up).
In this system, magic weapons, armor, and shields never have enhancement bonuses of their own; those bonuses are granted only through attunement. Any weapon, armor, or shield special abilities on attuned items may count against a character's enhancement bonus from attunement. To determine an attuned magic item's enhancement bonus, subtract half the cost (rounded down) of its special abilites from the enhancement bonus granted by attunement. (This applies only to special abilities whose cost is equivalent to an enhancement bonus, not to those that cost a flat amount of gold pieces.) For example, if a character with a +3 enhancement bonus from weapon attunement wields a keen scimitar, she subtracts no points from her enhancement bonus since +1/2 is rounded down to zero. If they then make that scimitar flaming as well, they'd have a +2 flaming keen scimitar, since both +1 bonuses (flaming and keen) added together and divded by 2 subtract one point from their enhancement bonus. If a character doesn't have enough of an enhancement bonus to afford the special ability (such as a 4th-level character with a vorpal longsword), she can still use the weapon's power on its own, but the weapon gains no enhancement bonus.
Weapons and armor no longer gain hardness and hit points from their enhancement bonus. Instead, for each +1 equivalent of special abilties the item gains +1 hardness and +5 hit points. This only applies to permanent effects on magic items or items temporaily created with special abilities (such as a Soulknife's Mindblade), not to temporary effects added by things like a Magus's Arcane Pool.
In this system weapons and armor have a special cost, because the value of the bonuses varies based on if they're even or odd, see the table below to determine cost . To determine the price of specific weapons and armor, remove the flat enhancement bonus and reduce the item's cost by difference between the original total bonus cost and the current total bonus cost as below. For example, a flame tongue is a +1 flaming burst weapon normally worth 20,715 gp, but under this system, it would lose its +1 enhancement bonus and its price would be reduced to 10,715 gp (20715-[18000-8000]). Specific weapons and armor can be attuned; they then grant the character's enhancement bonuses from weapon attunement and armor attunement as normal.
| Base Price Modifier | Weapon Cost | Armor/Shield Cost |
|---|---|---|
| +1 | 5,000 gp | 2,500 gp |
| +2 | 8,000 gp | 4,000 gp |
| +3 | 25,000 gp | 12,500 gp |
| +4 | 32,000 gp | 16,000 gp |
| +5 | 61,000 gp | 30,500 gp |
| +6 | 72,000 gp | 36,000 gp |
| +7 | 113,000 gp | 56,500 gp |
| +8 | 128,000 gp | 64,000 gp |
| +9 | 181,000 gp | 90,500 gp |
| +10 | 200,000 gp | 100,000 gp |
Certain classes have part of their power derived from imbuing their equipment with magic or creating magic weapons and armor, such as a Soulknife's Mindblade. In order to keep this system from rendering their unique abilities obsolete, changes may need to be made on a per class basis. In general, you can apply similar bonuses from class abilities (including spells and the like) that stack with your bonus progression up to 1.5 times the bonus value (rounded up). For example, if you have +4 strength from bonus progression and cast bull's strength, you would have +6 total (1.5*4), if you had +6 strength from bonus progression you'd have +9 total.
If your class has a permanent companion such as an Eidolon or Animal Companion, you can choose to transfer any of your bonuses individually to your companion. For example, if you're level 7 you could give your companion +2 strength and +1 resistance bonus, and keep +1 resistance bonus and the full amount of all other bonuses for yourself.