Generation: rolling vs. point buy

[Diirk]

What I'm hearing from most of the rolling supporters in this thread is 'I like rolling better unless I roll poorly, then I'll make do with a high point buy.'

 

[Wombat]

I have an odd system that sort of combines the two aspects.

Roll 21d6 (yep, twenty-one).

Drop the three lowest rolls.

Divide the others into six groups of three and distribute.

On the one hand, you are stuck with the exact dice you rolled; on the other hand, you get a lot of freedom in placing your scores.

 

[Kageneko]

I like rolling. I think it's because I enjoy taking a set of rolls and turning them into something. Plus, I usually roll really well for ability scores (but horribly for hit points...). One of my favorite characters was a bard/sorcerer with 8 Str, 9 Con, 10 Dex, 12 Int, 11 Wis, 15 Cha. Or something like that. It was a lot of fun taking those scores and turning them into something enjoyable. Plus, I like seeing odd numbers When I do point buy, it's always even numbers for me...

 

[FreeTheSlaves]

I clicked other because I give the option to roll or take pointbuy. Basically I ask the player to decide if they can handle a minimal roll result - if they can't I recommend point buy.

Other than myself, all the other guys can handle poor results so they gambled with rolling and got the expected mixed bag.

 

[the Jester]

One of my favorite things about roleplaying games is all the dice.

 

[Bernardus]

In 2nd Edition D&D we rolled our stats, but for some reason I was almost the person who rolled high stats and thier was a person who rolled low stats.

Because of thsi difference we decided that in 3E en 3.5 E D&D we use the 28 point buy.
In this way all the characters have similar stats and it somehow balanced.

Personally I loved the rolling, because I mostly rolles high stats and my fellow players were a bit jealose. With the point buy I sometimes wich I had higher stats.
I don't mind the point buy, I have come used to it and find it ok.

 

[Bad Paper]

Player: "I want to play a dashing, flashy swashbuckler"
Dice: 8 Dex, 7 Charisma, 18 Strength....
Player: "Uh...."

OK, when I said I rolled, I meant I rolled six abilities and placed them however I wanted, with an eye toward how racial adjustments would further affect them.

I haven't done the roll-ability-scores-in-exact-order thing since the high-flyin 3d6 days of 1st edition AD&D. Note that I absolutely loved that, but I wouldn't think of doing that nowadays. The game has gotten off-the-charts insane with power, and it is at least important to balance physical vs. mental stats in some way. (It might be interesting to tell someone what their three physical stats are, and what their three mental stats are, and have him arrange them, but I digress)

When a player rolls up a set of stats that are legal but otherwise unsuitable (perhaps he thinks he can do better), we allow him to reroll the entire set, but he MUST stick with the next legal set. He can't have the first six, sorry. I always stick with my first six; I've seen a few take a chance on the second set and come out lucky.

None of our players has done a point buy. I haven't ever mentioned it, but I would actually assent to a 26 or 27 pb if someone really friggin whined. I guess I would do a 27pb before any dice rolling, and a 26pb if they saw the rolls and didn't like them, but no one has asked, and I doubt anyone would. We're a little macho that way.

So let's say we want to be an intelligent and dextrous swashbuckler. I am unaware of any "Swashbuckler" prestige class, so I'm assuming we're talking Errol Flynn. Firstly, if we got Patryn's 14 and five 10s on the *first* set of rolls, then we can go again. If we got them on the second set of rolls, and didn't want to pester the DM about doing a point buy instead, then we can:
1) become a halfling and call it 8/12/10/14/10/10. Or (since I don't care about Int) 8/16/10/10/10/10.
2) become a half-dragon and call it 18/14/12/12/10/12. Clearly you're not starting at ECL1 anymore, but this is nuance, baby, nuance! If that feels like cheating, then make it a half-dragon gnome or something, for 16/14/14/12/10/12.
3) be human and use 10/14/10/10/10/10. The human's extra feat/skill point should make up for any Intelligence you feel you're lacking.

[I bring up the half-dragon thing because I just started as a player in a new campaign, starting at ECL 3. So we have a half-dragon Pal 0, who's just running around with full-plate and claw/claw/bite. Hilarious. And I'm playing a gnome who will pick up dragon disciple, so yes I will have a half-dragon gnome. I love it. But this is the PC on whom I rolled up a 37pb. The paladin is equivalent to like a 50pb or something crazy, but he rolled it. I watched. Rolling! It's so much more fun than pb!]

 

[Darkness]

So let's say we want to be an intelligent and dextrous swashbuckler. I am unaware of any "Swashbuckler" prestige class, so I'm assuming we're talking Errol Flynn.

Yep. It's a base class in CW. Having good Int is quite handy for them, BTW, as it adds to damage rolls with swashbuckler-ish weapons (at level 3, I think).

Considering he didn't capitalize it, though, I'm not sure if Patryn was referring to that class or merely the concept (e.g., Rogue or Rogue/Fighter/Duelist, etc.). Probably the latter.

 

[Telas]

32 point buy. I see the "it's all the same" argument, but I also have lived with the onus of a 7, while my buddy had two 18s and nothing under a 13. *sigh*

Also, I really don't want to be the DM who has to watch ability score rolls. Yes, I trust my players, but only so far. :\

I also assign hit points (2/3 max, round up), although I'm leaning towards either a "best of 2 dice" or a "high-average option" for those who don't want to roll.

Telas

 

[moritheil]

And that's exactly the problem. Your stats are determining the character you can play, as opposed to vice versa. YOU are the one letting the numbers ru(i)n the game. You are taking stats and assigning a character to it, whereas point buy guys are taking a *character* and assigning stats to it.

This is not a problem at all for someone willing to play whatever fate hands them. I think that's the fundamental point here.