Pathfinder 1E Pathfinder Character Creation: Point Buy or Roll of the Die?

[Mark Chance]

I'm leaning toward the Elite+6 method. Still, I like randomness as well. Random is fair. Everyone has the same odds of rolling an 18 on 3d6. Maybe Elite+(1d6+2) or some such thing?

 

[Roman]

I use a rolling method to generate ability scores for characters, but it is very generous one.

Players decide their race and class before rolling for ability scores. They then roll their ability scores in order, but are entitled to one switch. The actual rolling method is 3d6 drop the lowest adding 6 to the result.

Players (who in my stable group are all female, except for me, but I run the game) are also entitled to chose whether gender will affect their ability scores or not, but they must reach a consensus among themselves on this one. Depending on game the same set of players has sometimes decided in favor and sometimes decided not to apply such modifiers (+1 Str, -1 Dex for males and +1 Dex, -1 Str for females).

The above method produces high stats and provides a safety floor, but it allows for variability (and I like variability). If even one player, however, did roll low stats despite the method (total modifiers less than +3), I would allow ALL players to roll a second set of stats and chose the better one.

 

[Starbuck_II]

I always liked Elite Array +2 each. We call it Super Elite.
17, 16, 15, 14, 12, 10.

Mostly because I hate Cha being used as a dump stat.

 

[malkav666]

I am playing in a monthly game where the GM had us generate our stats in a neat way. I will likely use a variant of it in my next game. He called it a player generated array.

He made each of us roll six stats and then asked us to assign a number to each stat with the number 1 being assigned to the highest stat you rolled, and the number 6 being assigned to the lowest stat you rolled (placed in order 1 to 6 = highest to lowest). Then he averaged all of the rolls that had been marked with a 1 (all of the highest rolls) and repeated the process for each set of rolls (rounding up at a .5 or higher and rounding down otherwise). We got the averaged results as our array.

I thought it was a pretty neat way to do things. My only real complaint was the lack of variance in our particular set (I think we ended up with three 13's in the mid range). I haven't figured out how I will tweak it for my next game but the process was pretty fun with all of the players interested in all of the stat rolling.

love,

malkav

 

[MichaelSomething]

I'm a point buy person myself. Although I do remember a Dragon article using three Dragon ante cards to determine your stats in a tarotish matter. It's called "Three Dragon Readings" in Dragon 346.

 

[Sigurd]

I guess I'm generous then.

I have a 25 point buy and a 4d6 drop the lowest policy. The players roll but can opt to take the 25 point buy if they don't like their roll outcome.

I like rolls because a) lightning can strike and thats fun b) there is some variation in the lowest stats for a character - they seem more real. I don't like rolls when I figure someone has the bad end of the stick. Having a point buy floor means everyone can contribute. I have one rule for eveyone from the outset and I feel more fair and impartial.


S

 

[Papa-DRB]

I have two methods for my Pathfinder games;

1) 20 point buy
2) Each player rolls 4d6, drops lowest, and the DM rolls the same in order to get the six scores, then everyone uses the same scores.

Currently I am using method 1, and only allowing 1 score below 10.

-- david
Papa.DRB

 

[Roman]

I guess I'm generous then.

I have a 25 point buy and a 4d6 drop the lowest policy. The players roll but can opt to take the 25 point buy if they don't like their roll outcome.

I like rolls because a) lightning can strike and thats fun b) there is some variation in the lowest stats for a character - they seem more real. I don't like rolls when I figure someone has the bad end of the stick. Having a point buy floor means everyone can contribute. I have one rule for eveyone from the outset and I feel more fair and impartial.

Not bad, I like rolling, but I kind of like using point buy as a floor. My system is generous enough that the bad extremes don't arise and I like overpowered characters in my games, since my main regular group has 3 players (not including me as the DM), so they need all the boosts they can get, since I don't tend to pull punches...

 

[Atavar]

For years I had my 3.5 group use point buy (usually 28 points). When we recently started our Pathfinder campaign we decided to roll instead. We chose to use the Heroic method described in the Core Rulebook (2d6+6 for each stat). I added the "re-roll if all 13 or lower, re-roll if total of stat modifiers is zero or less" rule from 3.5 as well.

Four out of the five players rolled one 9 (we ended up calling them "token 9's"). Most players rolled pretty well. One rolled a bit low overall, and one rolled crazy high overall (two 17's and a 16 if I recall).

My biggest concern was that the characters weren't "equal" and that some of the players may resent that. However, that doesn't seem to be the case, and everyone seems to be having fun with what they rolled.

My belief is that the players who've been playing for a very long time missed the thrill of the random rolling.

Later,

Atavar

 

[Walking Dad]

Here my last rolled character (4d6, re-roll 1s):

(http://www.enworld.org/forum/5062594-post33.html)

Abilities (4d6.minroll(2).takeHighest(3)=10, 4d6.minroll(2).takeHighest(3)=13, 4d6.minroll(2).takeHighest(3)=13, 4d6.minroll(2).takeHighest(3)=12, 4d6.minroll(2).takeHighest(3)=11, 4d6.minroll(2).takeHighest(3)=10)

So: 10 ,13 , 13 , 12, 11, 10

... I prefer point buy.