PC Creation: Pointbuy or Roll?

[Agamon]

I personally prefer point buy, but most of my players don't, so I've only used in one campaign away from RPGA games.

 

[Jdvn1]

In concept, I prefer rolling, but in practice, I prefer point buy both as a player and as a GM.

 

[Ravenknight]

In concept, I prefer rolling, but in practice, I prefer point buy both as a player and as a GM.

Same here, pointbuy for balance.

 

[Jeff Wilder]

I personally prefer point buy, but most of my players don't, so I've only used in one campaign away from RPGA games.

My experience, after almost 25 years of observing random stat generation, is that players claim to prefer random generation until they roll a substandard character. (With "substandard" being relative. If the player's PC's got stat-mods totalling +4, but another player's PC has stat-mods totaling +13, the first player is going to -- rightly -- consider his PC substandard.)

Then typically one of three things will happen: (1) the player will "suicide" the character, in order to try again for "random" high stats; (2) the player will wheedle, cajole, and whine to the DM, again in order to try again for "random" high stats (or, although it's not the player's ideal outcome, a chance to retroactively bump up the stats he rolled with his "preferred" random method); or (3) recognize the merits of point-buy.

The first is a disruption of any campaign, especially as it will often happen repeatedly, until the player "randomly" rolls extremely well. The second is just plain annoying. The third is the best end result, but why waste time getting there? The worst thing is that in the first and second cases, assuming the player is successful in either gambit, the player will continue to express his preference for random stat generation.

Are there exceptions to the above? I'm sure there are, by sheer probability. But I've not met one in 25 years of gaming.

All that said, I don't much like scaled point-buy (like standard 25- or 28-point build, where it becomes increasingly expensive to have a high score). As a DM, I'm not afraid of 18s, and I don't mind if the PCs have them ... as long as they're willing to play the weakness that balances out the strength. I use a weighted point-buy, where the most valuable stats cost very slightly more that median, and the common dump stat costs very slightly less.

 

[Infernal Teddy]

So, um, how'd you vote, given that? Other?

S1 - Roll for Stats,
S2 - Other
S3 - Roll for Stats

 

[DragonLancer]

Roll for stats in all three areas.

 

[Gold Roger]

Point buy all the way. I'd never enforce something in DMing I wouldn't prefer to play so my answer is the same all around. I prefer point buy because it strikes a good overall balance and lets the player define his character as exactly as possible.

As a "stat first" more random method stat drafts are decend as well, but I've found they come out a bit to high on the power curve for my taste.

 

[Aus_Snow]

I strongly prefer point-buy (or some variant of that system).

Jeff Wilder has already said essentially what I was going to (and more), so I'll leave it at that.

 

[Seeker95]

I use a stanadard / static array, and let the player move two points from any one stat to any one stat. Apply racial mods afterward.

 

[Buttercup]

My favorite method is to just let my players choose whatever stats fit their character concept. I'd prefer this as a player too, though I've never had it offered to me.