frankthedm
First Post
Lower any score as much as you would like. No one does, no one is expect to, but if someone want to play Forest Gump they can.Nifft said:
PC Creation: Pointbuy or Roll?
I voted "roll" for all.
Although there are times when I find point buy more appropriate. Such as a pbem game.
When I use a point creation system, though, I'd rather it be more like Gurps or Hero in which the same pool of points is used to buy all aspects of the character. So, I could sacrifice on ability scores to put more points in another area, or sacrifice in other areas in order to have outrageous ability scores.
Although there are times when I find point buy more appropriate. Such as a pbem game.
When I use a point creation system, though, I'd rather it be more like Gurps or Hero in which the same pool of points is used to buy all aspects of the character. So, I could sacrifice on ability scores to put more points in another area, or sacrifice in other areas in order to have outrageous ability scores.
pogre
Legend
I use a hybrid system:
A. Arrange the following array for characteristics first:
16, 14, 13, 11, 10, 9 = 27 points
B. Choose a Race and apply appropriate modifiers.
C. Roll 6d6 and adjust your characteristics scores as follows:
For every 1 move Strength up 1
For every 2 move Dexterity up 1
For every 3 move Constitution up 1
For every 4 move Intelligence up 1
For every 5 move Wisdom up 1
For every 6 move Charisma up 1
Re-roll any dice that move the character’s abilities over racial starting limits.
My players really like it.
A. Arrange the following array for characteristics first:
16, 14, 13, 11, 10, 9 = 27 points
B. Choose a Race and apply appropriate modifiers.
C. Roll 6d6 and adjust your characteristics scores as follows:
For every 1 move Strength up 1
For every 2 move Dexterity up 1
For every 3 move Constitution up 1
For every 4 move Intelligence up 1
For every 5 move Wisdom up 1
For every 6 move Charisma up 1
Re-roll any dice that move the character’s abilities over racial starting limits.
My players really like it.
Lord Rasputin
Explorer
Point buy. I roll like crap, and I run a lot of GURPS, so it seems natural. I could see some sort of random method that distributes scores, say, something that tells you how to rank your scores, like the dice telling you to put a 14 in your sorcerer's Strength, but I want the balance.
I'd be curious to see the results of this poll when dealing with folks who play and do not DM, which is not the case on these fora. We're all DMs or very devoted players here.
I'd be curious to see the results of this poll when dealing with folks who play and do not DM, which is not the case on these fora. We're all DMs or very devoted players here.
Glyfair
Explorer
Actually, Dragon had an article that did that using the Three-Dragon Ante deck. You dealt the cards and you eventually ended up with random stats that added up to whatever point buy total you chose in the beginning. There were variations that allowed you some choice.Lord Rasputin said:
frankthedm
First Post
but has some balance in the manner that all classes are viable and no "dump stating" occurs with those classes that only 'need' 2-3 scores. IE 18, 18, 17, 10 , 9, 8Nifft said:
I like to think of it as "Pick your scores, but keep it sane"
FireLance
Legend
My group generally uses point buy, but I tried out something new for a character in a solo campaign I'm running since there are no other players and I didn't have to worry about PC vs PC balance:
Use the standard array of 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8, arrange as desired, then roll 4d6 drop lowest in order, and use whichever is higher. The standard array is thus a safety net to ensure the PC gets good scores where the player wants them, and the 4d6 adds a random element to it, so a figher could end up with 18 Intelligence, for example.
In the solo campaign in question, the player was creating a paladin PC, and assigned the standard array as follows (please note that the player is not an experienced gamer to begin with, and is starting to get back into D&D again after some time, and so may not have made mechanically optimal choices):
Str 12
Dex 10
Con 8
Int 13
Wis 14
Cha 15
After rolling in order, the player got the scores in brackets, and the final abilities are as follows:
Str 12 [8] -> Str 12
Dex 10 [12] -> Dex 12
Con 8 [15] -> Con 15
Int 13 [13] -> Int 13
Wis 14 [18] -> Wis 18
Cha 15 [17] -> Cha 17
So, the player got lucky and rolled a 46-point PC with one 18 and one 17, and the "safety net" effectively added only another 4 points. The PC still looks pretty much like a paladin, although she probably ended up with a higher Wisdom and Constitution than the player would have assigned if character creation had been based on 4d6 drop lowest arrange as desired.
Use the standard array of 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8, arrange as desired, then roll 4d6 drop lowest in order, and use whichever is higher. The standard array is thus a safety net to ensure the PC gets good scores where the player wants them, and the 4d6 adds a random element to it, so a figher could end up with 18 Intelligence, for example.
In the solo campaign in question, the player was creating a paladin PC, and assigned the standard array as follows (please note that the player is not an experienced gamer to begin with, and is starting to get back into D&D again after some time, and so may not have made mechanically optimal choices):
Str 12
Dex 10
Con 8
Int 13
Wis 14
Cha 15
After rolling in order, the player got the scores in brackets, and the final abilities are as follows:
Str 12 [8] -> Str 12
Dex 10 [12] -> Dex 12
Con 8 [15] -> Con 15
Int 13 [13] -> Int 13
Wis 14 [18] -> Wis 18
Cha 15 [17] -> Cha 17
So, the player got lucky and rolled a 46-point PC with one 18 and one 17, and the "safety net" effectively added only another 4 points. The PC still looks pretty much like a paladin, although she probably ended up with a higher Wisdom and Constitution than the player would have assigned if character creation had been based on 4d6 drop lowest arrange as desired.
MonsterMash
First Post
Roll those bones man!
Bloodstone Press
Explorer
I generally prefer point-buy, but the randomness of rolling sometimes injects great new ideas and situations into games. Some of the best games I've ever played had plots that were the result of random die rolls.
One example of that is a game I ran about 10 years ago. A major plot element of that game was that one of the PCs was an elven ranger with a 6 Charisma. At first, the player didn't want to play the character and wanted to re-roll his stats. The rest of us encouraged him and explained how it could be fun. He ran with it and by the 2nd game session that element of the game had developed its own sub-plot that I never expected. it took the game in directions I hadn't planned and turned the whole thing into a story that was much better than anything I could have come up with on my own.
Things like that happen all the time in gaming. Random die rolls often lead to creative ideas and plot twists. That's one of the things I love about gaming. So although I generally prefer point buy for myself, I never discourage players from rolling. And I've been known to roll stats for characters myself once in a while too.
One example of that is a game I ran about 10 years ago. A major plot element of that game was that one of the PCs was an elven ranger with a 6 Charisma. At first, the player didn't want to play the character and wanted to re-roll his stats. The rest of us encouraged him and explained how it could be fun. He ran with it and by the 2nd game session that element of the game had developed its own sub-plot that I never expected. it took the game in directions I hadn't planned and turned the whole thing into a story that was much better than anything I could have come up with on my own.
Things like that happen all the time in gaming. Random die rolls often lead to creative ideas and plot twists. That's one of the things I love about gaming. So although I generally prefer point buy for myself, I never discourage players from rolling. And I've been known to roll stats for characters myself once in a while too.
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