D&D 5E Point Buy vs Rolling for Stats

[TwoSix]

Do you get up and leave every time the gm makes a ruling that you don't like?

To be fair (I'm not advocating punching anybody!), if playing to your concept is an important play consideration for you, a game with rolled (especially fixed roll) stats is something that's a legitimate dealbreaker.

You can argue about whether you SHOULD be that attached to a character concept to the point where you'll not play rather than compromise, of course, but I don't like to tell people what their play considerations should be.

 

[TwoSix]

Option 3: Deal cards.

This is a solution I made myself. I don't know anyone else who uses it. But the idea is that you want some randomness in stat generation, but you also want to prevent multiple 18s.

You (as the DM) decide what Point Buy power level you want, then create a deck of 18 cards that add up to those numbers. Then players shuffle and deal the cards to their stats.

The way I do it is you deal three cards to each stat, in order, down the line. You can make one swap between any two stats.

Hmm....that's not bad. You can set your own bias by choosing the cards you want. Take out aces (1s) if you don't want really low stats. Less or 0 6s if you want to avoid 17-18s.

You can even add in some funky mechanics to make it a little more fun. 3 of the same color gives a +1, or 3 of the same suit gives a +2. Throw in a 7 or 8 in place of a 6. Maybe a joker counts as a 6, and makes the second highest card in the pile also a 6. Or a joker acts as an extra swap if you're using fixed order with limited swaps.

Have to think about this one some more, thanks!

 

[schnee]

They say walking a way is supposed to be better than punching people in the face. Punching people is more therapeutic for me, but the receivers don't like it.

Let's be honest here. I know people that really fight. They don't talk like this - you're using an adolescent power fantasy tough guy cliché straight from anime.

If you've ever punched anyone in your life, I'd bet money it's been calculated - only when you know you can do it without any consequences (i.e. someone three sizes smaller), and never when there's any risk of getting your ass truly kicked.

I don't get asked to come back when I'm the player, and when I'm the DM, people tend to not come back, so I'll try the walking away method.

Gee, I wonder why.

 

[Ancalagon]

To be fair (I'm not advocating punching anybody!), if playing to your concept is an important play consideration for you, a game with rolled (especially fixed roll) stats is something that's a legitimate dealbreaker.

You can argue about whether you SHOULD be that attached to a character concept to the point where you'll not play rather than compromise, of course, but I don't like to tell people what their play considerations should be.

Well I personally don't agree with "roll in order" rules because if your third roll is a 7... fine you are stuck with a 7, but it's cruel to force that 7 to be con...

If someone is that attached to a character concept, they will have to make it work somehow. But I am a little uncomfortable with that level of devition. It's a team game and party balance should be considered.

Lastly... some of you folks would go bonkers with warhammer frpg 's roll for your "class" system

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[TwoSix]

Lastly... some of you folks would go bonkers with warhammer frpg 's roll for your "class" system

Well, even lifepath systems can be random or directed. Contrast with WHFRG 2e with Burning Wheel, for example.

 

[Hussar]

Oh for sure. I abandoned every random chargen system decades ago. DND was the outlier for me.

I have zero interest in any random chargen system.

 

[jasper]

I THINK all the hard covers and modules are written with the belief the group is using standard array or standard point buy. So rolled stats with the majority of the players having high stats will force the dm to bump the monsters stats.
Rolling stats. This depends on the players. Some players can handle getting bad rolls and roll with a sub-optimized pc. Some with kill off their pcs. The solution to the latter is either be nice and let them use point buy or the array. Or don’t play with them.
Do you think disallowing rolling stats too harsh? No as long you tell your players up front.
Do you other DMs police your players? Long ago I tired too but I gave up. Someone will always cheat to get high stats, etc.
How should this be handled? Session 0. Tell people up front how you going to dm. What your landmines are. And what is a no go for your table.
People who use “the Creative Hero Enhanced Attribute Templates (C.H.E.A.T.) system”. Think about this before session 0. If this is a major no-go for you, don’t play with those people regardless of the social reason.
I used to have a signature it said “NO roleplaying is BETTER than BAD Roleplaying!” Bad roleplaying is anything which ticks you off which does not include bad dice rolls.

 

[TwoSix]

If you really want to dissuade cheaters, try letting the players pick their own stats. Unless you have particularly brazen players, or they're just sociopaths, they're not going to give themselves anything crazy. Why? Because they'll have to own up to it; they can't just say "Oh yea, the dice GAVE me these 2 18s". Even if they do give themselves 2 18s (unlikely), they'll give themselves at least 2 super low dump stats because they feel guilty.

 

[Ancalagon]

If you really want to dissuade cheaters, try letting the players pick their own stats. Unless you have particularly brazen players, or they're just sociopaths, they're not going to give themselves anything crazy. Why? Because they'll have to own up to it; they can't just say "Oh yea, the dice GAVE me these 2 18s". Even if they do give themselves 2 18s (unlikely), they'll give themselves at least 2 super low dump stats because they feel guilty.

I would rather use point buy than a "how cheeky are you?" system...

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[TwoSix]

I would rather use point buy than a "how cheeky are you?" system...

Well, as I said before, I can't account for play considerations. Everyone needs to find a system that works for their specific needs.