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General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Point Buy vs Rolling for Stats
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<blockquote data-quote="Hriston" data-source="post: 7274500" data-attributes="member: 6787503"><p>I'd forgotten about that method. It's a fine method and one many DMs use for any NPCs to which they wish to give ability scores. Personally, I set scores for any NPCs that need them by using either a rolling method or an array appropriate to their power level, or if I think they need a particular score, by balancing that score through a point-buy of a number of points appropriate to the character.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Technically, a <em>bell curve</em> follows a normal distribution, which 3d6 does not. (15d2)-12 is much closer to a true bell curve because, as [MENTION=6857506]Harzel[/MENTION] pointed out, the more dice you roll, the more normal the distribution becomes, which is the same reason we expect to see populations conforming to a normal distribution in the natural world. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I agree it's a crap method, but the resulting character fits just fine on the 3d6 "bell curve", so if you think 3d6 is realistic enough, then how come that character seems unrealistic to you?</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Unlike your coin-toss method, point-buy doesn't establish a distribution of scores, curved or otherwise, but all of its results fit nicely on the 3d6 curve.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>How so? Both 15 and 8 appear on the 3d6 curve. Are you imagining a population so small there aren't multiple individuals with that combination of scores?</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>You're taking my comment out of context. I was addressing the argument that dice-rolling better represents the reality of how a character's scores are generated because it takes decisions by the player out of the equation. Your argument is about whether point-buy is suitable for modelling populations. I don't think anyone has asserted that it is.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Hriston, post: 7274500, member: 6787503"] I'd forgotten about that method. It's a fine method and one many DMs use for any NPCs to which they wish to give ability scores. Personally, I set scores for any NPCs that need them by using either a rolling method or an array appropriate to their power level, or if I think they need a particular score, by balancing that score through a point-buy of a number of points appropriate to the character. Technically, a [I]bell curve[/I] follows a normal distribution, which 3d6 does not. (15d2)-12 is much closer to a true bell curve because, as [MENTION=6857506]Harzel[/MENTION] pointed out, the more dice you roll, the more normal the distribution becomes, which is the same reason we expect to see populations conforming to a normal distribution in the natural world. I agree it's a crap method, but the resulting character fits just fine on the 3d6 "bell curve", so if you think 3d6 is realistic enough, then how come that character seems unrealistic to you? Unlike your coin-toss method, point-buy doesn't establish a distribution of scores, curved or otherwise, but all of its results fit nicely on the 3d6 curve. How so? Both 15 and 8 appear on the 3d6 curve. Are you imagining a population so small there aren't multiple individuals with that combination of scores? You're taking my comment out of context. I was addressing the argument that dice-rolling better represents the reality of how a character's scores are generated because it takes decisions by the player out of the equation. Your argument is about whether point-buy is suitable for modelling populations. I don't think anyone has asserted that it is. [/QUOTE]
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