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<blockquote data-quote="Li Shenron" data-source="post: 6265335" data-attributes="member: 1465"><p>I like the idea a lot. It works if the game is not overly dependent on your stats, and doesn't assume anything on the composition of the party of PC. It works better for high lethality campaigns, so that if you accidentally rolled too poorly, you simply get killed sooner and have a chance to make another PC, but if you don't get killed then you should feel rewarded you succeeded at surviving with a subpar character.</p><p></p><p>Not every edition support this concept of character randomness. For example, these are game systems traits that work against it:</p><p></p><p>- essential mechanics that require a minimum ability score: I'm not talking about feats with score prerequisites (which in general are a bad thing, but at least they are optional) but rather about truly defining features such as spellcasting. E.g. in 3e in order to cast spells of level X you needed 10+X in your spellcasting score. This is a terrible rule, it adds nothing to the game, it just forces all casters to keep that score high enough or you'll be missing a world of spells. It discourages investing in secondary scores.</p><p></p><p>- large spread of ability score bonuses: in OD&D your bonus from ability score doesn't get that high, and that means someone without a bonus is not that different; instead in a system like 3e there will be PCs with scores in their high 20s, then the adventures will adapt to them in order to remain challenging (at least to avoid automatic successes), and this tells those with a low score "don't even bother trying"</p><p></p><p>- game systems which allow too many options by default (i.e. without "investment systems" such as skills) make it so that the one with highest Int takes all the Int-based tasks, the one with highest Dex takes all the Dex-based tasks etc. Not wrong in principle, until someone in the party doesn't have the highest score in anything, and may end up doing not much at all... </p><p></p><p>- games that assume a default party composition, typically the usual Fighter-Wizard-Cleric-Rogue; obviously if you have to roll your stats in order, there is a very high chance that the party is different from the default.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Li Shenron, post: 6265335, member: 1465"] I like the idea a lot. It works if the game is not overly dependent on your stats, and doesn't assume anything on the composition of the party of PC. It works better for high lethality campaigns, so that if you accidentally rolled too poorly, you simply get killed sooner and have a chance to make another PC, but if you don't get killed then you should feel rewarded you succeeded at surviving with a subpar character. Not every edition support this concept of character randomness. For example, these are game systems traits that work against it: - essential mechanics that require a minimum ability score: I'm not talking about feats with score prerequisites (which in general are a bad thing, but at least they are optional) but rather about truly defining features such as spellcasting. E.g. in 3e in order to cast spells of level X you needed 10+X in your spellcasting score. This is a terrible rule, it adds nothing to the game, it just forces all casters to keep that score high enough or you'll be missing a world of spells. It discourages investing in secondary scores. - large spread of ability score bonuses: in OD&D your bonus from ability score doesn't get that high, and that means someone without a bonus is not that different; instead in a system like 3e there will be PCs with scores in their high 20s, then the adventures will adapt to them in order to remain challenging (at least to avoid automatic successes), and this tells those with a low score "don't even bother trying" - game systems which allow too many options by default (i.e. without "investment systems" such as skills) make it so that the one with highest Int takes all the Int-based tasks, the one with highest Dex takes all the Dex-based tasks etc. Not wrong in principle, until someone in the party doesn't have the highest score in anything, and may end up doing not much at all... - games that assume a default party composition, typically the usual Fighter-Wizard-Cleric-Rogue; obviously if you have to roll your stats in order, there is a very high chance that the party is different from the default. [/QUOTE]
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