Whats your opinion on the Point Buy System

[Esiminar]

What are peoples opinions of the point buy system as it stands?

[COLOR=green]Ability		Ability		Point Buy		Difference between
Score 		Modifier		Cost		previous cost
8		-1		0	
9		-1		1		1
10		0		2		1
11		0		3		1
12		+1		4		1
13		+1		5		1
14		+2		6		1
15		+2		8		2
16		+3		10		2
17		+3		13		3
18		+4		16		3
[/COLOR]

 

[Caliber]

When I first started playing DnD3e, I looked at the stats you could get with a Point-Buy and tried to beat down the little munchkin in me. It didn't work. The stats seemed WAY too low. But thats compared to how 2e worked.

Now that I've gotten a few years of experence under my belt, I say they work fine. High stats defintely have more of an effect in 3e, so its probably better the party isn't all supporting multiple 18s. Could get a little unbalanced.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

I think it's good that you have to pay more dearly for higher scores, since they are rarer when you roll your scores. Also, they give you access to some special feats, and let you increase the greatest possible result you get. It's not just "two points more is +1 modifier, nothing more" BS they justified their unwighted PBS in IWD2.

PB in general is good, since noone will have a disadvantage because he rolled not good (rolling crap is no problem, since you can reroll. But a sligtly below-average roll and you're stuck with that), and noone can out-shine the rest of the party for the rest of the years of gaming, because he had a lot of luck at one single day.

 

[Piratecat]

I love it. I think it's balanced, and I now use it to the exclusion of rolling stats with 4d6-1.

 

[Shalewind]

I love it! You can scale it if need be (give out more points). It's let's the players get what they want without being overpowered. And I don't have to hear the following two complaints:

1) Damn! He always rolls good. He's always too powerful!

2) I never roll good! My stats ALWAYS SUCK!

 

[Grog]

Honestly, I think the standard point buy is a bit too low. The problem is that some classes need more good stats than other classes.

A low point buy tends to favor spellcasters, because spellcasters only really need one good stat (their spellcasting stat). Meanwhile, fighters need Str, Con, and maybe Dex. Rogues need at least Dex and Int, and probably a decent Con too. Paladins need everything a fighter does and add in Charisma and to a lesser extent Wisdom, and monks have four different stats that are fairly important to them.

In the 3E campaigns I've run so far, I've allowed higher point buys to try to level the playing field somewhat.

 

[Celebrim]

It addresses several fundamental problems with rolling dice:

1) Players will cheat. With point buy, there is no ability to cheat, which starts the game play going in the right direction from the start. However, this problem to me seems to be somewhat addressed by 3rd edition in general. At least now a character with all 14's is a pretty good character - especially in a class with a broad skill base (ranger, barbarian, rouge, monk, bard). Alot more combinations of stats are functional.

2) It is fair. Why random die rolls, you run the risk of an uber character that becomes the center of attention, or a weak character whose player feels like he can't contribute.

3) It offers the possibility of solid character stats every time.

For all that, it has one huge problem that prevents me from abopting it whole heartedly.

a) It encourages players to min/max and that starts the game off in the wrong direction right from the start. Players tend not to role play or act out thier characters, they account and enumerate them. Plus, it seems to encourage every character to be basically alike. Characters end up with highly standardized packages. You don't see charismatic fighters. You don't see smart barbarians. You hardly see anyone with a 6 or 7 in a stat. Virtually every character seems to start identically as if they were stamped out at the Munchkin factory from a common die.

I've found it works pretty good to give the option of a standard 4d6 take 3 or else let them have 28 point buy.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

A low point buy tends to favor spellcasters, because spellcasters only really need one good stat (their spellcasting stat).

I have to disagree. Low dex will make them easy targets, low con will make them drop very fast. They should have nice scores in both.

 

[haiiro]

I voted "Fine as it stands," although I do sometimes allow more points than this for my games. For the most part, I think the PB system is quite good.

With rare exceptions, I don't like rolling for stats (as a DM or player). Why play a game in which a great deal of effort has gone into balancing the classes, treasure, challenges, etc. only to ignore it in character generation -- arguably the place where it matters the most.

 

[Chauzu]

I like it.

Woot.