D&D 5E A Proper Ability Score Generation Preference Poll

[JonnyP71]

And rolling is fun.

This is a key point! It is.

I like playing characters with 1-2 low stats. And 8 is not low, it is merely a little bit below average. There seems to be a perception that a character with any stats below 6 is not playable - that's nonsense.

I do 'play my rolls' in terms of roleplaying my character, and prefer to base personality, backstory etc on what I roll, not vice versa.

Plus I absolutely detest the modern idea of characters being planned multiple levels in advance, the idea of 'builds'. Point buy encourages that train of thought.

 

[aramis erak]

Do you know how he coded it? There are only 64 options with point buy if he's hard coding it. If it's randomized, it would be easier to modify the numbers.

It's all javascript. It's literally just randomizing where the points get spent, and blocking those stats at cap.

 

[Caliban]

This is a key point! It is.

For some people. I never really enjoyed it that much.

Plus I absolutely detest the modern idea of characters being planned multiple levels in advance, the idea of 'builds'. Point buy encourages that train of thought.

And I detest the idea of being forced to create a character based on whatever stats the dice give me. I actively enjoy coming up with builds or using an existing build and putting my own twist on it it.

Rolling limits my options. (Unless you are using some variant that gives you ridiculously high stats, if that is the case...why bother rolling? Just pick your stats.)

Different people enjoy different things.

 

[clearstream]

The question is: How does your current group generate ability scores for PCs, and/or how do you prefer to generate ability scores for your PCs, assuming you play in a group that shares your general preferences?

edit: I'm only allowing one vote per person, so please choose the option that best applies to you.

edit 2: To clarify the intent of the poll, the standard array is one of the possible outcomes of point-buy, so if you use both, that would be a vote for point-buy.

Also, we're only talking about methods for generating the actual numerical values, so variations on how the numbers are assigned (e.g. roll in order vs. roll and assign) would still fall into the same category as long as the method is the same.

Thank you for creating this poll.

Adventurers League imposes a confound, as point-buy is mandated for that format. From the results at time of posting, the minimum number of respondents who had a choice is 95.

How many of the 80 answering point-buy responded that way as an outcome of their involvement in Adventurer's League games?

 

[Hussar]

Well, there's no real way to know how many choosing point buy are AL players. I know I'm not. We started using point buy in 3e though and I just found that I liked it better, so, never went back. But, it is quite possible that there is a preponderance of those who play public games also choosing point buy. I could pretty easily see that happening.

 

[Lanefan]

For a lot of us, it is not your stats that make your character special. That's just the necessary framework that lets them operate in the game world.

What make them special is their personality, their approach to the game, and possibly a signature spell, feat, or class ability that they use more often or differently than most other characters of the same class.

If you don't make the effort, sure all your fighter, clerics, rogues, and wizards can end up being very similar. But rolling your stats or using point buy won't change that.

Ultimately it's up to the player to make their characters special, not the stat generation method.

Alert the media as this might be a first: I'm going to agree with [MENTION=284]Caliban[/MENTION]

With, however, one slight caveat regarding the bits I've bolded above. That being, stats alone don't make a character special but they can certainly be a part of it. For a player who already has a mostly-set-in-stone character concept going in, knowing the stats (or close) ahead of time helps, and if needed the concept can be made to suit these pre-known stats. But for those who maybe don't have a concept in mind going in, or who are still vague about parts of it, rolling some whacked-out stats - in particular, getting one that's very low - can provide a great jumping-off point to tweak or flesh out or even invent from nothing a personality and modus operandi for the (let's hope!) unique and memorable character you're about to play.

I've heard players say - and have said it myself, once or twice - when rolling up a character and the first five rolls have come up somewhere between good and stupendous: "Come on, dice - I need a '7' to make this playable!". I always find that if I don't have an idea for a character concept going in that rolling something like 14-14-12-12-10-10 or even 18-15-14-14-13-13 is less than no help at all but give me 18-15-14-13-10-7 and I can give you memorable entertaining characters until your dice wear down to plastic marbles.

Lan-"and sometimes those memorable entertaining characters might even turn out to be useful to the party now and then"-efan

 

[JonnyP71]

I've heard players say - and have said it myself, once or twice - when rolling up a character and the first five rolls have come up somewhere between good and stupendous: "Come on, dice - I need a '7' to make this playable!". I always find that if I don't have an idea for a character concept going in that rolling something like 14-14-12-12-10-10 or even 18-15-14-14-13-13 is less than no help at all but give me 18-15-14-13-10-7 and I can give you memorable entertaining characters until your dice wear down to plastic marbles.

Nail hit firmly on the head...

I rolled 5-8-9-12-15-16 for my current character, and from that came my young, fragile Tiefling Bard, wonderfully likeable but very gullible and possessing no common-sense. I wanted to play a good natured but rebellious character so I therefore gave her the criminal background and decided she'd been unwittingly mixed up with the 'wrong' type of people while believing she was fighting for the oppressed underclasses - due to treatment she got when she was a younger because of her heritage.

That wouldn't work as well with point buy - a Wisdom of 8 is not low enough. And no, I won't disconnect her personality from her stats to force her to be 'less-wise', I can't do that, it feels wrong. Just as I won't try to portray a character with 9 strength as 'he-man', or 9 charisma as being a top diplomat.

Another problem with having a class/background/personality set in stone before beginning is 'what if that does not fit with the rest of the party, or the world presented by the DM'?

Our session 0 tends to go as follows:
- DM describes a bit about the world, some expectations, and what classes/races are available
- we all roll dice together to generate stats, and talk about what we'd like to play - TOGETHER - this is a group activity
- if anyone wants to tweak anything about the class/race to fit an idea they have, the discussion is done now - everyone gets involved, but the DM has the final say.
- we go away and come up with short backgrounds to fit in with what we discussed in session 0

This way we are all on the same page! We're a team, and the game is more fun.

If someone turned up with everything already done, based on their own assumptions, isn't that a little selfish? It's like 'I don't care about the rest of you, I'm doing it like this!'

If I'm DMing I'd nope that right away.

 

[Hriston]

Thank you for creating this poll.

No problem! I hope it didn't come off as if I was implying your poll was somehow improper, but I wanted to see what the results would be like if the poll covered more options. I tried to be as thorough as possible and include all the major methods and combinations thereof. I didn't expect so many would respond with "other" and would like to hear more from those who did about what methods they are using. If I was going to do this poll again, I might have included options for "other rolling", "other point-buy", etc.

Adventurers League imposes a confound, as point-buy is mandated for that format. From the results at time of posting, the minimum number of respondents who had a choice is 95.

How many of the 80 answering point-buy responded that way as an outcome of their involvement in Adventurer's League games?

My assumption, as I think I stated in the OP although perhaps not clearly, is that players participate voluntarily in whatever group they belong to, and that if there was a misalignment between a player's preferences and the preferences of the group as a whole, then the player would find a group more suited to meeting those preferences. I realize this is rather idealistic, but I encourage anyone playing in a group that doesn't share the same priorities to the extent that it interferes with one's enjoyment of the game to leave that group and find a group that does. Also, I think it's clear, but again perhaps not as clear as I intended, that this poll is meant to reflect the preferences of the individual, and I encourage anyone whose vote reflects their participation in a group that doesn't share their preference to change their vote to reflect their own true preference.

 

[Caliban]

If someone turned up with everything already done, based on their own assumptions, isn't that a little selfish? It's like 'I don't care about the rest of you, I'm doing it like this!'

If I'm DMing I'd nope that right away.

Ah, so you play communist D&D. "The collective is all, individuality will not be tolerated."

 

[Satyrn]

[MENTION=6801845]Oofta[/MENTION], [MENTION=284]Caliban[/MENTION], [MENTION=6801204]Satyrn[/MENTION]

I suppose I should have used the word unique instead of special, but I am sure that somebody would misconstrue that too. Of course it is the RP that makes a character special or unique. I can play a character with any set of stats and make it special or unique or fun. I don't need to have the best stats at the table, and have no problem playing a supporting role.

The point was that if everybody is the same then why bother. I did not claim that anybody was wrong, just that I do not understand the paradox of people choosing to be the same qhile wanting to be different. Of course, as evidenced by numerous threads, some with more than 200 pages, some people have entrenched positions and are resistant to differing views.

My post was meant to help you understand this paradox you're seeing.

I don't see the paradox - and there isn't one for me - because I'm not even looking for my ability scores to show that Specialness/Uniquness that I want out of my character.

I think you're seeing a paradox because you're thinking those of us who like Point Buy/Arrays are looking to express "uniqueness" through ability scores. But we obviously don't. Or at least we value the benefits of Point Buy more than the benefits of the uniqueness gained through ability scores.

As for why bother? The variation provided by point buy/array has more value to me than no ability score variation at all