25 or 32...what's the REAL "standard" point buy?

[randomling]

As a DM, I like to give my PCs 32-pt buy. It gives them the edge over my monsters and makes them slightly cooler than the general populace. For a campaign where I wanted the PCs to be True Heroes with abilities far beyond ordinary folks, I'd probably use 35-pt buy or the Conan rolling method (1d10+8 per stat).

 

[Thanee]

28-32 point buy is probably the norm.

25 is more like low powered, not standard.

Not, that you can't make great characters with 25 PB, but the differences between good and average stats will be pretty minor, you won't really see exceptional attributes, mostly everyone will be pretty average (altho above the average human, who has all stats 10-11).

32 is high powered in the sense, that everyone can afford to have an 18 (altho many players only pick up a 16 and rather turn an 8 into a 14 instead of the lil 16 -> 18 jump).

So, all things considered, I'd say 28 PB is a good standard.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Synchronicity]

Well, in the games I'm in at the moment, it's as follows:

Rolled stats (4d6, drop lowest): 1. Although the GM's said if he does another game once this short campaign wraps up, he'll have everyone else roll and then assign me points based on their averages, because I tend to be the luckiest (bloke) on the face of the planet when rolling stats. (The look on his face at the stats I rolled in front of him..not one below a 14!)

32 point buy: 2. Both fairly standard games. Another one starting up soon with 32 point buy, and I'm running one anon which is 32 point buy also.

40 point buy (!): 2. One of these is less a 'game' and more a hack-fest, where people can try out their 'broken character of the week.' I turn up every now and then.

The second's my current favourite game; a scary campaign of great magnitude, where we may have the end of the world occuring in 9 months time, the secret police of the empire (the ones with carte blanche to do whatever they like) are seeking our heads on spikes for poking into matters we was not meant to know wot of, and we're having to pretend to be a travelling circus to disguise ourselves (oh, the humanity!). Did I mention we're travelling with a wild mage we can't seem to get rid of? (every so often, he tries to 'help'. The party ducks and covers.)

The level of this game, you ask? 4th. With the equipment of 2nd to 3rd level people. (Only magic items in the group: 3 Handy Haversacks, 1 set Gauntlets +2 Str. Getting the gauntlets off the super-l33t bandit leader of doom was no picnic, either.) The GM said '40 point buy. You're going to need it.' So far, that's been nothing but the truth. And it's one of the most fun games I've ever taken part in.

Generally, I tend to go for 32 pt buy. Rolling may seem fun, but too often I've seen one character with really good stats eclipse people who haven't been so lucky. 32 points makes you significantly above average (as I tend to feel adventurers should be), and more importantly, equal. 28 pt buy can also be good; it genrates more 'human' characters, unlike 32 pt where you don't have to have a below average stat (unless you're a dwarven barb of charisma dumping doom, of course. Has anyone ever seen a dwarven or half-orc barbarian built on points buy with a Cha above 6? The Public Has A Right To Know! ). 32 pts, you're significantly better than John Q Public. Heroic, even. 28 pts, you're still pretty damn good, bt those 4 pts can make a surprising amount of difference. 40 pt buy; well, without extra penalising factors being added in (see comments above), it tends to feel a bit overpowered, especially when people return to 28 or 32 pt buy. ("What do you mean, I have to have a stat below 14? I never have a stat below 14!") There's a difference between heroic and silly.

Just my 2 cents
Synchronicity.

 

[Zappo]

I consider 25 point buy as the standard for my campaigns. I've found that the characters are mostly equivalent in power to 4d6-drop-low characters, thanks to more accurate distribution, despite the fact that 4d6-drop-low generates characters with higher point buy cost.

 

[Faerl'Elghinn]

all characters start with 8.
raising up to 14 is one point per (6 points to get to 14)
15 and 16 cost 2 each
17 and 18 cost 3 each

14 costs 6
16 costs 10
18 costs 16
(high stats can be expensive)

18 is the cap, and when you are finished, you apply racial modifiers.

Thanks. Although the extra points for high scores seems a bit excessive to me, as all scores are generally valuable to all characters at some time or another in my campaigns, I plan to implement a point buy system in an upcoming OA campaign I'd like to run. I just feel that it's kind of a waste of time to run a campaign based on "average, everyday people" or those who are slightly superior. Who wants to read a book about somebody who's "pretty ok" at a few things? I generally don't just go crazy, mind you, but I prefer to run and play characters who start off pretty far above the average Joe. If the power level of encounters needs to be modified, so be it, but I also feel that if my players have too difficult a time surviving, then I'm not doing my job. Why should I not allow characters to be some of the most capable people in the world? They're really the only people in the world who matter, so why not let them be tough? Besides, high scores can help characters to survive the first few levels, and as they progress, 1 more point of damage or whatever makes less and less of a difference.

 

[Wormwood]

28 here.

In 3+ years, we've tried everything from rolling (blows) to PB: 25, 28, 30, 32 and (shudder) 40.

 

[Thanee]

Well 2 points of Strength almost make the difference of two feats (Weapon Focus + Weapon Specialization).

For spellcasters, those 2 points in their primary stat can make quite a difference, too.

Anyways, some people use a very simple PB method, just distribute a number of points (like 80) among your attributes as you see fit.

Bye
Thanee

 

[diaglo]

I think that 25 actually reflects the average roll using 4d6 drop lowest. However, many groups allow rerolls of "non-viable" characters, which brings the average stats up some.

this is correct as far as i've read and calculated.

however, the only true non-munchkin method for ability generation is 3d6 rolled by the referee six times in order of stat

 

[MonsterMash]

I don't allow point buy IMC for PC, though I use it for NPC as I need to know what class they are and build stats around it. I prefer to individually stat significant NPC rather than use the default arrays of values as it's more personalised.

 

[National Acrobat]

I give my players an option.

Roll 4d6, drop the lowest or take 28 point buy.