48-point buy

[Maldor]

my old game group use 46 as are nomal and it played fine not to weak not to strong.

my curant group use a 4d6 reroll 1&2 and most players have compareable stat to 46 with a few who got lucky and a gew that got screwed PS: it a big group 10+

we never had a hassel with PC being to powerful in ether but i think the piont buy system is more fair. and stop some players from felling screwed.

 

[Hussar]

I would chime in to agree with the APL+1 (ish). As Ridley's Cohort said, bump the number of critters by about 50% and you should be groovy. To put it another way, they are starting with about 40k gp worth of stat boost items, so, that puts them about 8th level in wealth terms. That's gotta be worth a level.

Looked at another way, the fighter types will generally have a full hit die more, be hitting one level higher (at least), have the skills of one level higher, and the saves to match. About the only thing they lack is the feat.

We had a rather lengthy discussion about point buy a while ago, and, IMO and IME, a 48 point buy certainly works out to a level.

 

[D'karr]

I've been running a group in my campaign for almost 6 years. Their stats were generated rolling 4d6, rerolling 1's and dropping the lowest. In point buy terms one of the players has 47 points the highest has 52. The group is made up of 7 players.

The only thing I've done to keep the game challenging is have all monsters have max hit points and I've added about 50% more monsters per encounter. I've mostly had to increase the number of creatures due to the size of the party, not the "higher" abilities.

The group is powerful, but I have not found that their power level is unmanageable.

You also have control over ability boosting items so I'd recommend you gauge those before handing them out.

I'd say about 70% of their encounters are at their CR, about 20% are at CR+1 and about 10% at CR+2 and over. There are times when even the CR+1 encounters can cause problems.

CR is not an exact science so you are going to have to make adjustments whether you are playing a 50 point buy or a 28 point buy game.

 

[Tetsubo]

We are planning a campaign where the characters are the ultimate heroes of all ages. For stat, we are planning on using the "super elite" array of 18, 17, 15, 13, 12, 10. This comes out to 48 point buy. How ridiculous is a campaign run with these kinds of stats? Is there any stat rolling method that comes close to approximating 48-points or that array?

Have you looked at the Dawnforge cam[aign setting? It does "heroic" rather well.

 

[Ottergame]

But it was what they did with that ability that truely made them heroic. But if we are going by the Classical Definition they would also need a fatal flaw.

Most PCs do have a fatal flaw. It's called "I dump Stated Charisma and Now I Need To Talk My Out of Here!"

 

[diaglo]

They can have 100 point buy and they're still kobolds if they're eating babies.

fify


ALL HAIL KING TORG

 

[The Lost Muse]

But it was what they did with that ability that truely made them heroic. But if we are going by the Classical Definition they would also need a fatal flaw.

If we are going by the CLASSIC Classic Definition, then they need to complete three steps to be a hero:

1) Make a heroic boast (e.g. I will slay Grendel, find the Holy Grail, kill the 1,000 headed hydra, etc...) and then actually DO it.

2) Undergo a symbolic death and rebirth

3) Redistribute the wealth they get to the following: their leige lord, their companions, and some to the people around them. These displays of largesse are key, otherwise you're just a greedy schmuck with a sword.

 

[Crothian]

Most PCs do have a fatal flaw. It's called "I dump Stated Charisma and Now I Need To Talk My Out of Here!"

That isn't even close to a Greek fatal flaw.

 

[Hussar]

I've been running a group in my campaign for almost 6 years. Their stats were generated rolling 4d6, rerolling 1's and dropping the lowest. In point buy terms one of the players has 47 points the highest has 52. The group is made up of 7 players.

The only thing I've done to keep the game challenging is have all monsters have max hit points and I've added about 50% more monsters per encounter. I've mostly had to increase the number of creatures due to the size of the party, not the "higher" abilities.

The group is powerful, but I have not found that their power level is unmanageable.

You also have control over ability boosting items so I'd recommend you gauge those before handing them out.

I'd say about 70% of their encounters are at their CR, about 20% are at CR+1 and about 10% at CR+2 and over. There are times when even the CR+1 encounters can cause problems.

CR is not an exact science so you are going to have to make adjustments whether you are playing a 50 point buy or a 28 point buy game.

Umm, maxing out HP's and 50% more monsters/encounter is automatically bumping their EL's by at least +1. Probably +2 in some cases with the high HD critters. Effectively, you're using EL +2 for 70% of your encounters.

 

[maggot]

Thanks for all the replies. I'm thinking of going with a choice of:

1. The array 18, 17, 15, 13, 12, 10
2. Roll 3d6 for each stat and then turn one of the dice into a six

A quick Excel spreadsheet shows the average point buy value of #2 is 47.3, or in other words, close enough.