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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6629579" data-attributes="member: 42582">I didn't know the topic of the thread was "what is the preferred stat generation method"? Where's the poll?The majority preference for stat generation doesn't have much relevance to me. More people like playing fighters than paladins; I prefer paladins. More people like playing MUs than clerics; I prefer clerics. More people like playing thieves than monks; I prefer monks. In each case, that others like different things doesn't give me a reason not to like what I like.This won't be randomly determined in any stat generation system that allows players to allocate rolls to particular stats. Which is the only "random" option presented in the 5e Basic rules. Of the four methods presented by Gygax in his DMG (p 11), all but one allows player choice.In other words, strictly random determination of "bicep size" hasn't been the default for AD&D or WotC-editions for over thirty years. The rules of the game - in 3E, 4e and 5e - all permit point buy/array. So I don't really see how using that sort of option is "not playing by either the letter of the rules nor the spirit". I also think that fixed hit point gain per level is quite consistent with the 5e rules (and is the only rule for hp gain in 4e).Second, even if the rules didn't canvass these approaches, I thought house ruling was OK, especially in 5e. (We use houseruled options for PC build in our 4e game. The world hasn't ended yet.)Third, you have not addressed the distinction between PC build and action resolution that has been outlined by me and others upthread multiple times. Rolling dice is part of action resolution - playing the game. That doesn't mean that it has to be part of PC building, which is not playing the game at all, but a type of prep or prologue.If you look at any of the recent "fudging" threads you can see that I do not fudge dice rolls as a GM, when it comes to action resolution.When it comes to content introduction, though - which is the closest GM-side analogue to PC building - I don't generally use random rolls. Generally I make choices. Gygax himself recognised that there is an important distinction between content introduction and action resolution: that's why, on page 9 of his DMG, he saidthe rules call for wandering monsters, but these can be not only irritating - if not deadly - but the appearance of such can actually spoil a game . . . [if] everytime you throw the "monster die" a wandering nasty is indicated, and the party's strength is spent trying to fight their way into the area. . . . Expectations [may] be dashed, and probably interest too, by random chance. Rather than spoil such an otherwise enjoyable time, omit the wandering monsters indicated by the die. No, don't allow the party to kill them easily or escape unnaturally, for that goes contrary to the major precepts of the game.The distinction between content introduction and action resolution is found on p 110, too:t is your right to control the dice at any time . . . You also might wish to give [the players] and edge in finding a particular clue, eg a secret door that leads to a complex of monsters and treasure that will be especially entertaining.Gygax saw the difference between a secret door check made to escape from a confrontation ("don't allow the party to escape unnaturally") and a secret door check made to discover new areas for exploration ("a complex of monsters and treasure that will be especially entertaining"). The former is action resolution, and it would be contrary to the major precepts of the game to fudge it. The latter is content introduction, and there is no special virtue to randomising this.Building PCs is more like content introduction - it is introducing the fictional and mechanical vehicles whereby players will engage the game - than it is like action resolution. So randomness has no special virtue. It is one technique, that  has some (pretty well known) consequences. Point buy or array is another technique, which has its consequences. I've already explained why I prefer the latter set of consequences in my game.</blockquote>

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