Character Creation Stat Draft (Trial Draft Complete!!)

[Thanee]

Sure, no problem.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Gold Roger]

I'm alright with doing it later and still set to participate.
On hpothetical chars, I often prefer to roll with what comes along anyway, but I'll watch for a cleric on this one, with a Rogue/x multiclass as emergency plan.

 

[Thanee]

With hypothetical character I just meant something you would actually want to play. If you actually want to play whatever the stats dictate, that's it.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Altalazar]

I think it is a bad idea. Character creation should not be a zero-sum game / competition with the other players. That is just asking for trouble. The only totally fair and balanced method of character creation is point buy. Any other method can only end up fair and balanced by accident or coincidence.

 

[RedShirtNo5]

Yep, after holiday is fine

 

[Gold Roger]

I think it is a bad idea. Character creation should not be a zero-sum game / competition with the other players. That is just asking for trouble. The only totally fair and balanced method of character creation is point buy. Any other method can only end up fair and balanced by accident or coincidence.

Now this is certainly true with an imature group, I don't see a problem with a group with good trust.
I see it less as an competition, than a cooperation between the players to create still decently fair charakters with organic stats. I feel that point buy seems very unnatural and leads to a stronger fokus on power. Also point buy means that everyone can create his charakter 100% on his own, which leats to ununified groups.
A stat draft on the other hand is an aspect that makes the group create their charakters together.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

I'd be happy to give this a shot.

 

[angramainyu]

I was thinking about this some more, and I really like the idea. There does seem to be a bit of an issue keeping it balanced if the number of characters fluctuates (more characters taking stats each round dilutes the pool more quickly presumming high stats go first, and changing the number of sets rolled changes the distribution), or having to deal with generating a single character (for example, as a replacement for a dead character).

So, I was thinking that you could instead draft a whole block (six stats, already assigned to attributes), instead of just a single stat: Roll out N attribute blocks for the pool. Decide your draft order. First player picks a block from the pool, a new block is added to the pool to replace it, next player goes, and so on. Each player gets to pick from the same number N blocks, and what is left in the pool can be kept around for replacement characters who would just continue the process from where it left off.

Options for tweaking, depending on the balance of equal vs. random you want in the party:
1) players can swap one pair of stats. So you can pick the high DEX, low WIS but otherwise decent stat block for a tank cleric and just swap them.
2) the player can have one block tossed and replaced with a new one before they make their pick, giving them a chance to freshen the pool -- adds a bit more excitement, too.
3) while the blocks are random, you could assign whatever conditions are needed for a block to be added to the pool -- e.g., a minimum of one stat below 10, min/max point-buy value, min/max total score, min/max total modifier, etc. -- so that no block is crazy good or crazy bad.

If you use all three options, I think you could get by with just a pool of 3 or 4 blocks.

 

[Conaill]

So, I was thinking that you could instead draft a whole block (six stats, already assigned to attributes), instead of just a single stat: Roll out N attribute blocks for the pool. Decide your draft order. First player picks a block from the pool, a new block is added to the pool to replace it, next player goes, and so on. Each player gets to pick from the same number N blocks, and what is left in the pool can be kept around for replacement characters who would just continue the process from where it left off.

Well... in that case, you'd be better off just letting people roll N sets and pick the best.

Otherwise, the first player will get "best out of N", whereas the last one will get to pick from N-1 sets that have already been rejected by other players, plus one new one. Not a very equal distribution...

 

[the Jester]

This idea is vaguely reminiscent of the stat bidding in character creation in the Amber rpg. I like it.