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<blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 6408091" data-attributes="member: 177">Pie.&nbsp; As several of us have already mentioned several times - it isn't an all-or-nothing choice.&nbsp; There are nuanced positions that aren't about the extremes.&nbsp; There are reasons to have randomness in character generation that have little to do with character power.I'll riff a little on something I think Janx mentioned upthread, that may demonstrate the point.Some players love &quot;blue sky&quot; generation.&nbsp; They thrive and are most creative when the GM says, &quot;Play whatever you want - any book, any class, any race,&quot; and they'll come up with wild and wonderful ideas, and they are aided if given the ability to determine all the details themselves.I am not one of those players.&nbsp; Given the blue sky, I tend to suffer from option paralysis.&nbsp; I like too many things to be able to jump to one specific idea strongly.&nbsp; I will eventually resolve to something, but the choice may well be uninspired or arbitrary.&nbsp; I become more creative and driven when I am slightly restricted - tell me the party needs a specific race represented, or a specific combat role filled.&nbsp; Tell me you need me to play a character type you've heard me mention I really don't like playing.&nbsp; Now, I have a specific challenge, how to make this thing work in an entertaining, effective, and coherent way, and I draw inspiration from the restriction.&nbsp; If I were a poet, I would do much better with highly structured forms like sonnets and haiku than with free verse.A randomly rolled set of stats helps in that kind of creative process.&nbsp; It isn't the rote determinism of a standard array (which, after you've used it once or twice, isn't giving you any new restrictions or variations to work with), but restricts available choices to the point where creativity kicks in.&nbsp; You may not want that randomly rolled set to have too much danger of being unplayable, but having a 6 stat in there that you have to work into your story and played personality may be seen as an excellent challenge.&nbsp; You want some randomness, some swinginess, to give you new combinatiosn you have to work with, but you would like some assurance that the thing will be effective - thus, a probability distribution like 4d6 drop low makes a lot of sense.Now, you may not be such a player, so you may not understand this - it may sound strange to you.&nbsp; But that doesn't make it unreal.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Umbran, post: 6408091, member: 177"] Pie. As several of us have already mentioned several times - it isn't an all-or-nothing choice. There are nuanced positions that aren't about the extremes. There are reasons to have randomness in character generation that have little to do with character power. I'll riff a little on something I think Janx mentioned upthread, that may demonstrate the point. Some players love "blue sky" generation. They thrive and are most creative when the GM says, "Play whatever you want - any book, any class, any race," and they'll come up with wild and wonderful ideas, and they are aided if given the ability to determine all the details themselves. I am not one of those players. Given the blue sky, I tend to suffer from option paralysis. I like too many things to be able to jump to one specific idea strongly. I will eventually resolve to something, but the choice may well be uninspired or arbitrary. I become more creative and driven when I am slightly restricted - tell me the party needs a specific race represented, or a specific combat role filled. Tell me you need me to play a character type you've heard me mention I really don't like playing. Now, I have a specific challenge, how to make this thing work in an entertaining, effective, and coherent way, and I draw inspiration from the restriction. If I were a poet, I would do much better with highly structured forms like sonnets and haiku than with free verse. A randomly rolled set of stats helps in that kind of creative process. It isn't the rote determinism of a standard array (which, after you've used it once or twice, isn't giving you any new restrictions or variations to work with), but restricts available choices to the point where creativity kicks in. You may not want that randomly rolled set to have too much danger of being unplayable, but having a 6 stat in there that you have to work into your story and played personality may be seen as an excellent challenge. You want some randomness, some swinginess, to give you new combinatiosn you have to work with, but you would like some assurance that the thing will be effective - thus, a probability distribution like 4d6 drop low makes a lot of sense. Now, you may not be such a player, so you may not understand this - it may sound strange to you. But that doesn't make it unreal. [/QUOTE]

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