D&D should go point based!

[Belen]

No thank you. I detest the point based systems. They make character creation a complete mess for little return on investment. D&D should stay as is rather than try and follow some tiny, unheard of company.

 

[diaglo]

Wow, I suddenly have an urge to pull out 4D6 and start rolling.

The Auld Grump

3d6 in order.

str, int, wis, con, dex, cha

 

[JimAde]

I use point-buy stats and average hit points, because I like my players to know what they're getting. So far multiclassing and feat/skill selection has been enough for us to get the characters we want, but I admit to occasionally thinking "I need a talented cat burglar, but he really shouldn't have Sneak Attack...". So the idea of something like Buy The Numbers appeals to me.

I'm downloading the Everstone stuff now.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Rolling ability scores is a sacred cow of D&D.

Man, I killed that cow and made stakes out of it long time ago. Point Built per the DMG with 32 points in most campaigns I run. Sacred Cow would be something like a level or a class. If D&D gets rid of those, then we can talk about what a Sacred Cow is, but random ability rolling is hardly a sacred cow.

 

[Desdichado]

We don't roll for scores in my games. But do you mean point based chargen, or point based advancement? The former is in the DMG, and I've been using it mostly since 3e came out. I'd like to see good rules for adapting d20 to the latter, though. The options I'm aware of don't quite cut it for me, and I want to still be able to use all the stuff I have for d20, so I want it to be as compatible as possible.

That said, I think it may be more trouble than it's worth. Better to just pick the level you like, and stay in that range if that's your proclivity.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Standard Array r0x0r.

3d6 in order.

str, int, wis, con, dex, cha

Do you really do that?

I did that for one "iron man" game right before 3e came out. It was brutal.

 

[Desdichado]

Standard Array r0x0r.

Don't you mean r0xx0rz? And if you really mean it, it r0xx0rz ur b0xx0rz and kn0xx0rz off ur s0xx0rz...

I'm actually a bit fan of standard array. My default "new campaign" solution is to start with standard array and let the players take three ability increases to use however they like right off the bat. That way, you can get one score (unmodified by racial adjustments) up to 18, or spread it more thinly and have two really good scores and the rest more or less OK, or you can eliminate your one really bad score; etc. Just a bit of choice with how to spread those three ability increases so you don't feel to constrained by the standard array.

 

[JimAde]

Ok, I've just given Everstone the quick once-over. It looks quite cool. There's a general advancement chart that basically gives you the worst of everything (wizard BAB, 3 poor saves) and also gives you points to spend. You do have to choose a class, which gives you access to certain features to buy and presumably determines your hit die type (which I can't actually find in the PDF). But there are also lots of "general" features you can buy that let you cherry-pick abilities normally associated with other classes. Pretty cool.

But MAN do they need an editor. The PDF looks great (good art, decent layout) but the text is just rife with typos and weird sentence construction. Where's my blue pencil?

Anyway, I won't be converting my campaign or anything, but I think it's a very good effort and the world looks interesting.

 

[diaglo]

Standard Array r0x0r.




Do you really do that?

I did that for one "iron man" game right before 3e came out. It was brutal.

yup. but i'm refereeing an OD&D(1974) campaign.

in the story hour in my sig. Olgar Shiverstone made us use 25pt buy for the then 2000ed campaign which has since converted to 3.11ed for Workgroups.

my hat of pt buy knows no limits.

 

[Crothian]

Point systems also lead to more min maxing....so that would get even worse if such a thing is possible.