Die Rolls or Point-Buy

[Storminator]

- just wanted to mention that the standard PHB point buy gives bonus points to most races, since they can place the -2 where it would (technically) gain them 2 points, but put the +2 where it (technically) would cost them 6 points - e.g. an elf who'se 10 CON goes down to 8, but whose 16 Dex goes up to 18. He's 4 points better off than a human with an 8 Con and 18 Dex !

That's another reason why I went for straight 1 for 1 points in the end.

I always thought that was deliberate, to enforce stereotypes. That same elf is at a disadvantage if he wants a high CON and low DEX. A 10 DEX 16 CON human costs 12 points. A 10 Dex 16 CON elf costs 16. It's only the better deal if you play the classic type.

PS

 

[Storminator]

I like dice rolling, but I don't like rerolling until you get a "good" character. So I use 4d6 drop low arrange, and if don't like the results use a point buy, with points of 1d8 + 24.

In essence, the point buy is a floor, so PCs don't start too low. I haven't seen a need to change it yet.

PS

 

[Shard O'Glase]

I always thought that was deliberate, to enforce stereotypes. That same elf is at a disadvantage if he wants a high CON and low DEX. A 10 DEX 16 CON human costs 12 points. A 10 Dex 16 CON elf costs 16. It's only the better deal if you play the classic type.

PS

Yeah I suppose you could deliberatly build a weakened character. But I think the premise is you're allowing people to min/max more efectively by choosing to be non-human(not specifically elf) over human. Sure if your stuck on being a high con elf you are not in your prime, but just be a gnome or dwarf instead and that high con nets you points again. So min/max advantage non human, allowng people to effectively ge tbonus points for choosing a race that is already supposedly balanced.

 

[Sixchan]

Ahh, but sometimes it's all in Role-Playing. I find playing an Elven Barbarian is WAY more fun than A Half-Orc or Dwarven one.

And besides, I love elves but hate wizards.

 

[Storminator]

Yeah I suppose you could deliberatly build a weakened character. But I think the premise is you're allowing people to min/max more efectively by choosing to be non-human(not specifically elf) over human. Sure if your stuck on being a high con elf you are not in your prime, but just be a gnome or dwarf instead and that high con nets you points again. So min/max advantage non human, allowng people to effectively ge tbonus points for choosing a race that is already supposedly balanced.

Of course. But if you play a high CON dwarf, you are again perpetuating the stereotype, which is what these rules are all about. The rules give a small bonus to people that play to them, and they ensure that the race as a whole conforms to expectations.

If you imagine every member of a race being designed by a player, you'll find the shift away from average for CON (sticking with the elf example) to be much greater than 2 points, because min-maxing will dictate a skewed distribution.

But I roll anyway, so it matters not to me!

PS

 

[kenjib]

The racial stat modifiers are supposed to be bonuses for the race. It's okay for such a character to get a benefit from it. Even if you roll dice, you will probably pick a class such that the penalty doesn't matter too much but the bonus is of benefit. Like has been said, it is to promote stereotypes. I don't really think this extra 4 points phenomenon is really a problem worth worrying about.

 

[danzig138]

Dice

Die rolls. 3d6, in order. Occasionally, in reverse order. If I'm planning on a campaign where the characters need to be particularly heroic, I'll use 4d6, drop the lowest, place as desired. Now, when I occasionally pregenerate the characters, I just select the attributes so that they fit the character idea, but I don't bother with points.

 

[Vymair]

Organic 28 Point Buy. Otherwise, per KenjiB's system.

Advantages is characters are strong on their good stats, but have an interesting variety of strengths and weakness in their stats.

 

[Davelozzi]

4d6 drop lowest die, 7 times, droping the lowest number of the set, then do that a second time. Choose one set you prefer. If you write up a good background story and have a well defined character idea, you get up to three more extra rolls.


When finished with all the rerolls, arrange as desired.

We do the same thing without the 7th roll in each set. I also gave my players the option of doing a custom point buy instead of rolling but everyone perferred to try their luck with the dice.

 

[Kristian Serrano]

I used to love rolls. Wild, chaotic, but unreliable. Then point buy came into my life. It gave me exactly what I wanted, but it was undisciplined in its own way.

Finally, I tried elite array, and things have been great every since.