Forked Thread: How difficult are 3.xE characters to create?

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

The ironic thing is that I kinda enjoyed the intellectual challenge of slowly tuning and refining a character build until it is somewhat optimized. Time consuming yeah, but it was a good kind of tired. The material in the PHB only goes so far in letting you create the custom PC you want, and dipping into other splatbooks is really inevitable, IMO.

Oh yes, character creation was also a lot of fun and its own past time. I think that is part of the reason why the character optimization boards exited, too.
The same was true for other games (Shadowrun comes to my mind).

Sometimes I just fear I am wasting my time with it. Which is probably true, but since it is my free time, it is time I'd "waste" anyway... The only time it gets bad is if you have to do it at the game table, possibly at high level and/or with a beginning player.

 

[Runestar]

About a third to half is spent on the main weapon, then the remainder on stat boosters, armor, and protection/natural armor.

MIC lets you add the stat boosters on top of existing magic gear at no existing charge (so you can get interesting combinations like a belt of battle that also grants an enhancement bonus to str and con), so a PC is no longer forced to have to opt for the basic stat boosters over other gear. This also means that players also have a lot more choices in what sort of eq they can get to use, which in turn translates to more time/effort in "optimizing" your choice of eq.

The Fighter players seem happy and not noticeably overshadowed by the arcane casters.

Can I ask what your casters are doing?

 

[Crothian]

It takes very little time, but we only create from scratch first level characters. It is very rare a player needs to make a higher level character from scratch.

It is intersting to note that it seems people choose to take this long. They don't have to as most people readily admit they can make a character must faster.

 

[Runestar]

It is intersting to note that it seems people choose to take this long. They don't have to as most people readily admit they can make a character must faster. __________________

I guess it is more of because we can, and not specifically because we have to spend so much time. That character build is going to determine how much fun one has in said campaign, so it may well be worth the time and effort to flesh it out properly so you don't get stuck with a crappy PC later.

 

[Crothian]

I guess it is more of because we can, and not specifically because we have to spend so much time. That character build is going to determine how much fun one has in said campaign, so it may well be worth the time and effort to flesh it out properly so you don't get stuck with a crappy PC later.

Crappy character equal less fun? Powerful characters then equal more fun? I find that hard to believe. The fun comes more from the interaction and what the character is doing. A character that succeeds nearly all the time is boring. Failure is part of what really makes the characters interesting.

Take a look at the gaming stories people tell. rarely do they brag about the end of a campaign where they killed the newly divine Orcus in one round. It's harder then that and there are failures and stupid things the players did in the process.

 

[Whitemouse]

Pretty easy. Though it varies with the level of the character and any house rules or Unearthed Arcana rules that are added to the character sheet.

I can get a first level character statted out in less than 10 minutes if its a non-caster type. If it is a caster type it shouldn't take me more than 20.

Of course it helps to have a concept ready to go right out of the pipe. Fortunately my head is always filled with ides for characters.

 

[S'mon]

Can I ask what your casters are doing?

Dying. The Wizard and the two Sorcerers were all killed, the Bard was turned into a statue (but later freed). Durability is definitely an issue.

 

[Pinotage]

I'll agree with what others have said. More splat books, means more time. If you just add Spell Compendium and the Magic Item Compendium, it could take ages to create a character.

Familiarity is another issue. Almost every 3e player knew the core rules fairly well. The splat books were mostly an unknown for the majority of players. I could create a core character, even at high level, fairly quickly. If I added splat books, it would literally increase the creation time 10 fold or even more.

Optimization is evil. That's what takes long. Creating a character with bare bones is dead easy. Adding in all the tweaks and optimizing is what takes long. If you know the core, the optimization is fairly quick as well.

Pinotage

 

[AllisterH]

Crappy character equal less fun? Powerful characters then equal more fun? I find that hard to believe. The fun comes more from the interaction and what the character is doing. A character that succeeds nearly all the time is boring. Failure is part of what really makes the characters interesting.

Take a look at the gaming stories people tell. rarely do they brag about the end of a campaign where they killed the newly divine Orcus in one round. It's harder then that and there are failures and stupid things the players did in the process.

Not necessarily.

If you build your character wrong, you can easily end up being ineffective in BOTH combat and non-combat scenarios. Unless you ignore the effect of CHA on the social skills when roleplaying, simply building a character without regard to the mechanics will definitely affect your enjoyment...

 

[Voadam]

So, how difficult do you think 3.xE character creation was, and for what reasons?

Depends on what you try to create. High level multiple prc characters with specific feat chains is complicated and can be time consuming. Making it a wizard with spell choices takes time as well. Spontaneous casters need to spend time up front considering and picking their spells.

I usually stick to one or two classes, max out my chosen skills, and take basic easy to qualify for feats. This makes things go fairly quickly.

Spending money for equipment is probably the most time consuming and annoying part of character creation for me.