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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lakesidefantasy" data-source="post: 9826880" data-attributes="member: 6682043">The problem I see here is you were forced to make a cookie, I mean a monk of average Strength, average Charisma, and below average Intelligence. You had very few options after ensuring that this monk had a 16* in both of its Primary Abilities. After that, you had about 15 different ways you could have gone. Which is still a respectable number, but when you chose to have a 14** in Constitution, your choices for the other three abilities were slim. They were either (8, 8, 12), (8, 9, 11), (8, 10, 10), or (9, 9, 10). You happened to choose the third option, which minimized the number of scores with a negative modifier to just one.This embodies perhaps the primary criticism of Point-Buy -- it's a cookie-cutter method that produces low diversity in ability scores arrays. Or perhaps I should say that optimization along with Point Buy leads to low diversity. For instance, if you had gone with a 15 in one of this monk's primary abilities, you would have had 6 options for the other scores instead of 4. A 14 wouldn't have offered you more options but would have been able to get you some above average scores in the other three abilities.Now, as I understand it, the monk is particularly dependent upon multiple abilities, so not the best example of constrained diversity in the Point Buy method. I expect a cleric might have more options.I say all of this not as an opponent of the Point Buy method. I like the Point Buy method for the control it affords. On the other hand, the Standard Method leads to wildly unfair ability score arrays, but I think this argument is overstated* 16 seems to be the consensus for a primary ability score.** If you're throwing punches, then it's good to have a Constitution of 14 -- so I've been told.</blockquote>

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