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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JamesonCourage" data-source="post: 6058687" data-attributes="member: 6668292">I think this is generally true, but it's obviously not that simple. For example, just yesterday I rolled up a character for my brother's online game (I doubt we'll play often, but it's fun to make a character anyways). Before I rolled, he asked what I wanted to play. I finally settled on a race and class (an axe thrower), and then I rolled stats. And it's cool, because I'll make due with what I've got, unless it's basically unplayable.So why roll? Like you said, I like being surprised. It's why I also rolled for a couple personality traits (brave, grumpy), his main motivation (saving his tribe), a personal challenge (he's frank), and something he didn't know but wanted to know (looking for me mentor), and then filtered the results through the lens of his race: troll [not D&D, but kind of similar]). I already had an idea of what I wanted in mind (race, class, and personality); now, however, I have more than that. He's brave (even for my reckless race, as we've got regeneration), grumpy (trolls are generally nice to non-enemies, so I'm basically a friendly curmudgeon), frank, and looking to save my tribe and find my mentor.Then, when I rolled for his heritage, who he was raised by, his siblings, and some childhood/adult events, I found out some things along the way. He made some friends as a child, and I found out who trained him (the mentor I was looking for). He had a good childhood romantic relationship with another troll from the ship he was on most of his life. He saw a sea monster. Last event as a child, and important mechanically, he was badly injured. There was no real mechanical effect other than I started a year old due to recovery, but trolls have regeneration in this, and so the recovery was mostly mental. However, it inspired me to pick up a couple of flaws (slow healer, so my racial regeneration is slower, and low pain threshold, so I might get overwhelmed when I am hurt, even if it's regenerating). As an adult, his talent for throwing weapons was discovered, and he was used as a soldier for the dying tribe. He displayed heroism (and made a friend), got a little famous, and gained a reputation as a reliable warrior.Now, I could do the same rolls with point buy or an array. So, don't think I'm trying to deny that. But, I roll stats for the same reason I roll all those other things: to find out something I don't know about the character. It's like how some GMs (like me...) roll personality traits on NPCs. Sure, you're talking to an alchemist, but who knew he'd be (pause to roll) bored and evil, too?I usually go into things with a concept before I roll. Again, though, I think what you're saying is generally true. It's just not universally applicable, and I don't know how much help it is trying to paint in broad strokes. Some people just prefer point buy, others rolling, and some array. I offer two out of three in my RPG (roll or array), so I get it. I've even used the array. But, really, it comes down to mostly preference. And we can talk about the broad whys, but I don't know how much good it'll do. Oh well, you're much nicer than the first page looked, so please don't think I'm attacking you, or anything. Thanks for the thoughtful, civil post. As always, play what you're like <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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