D&D 4E New "Confessions of a Full Time Wizard" - 4e tidbits!

[Rechan]

To be honest, except for what I read people say here on ENWorld, I have never actually met a person who prefers point buy character creation for D&D. Based on what people say here, I must be in an insular environment. I have met, literally, dozens of D&D gamers since 3.0 came out, and easily thousands since I started playing D&D. Some have used point buy systems; some of them tolerate it; none of them have said they prefer it. Must be a local thing.

And honestly, I've not met too many people who like to roll. I can't remember the last time I rolled. The only time I'd ever want to roll is when the alternative is 28 point buy.

The only person I've met in recent history who wanted to roll their stats for my game was the spike-chain wielding swashbuckler/rogue munchkin.

Rolling, for one, is a pain in the arse because you have to do it in front of the DM - which means you have to make the character in front of the DM - which means you can't just come to the next session with your new character ready to go.

 

[sjmiller]

And really, I can't think of a single RPG from the past dozen years that even *has* a random attribute mechanic. There's probably a reason for that.

You mean besides D&D, right? Call of Cthulhu comes to mind. Still being made, still being played, still rolling for attributes. I do not own a lot of newer RPGs, so I can't tell you many others, offhand.I am sure if I dig around I will find more.

 

[Gort]

I must say, I always preferred arrays to point buy or rolling. You don't get the wild variation between characters in a party that rolling gives you, and you can't just pick exactly the numbers you like, like you can with point buy.

 

[sjmiller]

And honestly, I've not met too many people who like to roll. I can't remember the last time I rolled. The only time I'd ever want to roll is when the alternative is 28 point buy.

The only person I've met in recent history who wanted to roll their stats for my game was the spike-chain wielding swashbuckler/rogue munchkin.

Rolling, for one, is a pain in the arse because you have to do it in front of the DM - which means you have to make the character in front of the DM - which means you can't just come to the next session with your new character ready to go.

Well, different strokes for different folks, I guess. I've never played a munchkin character, except for playing the Munchkin card game. It's also funny that I have had almost the exact opposite experience you had. The last person I heard about who was a real muchkin type player was one who preferred point buy to dice rolling, because he could better min-max his character that way. I did not play with the guy, but I've heard about him.

Like I said, my personal experience has been different than that of those I see online. It's not better, it's not worse, it's just different. We all have our personal preferences when it comes to gaming. One of mine, when it comes to D&D, is to roll dice for attributes. I also prefer having gnomes in the PH, but that is another thread.

 

[Cadfan]

To be honest, except for what I read people say here on ENWorld, I have never actually met a person who prefers point buy character creation for D&D. Based on what people say here, I must be in an insular environment. I have met, literally, dozens of D&D gamers since 3.0 came out, and easily thousands since I started playing D&D. Some have used point buy systems; some of them tolerate it; none of them have said they prefer it. Must be a local thing.

In my gaming club, everyone who primarily DMs likes point buy. Everyone who primarily plays like rolling up characters.

 

[Daniel D. Fox]

Point buy helps shore up a lot of the imbalances between my PCs and NPC enemies. We prefer to use point buy to reflect standard ability scores throughout the gaming world, as opposed to everyone having superhuman stats.

 

[I'm A Banana]

I must say, I always preferred arrays to point buy or rolling. You don't get the wild variation between characters in a party that rolling gives you, and you can't just pick exactly the numbers you like, like you can with point buy.

I'm with gort. I don't like point buy's mathematics, but I prefer a common baseline so that the guy with 3 18's doesn't end up hogging the gaming spotlight while the gal with a 12 as her highest can't catch a break.

An array is a very good middle ground.

 

[Dormammu]

Perhaps ironically, I hate point buy because it makes exceptional characters almost impossible. It's just so difficult to get past 15 without hamstringing the character with the point buy as it existed in 3E.

 

[Nine Hands]

Ha Ha, oh wow.
You're kidding right? Change just for changes sake? Most people already play with point buy, those who don't usually roll again and again until they have decent scores. It's not some random change, but another case of bringing corerules in line with how people actually play the game!

Exactly. I haven't used the roll method for 10+ years now. Heck I still dislike rolling for hit points

 

[Wolfspider]

Honestly, I just let my players pick the stats for their characters. That way they can come up with the kind of character they envision without have to settle due to bad luck or lack of points.

They have never abused this approach. Usually their highest stats are about 16, with maybe an 18 once in a while in a prime requisite, as we used to call it back in the Days of the Grognard....