Point Buy Method: What is a good number?

[reveal]

A friend of mine is going to DM an OA game within the next couple of weeks. He wants to let us create our characters using the Point Buy method. He wants to give us 28 points, which the book says is normal.

Have you created characters using the point buy system? If so, how many points did you use and how did it work out? How did your campaign suffer/benefit from higher/lower numbers?

 

[BiggusGeekus]

I'm personally a fan of the 25 point buy standard array: 15,14,13,12,10, & 8.

I played in a 32 point game where I had the pleasure of seeing a friend gimp his own character by dumping all the points into two scores. 3e is not 2e. In 2e there wasn't much difference between 9 and 13. A 2e character with an 18 would STOMP on a clone of himself with the same attribute as a 15. That doesn't hold true in 3e, the benifits are more evenly distributed as you gain attribute points.

I like lower point totals because it promotes character interdependency. The characters NEED each other to survive and you have the basis of a group. If you're in a game where the Ranger can go off by himself and handle a "standard" encoutner ... well, that's less fun because now all the members of the group can go their own ways. If that happens the DM will have to invent reasons to keep the party together.

All of which is a very long-winded way of saying that I think 28 points are just fine.

 

[Desdichado]

A good number for what? There are implications of giving higher or lower point-buy totals, and without knowing what the goals of the game are, I don't feel you can get any meaningful answers to your question.

 

[reveal]

A good number for what? There are implications of giving higher or lower point-buy totals, and without knowing what the goals of the game are, I don't feel you can get any meaningful answers to your question.

I'm not asking for specifics regarding to my campaign. I'm asking for feedback as to what people have found to be a good number in the point buy system. Maybe I should ask, have you created characters using the point buy system? If so, how many points did you use and how did it work out? How did your campaign suffer/benefit from higher/lower numbers?

 

[Psychotic Dreamer]

I have used values ranging from 25-36.

25 is so the group requires each other
28 is so that each character can have one really good stat or a range of average stats.
32 gives a good mix of stats and can be useful for a smaller group of characters
36 is for really high power games or a smaller group.

 

[Carnifex]

I actually have a 40 point system I used for my current campaign.

Now I know that'll elicit gaps of horro and cries of munchkinism, but consider the following:

1) I'm a tough DM most of the time. I throw tough challenges at them. The campaign is not going to be a gentle one, and they'll need to be tought to survive it.

2) In this case, I did want the PC's to be 'special', and clearly a cut above even normal adventurers. The campaign has the possibility to become a truly world-shaking event.

3) These are excellent roleplayers I'm working with. Since I run an online game, I've vetted who takes part carefully. When I first proposed running the game on www.roleplayinggames.net, before I'd even put it up on the list of games looking for players, several people who I knew to be excellent rp's from past experience already showed an interest. I feel I am lucky enough to have a kind of rp'ing 'dream team', who can be relied on to not dive into the realms of munchkinism at the expense of rp'ing. I do indeed want characters that have been thought over to make them fairly powerful, but I can be happy in the knowledge that none of these players will decide to overly power-game at the expense of the role-playing and story aspect of the game.

So 40 points does me well.

Edit: Oh, and note that there are 8 PC's IMC, and even despite high scores they're still going to need each other and make use of each others strengths and weaknesses.

 

[KDLadage]

Have I used Point Buy? Yes.

What point values have I used? 25, 28 and 32

Which ones did I feel were "good" numbers? 25 and 28 both worked well. 32, as some have pointed out, is about the start of where party cohesion breaks down as characters can stand on thier own without needing each other.

What would I use, if I were to be starting a campaign right now? Funny you should ask, as I am starting a new campaign as I write this. The method we are suing is a little different. I have spoken of it in other threads.

Basically, it works like this: get a deck of cards. You will need 18 cards (3 cards each for 6 ability scores). The cards I use I have been playing around with but right now (and this could change later) the cards I am planning to use are:

1x "7"
2x "6"
4x "5"
4x "4"
4x "3"
2x "2"
1x "1"

This will result in a sum total for all ability scores of 72, or an average stat of 12. The maximum stat that can be rolled in this system is 7+6+6=19; the lowest stat that can be rolled is 1+2+2=5.

How I do this is have the player shuffle the cards and then deal out (any way they wish) the cards face down without looking at them. Once dealt out, they can then turn them all over, and assign the six values as they wish.

 

[KDLadage]

...
Edit: Oh, and note that there are 8 PC's IMC, and even despite high scores they're still going to need each other and make use of each others strengths and weaknesses.

What weaknesses?

No, this is not a slam, nor is it an attempt to start a flame war. Just an honest question.

With a 40-point Buy, where are the characetrs particularly lacking?

 

[Desdichado]

I've used 28 and 32. I think 28 works out fine, although a little disappointing for those who feel comfort in seeing a few high numbers.

32 is almost too good, but certainly not too "out-there" as far as what you could possibly get by rolling the dice. I really only feel it's appropriate for campaigns that are slightly tougher than average, with DMs that throw pretty rough challenges at the players.

 

[reveal]

What weaknesses?

No, this is not a slam, nor is it an attempt to start a flame war. Just an honest question.

With a 40-point Buy, where are the characetrs particularly lacking?

Right now, I am also DMing a campaign and have given them 42 points. [No flames please ]

I am in the same boat as Carnifex insofar as I have a really good role-playing group. As far as lacking, I have a dwarven cleric who is very smart but can barely carry anything (8 STR) and cannot turn undead very well (10 CHA). I have a halfling rogue/sorcerer who can move very quietly, but can't cast many spells (12 CHA). I have a half-orc paladin who, even though he is the person in front of the battle, isn't as sturdy as he could be (10 CON).

I think as long as you have a good group whom you trust not to "munchkinize" the game, you'll be safe given them higher numbers.

But, I digress... I still stand by my original questions for this thread.