Point-buy or rolling? Your preference and why?

[Fictionaut]

As a DM, definitely point-buy (high-average HPs also if characters are generated above level 1). It keeps the party balanced at the outset and lets players create the characters they want.

As a player, point buy or in-order rolling. It can be a fun challenge to build a character around an unusual set of stats, but as a DM I don't like dealing with the issues that an unbalanced party can create in a long-term campaign.

 

[Kraedin]

After the annoyance of the people who had figured out how to best maximize their characters using point-buy started to recreate the imbalances that I saw under 4d6 drop lowest, I switched over to default array. It also has the nice advantage of making sure that every character is bad at something, instead of being average or better at everything.

I also have some players who are not-so-great at the number crunching portion of character creation, so this also speeds up the process.

I've even carried my distaste for random character creation so far as to eliminate rolling for hit points; my players get average hit points, rounded up, at every level.

 

[Qvintus]

But in the fellowship all the main char's where equally powered maybe tolkien where running a abruptly high powered campaignJ but I think a 32 point char are extremely power full. In the book no of the main char’s where under powered I relation to the others

 

[TiQuinn]

OK, I give up. I am so tired of hearing "cookie cutter" referring to point buy characters. I do beleive those that say that either haven't ever actually tried point buy, or they just want to roll their dice and need some derogatory comment to throw at the point buy concept to support their emotional feeling.

Wow, you just can't accept the fact that people have different opinions and experiences than you, can you?

 

[Will]

As for 'people are different.'

Well, yes. But if I wanted to volunteer to be the towel boy, I would have. I don't want to be randomly allocated that job. People can have fun playing that way, but I hope they can understand the fun of not having to randomly get stiffed.

And as for point buy vs. random... well, there is middle ground.

Take stock NPC: 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8.
Roll d6. Apply 15 to that ability (numbering 1-6)
Roll d5 (d10/2, round up). Apply 14 to that ability.
You get the idea.

There. Random character... that's balanced.

Point buy version:
Let's say you have 30 base points.
For each ability, roll d6-1. That's how many points go in here.

Any remaining points, roll d6 twice... once to allocate points, the second to decide which ability score gets it. Repeat until you run out.

There you go. Completely random. If you want less randomness, either let people allocate the remainder, or let them move the scores around, or some combination.


And... it's balanced.

 

[Dungannon]

I prefer rolling my characters simply for the unexpectedness of the results. One of my simple joys is getting a 17 or 18 when making a new character.

 

[Caliban]

Point buy every time.

Dice hate me.

 

[FireLance]

I like point-buy myself. It has the following advantages:

1. All characters start on the same baseline, so there is a certain amount of "equality".

2. The DM can better gauge the power level of his campaign. 36-point buy characters are much more effective than 25-point buy characters, especially at the lower levels.

On the other hand, I can see the advantages of rolling characters:

1. Less min-maxing. Sometimes, you have to play with characters that are not optimal.

2. Possibility of characters that "break the mold" - wizards with higher Strength than Intelligence, Fighters with low Constitution, etc.

How about this variant method to get characters that are partly determined and partly random:

1. 17 point-buy for 4 statistics (player's choice).
2. Roll 4d6 (drop lowest) 2 times and assign as desired to the remaining 2.

For greater or lesser customizability, the DM (or the player) can decide to increase or decrease the point-buy by 4 points to roll one less or more 4d6.

 

[Vymair]

I use Organic Point Buy.

I love the fact that it keeps characters relatively balanced but avoids the cookie-cutter aspect of straight point buy.

 

[Rev_Spider]

I dislike randomness in character generation, so I prefer to use point buy or standard array. I'm also a hit point bastard... giving them straight average hit points (round down, but those .5's still add up)

I hold this truth to be self-evident; that all characters are created equal... with the exception of those who take one level of 3e ranger, the toughness feat, or ranks in innuendo