Point-buy or rolling? Your preference and why?

[cptg1481]

Ahh Once again.....

I let them choose thier stats....that's right they get to assign themselves whatever stats they want how ever they want.

Sounds crazy, naw it makes sense, players get to have the ideal character concept, which incidentally is not usually some uber-character but more a well balanced pool of abilities a couple high, a three average and one low.

I think that the negative stigma associated with the fact that they got to choose the stats and coming to the table with something ridiculous will be avoided at all costs by most rational players. It lets them police themselves so to speak whhich sets the overall tone of the game inspiring them to trust you as you as DM have trusted them to not abuse the stats.

Also it makes them awfullay attached to their ideal characters and that makes the tension and aversion to character death and such other high stress in game moments more fun.

If you don't trust your players to come to the game with a reasonable characrter concept, balanced for play and within the limits of playability based upon the current game mechanic then why game with them?

I mean I love my players and appreciate the breadth and scope of vision they add to our game with the fair and balanced way they create their characters. Why limit them with a point pool or the randomeness of roles when this works out fine.

If anything I'd ay that they tend to go down the path of underpowering themselves if anything. I think that's what most rational people would do in this case. Take the high road.

 

[Dog Soldier]

Point buy.

We prefer point buy. When my old group started playing 3E we rolled stats, but after a bit we decided to use point buy. We used 28pts and never looked back until our group broke up. The new people we play with rolled thier stats. When we said we prefered point buy they gave us the option of 25 point buy or rolling 4d6 seven times, droping the lowest, and rerolling anything six or lower. We chose point buy everybody had good rolls. Though I'm enjoying playing a character with better stats and thus more power. I still like point buy better, since it gives me total control over my character at start instead of trusting to luck.

 

[EricNoah]

I think we may be seeing a law/chaos split here! Let the blood war commence!

(of course, I'm one of those yugoloths in the background going "who cares, dude, write down some numbers and let's get the show on the road!")

Edit ... on reflection, it occurs to me that some folks want to use the numbers to get to a specific place; and some people want to discover numbers that take them to a perhaps new/unexplored place. And some people would like to try either one of these options...

 

[Mercule]

Point buy. Two reasons: Control and balance.

Control because I can choose a concept and do it without being beholden to the whims of the dice.

Balance because I've played in too many campaigns that basically had one or to characters at an 18 point buy and one or two at a 42 point buy.

Sometimes I'm in the mood to just play the hand I'm dealt and would be happy with rolling, but I see it as a short-term, wild hair type of thing.

 

[Snoweel]

Point buy.

Two reasons, for me:

A). With point buy, you can always get (approximately) the character you want, as you have absolute control over your ability scores.

W3rd.

B). Equal Power. All characters should, in my not - so - humble opinion, enter the game with the same "potential." Intentionally adding chance in - by rolling for stats - makes as much sense to me as rolling a d4 at the beginning of a campaign and adding the result to every die roll you make for the rest of the campaign.

W3rd.

My opinion about the uniqueness of characters -

It should come through in the personality and actions, not the stats.

W3rd.

If two players wanted to make characters with the same stats, and the same class, but played them in entirely different fashions - I'd love it. Two characters of different classes, with completely different stats, with the exact same personality would irritate me much more than number-crunching.

W3rd.

For the record, I use 25-point buy.

It still allows for characters better than commoners (who would use 15-point buy), but doesn't make them a travelling band of Uber-freak paragons of human (or demi-human) ability:

"Step right up and see the Magnificent 4!!! The strongest man in the world, the most dextrous man in the world, the smartest man in the world and the wisest man in the world and by sheer coincidence, these four people go everywhere together and use their amazing but different abilities to complement each other!!!!!!!!!!11!!"

 

[EricNoah]

"Step right up and see the Magnificent 4!!! The strongest man in the world, the most dextrous man in the world, the smartest man in the world and the wisest man in the world and by sheer coincidence, these four people go everywhere together and use their amazing but different abilities to complement each other!!!!!!!!!!11!!"

Isn't that the blurb on the back of the player's handbook?

 

[BVB]

Here's a method to take the edge off of the imbalances of rolling and also avoid the ...

 

[ForceUser]

Our method is actually a hybrid of point-buy and rolling, and we find that it creates characters who add up to roughly the same point totals but with interestingly varied stats. Here's a step-by-step:


1. As DM, choose a baseline point build for your campaign (such as 25- or 28-point buy).

2. Have your players roll 3d6, straight down. Add up the points, subtracting points for scores of less than 8. For example, rolling Str 12, Dex 10, Con 5, Int 14, Wis 11, and Cha 13 will net you a total of 16 points using Table 2-1: Ability Score Point Costs on page 20 of the DMG. That's +19 points, -3 for the 5 Dex. These are the character's "raw" stats.

3. Allow the player to flip-flop one set of raw stats. Continuing the above example, the player could swap the 13 in Cha for the 5 in Con.

4. Subtract the total points from your absolute point-buy and allow the player to put the remaining points where she likes. If the DM in the above example is running a 28-point campaign, the player would the have 12 points left over to distribute as she wished. In the event that a player rolls exceptionally well and above your point-buy total, allow them to keep their stats and give them 4 extra points. All players, regardless of how well they rolled, will always be allowed at least 4 points to distribute.

5. Once the player has distributed their points, apply racial modifiers. You're done.

We like this system because it is flexible enough to allow a player some options regarding character creation, but rigid enough so the DM can enjoy organic deviation across the players group's stats. The downfall of rolling is its utter randomness, which can lead to frustration; the trouble with straight point-buy is you tend to see repetitive stats after a while: the wizard will always use Str as his dump stat, the fighter will always use Cha as his dump stat, etc. Our method allows for interestingly varied characters, such as a fighter with a 13 Cha or a wizard with a 14 Str. We find that our system allows for the best of both worlds.

 

[drothgery]

I strongly favor point buy of some sort, but I'm typically an online DM, and going with point buy is a lot easier than accusing someone you've never met of cheating when they submit a character with 3 18s...

 

[Heathen72]

4d6 best three for me

As a GM I don't care - the player's can do what they want.

As a player it's 4d6 best three for me. It's the tradition of it - I wouldn't feel like I was playing Dungeons and Dragons if I wasn't rolling up my characters. And if I roll something really crap my GMs will generally allow a reroll, so I usually find something worthwhile.

We aren't all created equal - at least not when it comes to D&D stats - so we have to make the best of what we've got. Some people are marvellously gifted, but often don't make use of those gifts, satisfied to just coast. Other people have only meagre "talents" at their disposal, but their heart and courage do the rest. Which is more heroic?

One of my best characters, who I played for years, didn't have a stat above 15. Everyone else had 17s and 18s - some even had bonus psionic abilities - but he still held his own. He was a really gritty character who made the best of the gifts he had been given. In many ways I feel he was my most human character.