D&D 5E Point Buy or Standard Array

[Jeff Albertson]

Does ranger use Wisdom for its spells?

Yep, and they are proficient in Str saving throws, so that helps shore up a bit.

 

[Tony Vargas]

I have come to the conclusion that 4d6 drop lowest just desn't work in 5e. Especially if feats and/or multiclassing are used. You just hit the ceiling too quickly.

I've found that the somewhat higher ability scores typically delivered by random generation actually make the game a little more playable at 1st level.

'Would it be best to only allow the standard array? It is the standard ability score generation method along with rolling.

If you want to be as fair as possible, and avoid 'optimized build' shenanigans, yes.

The downside I see is that it makes characters too similar.

Wouldn't worry. Not only do they distribute their arrays differently, but race further alters stats, and race, class & Background all serve to differentiate characters.

 

[Jeff Albertson]

Not only do they distribute their arrays differently, but race further alters stats, and race, class & Background all serve to differentiate characters.

It can work, but is more suited to a game like 4th Ed, where homogenisation is a cornerstone.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

I let everyone roll 4d6, drop lowest, in order (so Str was the first one rolled, then Dex, etc). This generated four random arrays that anyone could use. If you didn't want one of those, you could use point buy. The natural 18 in one of the arrays lead to two players picking it and thus our paladin and warlock were born.

This is also the dumbest party I've seen in a while, with 12 intelligence being the high mark! The randomness lead to a nice change of pace from what people went into the session expecting to make as characters.

 

[Winterthorn]

I let everyone roll 4d6, drop lowest, in order (so Str was the first one rolled, then Dex, etc). This generated four random arrays that anyone could use. If you didn't want one of those, you could use point buy. The natural 18 in one of the arrays lead to two players picking it and thus our paladin and warlock were born.

This is also the dumbest party I've seen in a while, with 12 intelligence being the high mark! The randomness lead to a nice change of pace from what people went into the session expecting to make as characters.

I really, really like this approach. The idea that players roll stats not just for themselves, but for the whole table to use, is a lovely "outside-the-box" approach. Consider it *yoinked*

 

[Tormyr]

I let everyone roll 4d6, drop lowest, in order (so Str was the first one rolled, then Dex, etc). This generated four random arrays that anyone could use. If you didn't want one of those, you could use point buy. The natural 18 in one of the arrays lead to two players picking it and thus our paladin and warlock were born.

This is also the dumbest party I've seen in a while, with 12 intelligence being the high mark! The randomness lead to a nice change of pace from what people went into the session expecting to make as characters.

So in a situation like this, I am assuming there were no wizards (unless a player used point buy for that). So Int was sort of the "dump stat" for everyone, were the good stats clustered around only 1 or 2 abilities. Did you see the players gravitate toward "optimal" race/class combinations that were very similar, or did the point buy option take care of that?

The part that made this interesting to me was the 12 being the highest Int score available. However having the point buy option seems to negate the possibility of there being no wizards. How did it work out for your group in the end?

 

[Aimian_Silverflash]

LOL, I stopped allowing the rolling of ability scores the first time I played in a game with someone who obviously rerolled their scores about 100 times, and their ranger had a intelligence higher than my Wizard. Talk about total BS.

So yeah. I'll never run a game that isn't point buy, and I wince everytime I join a game that isn't point buy. Starting off characters at level 1 on unequal footing isn't cool.

 

[abirdcall]

I disagree. I think point buy is definitely better. You get to choose to either go with standard array, or tweak it to make your character better. More choices is obviously better than less choices in this instance, where one of the choices is the exact same as the standard array.

It makes your character stronger but is that better?

That is my question.

I believe that there is only 1 or 2 optimal layouts for each race and they all rely on 2 or 3 dump stats.

I don't think that is a good thing. Maybe the best way to go about this is to make a thread to discuss the optimal point buy layout in 5e. I did edit my OP to include the possibilities that I see.

The suggestion of only allowing one 8 might be the simple solution of allowing point buy while encouraging diverse character stats. I will have to play with that to see what the possibilities are.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

IIRC, there was actually a 16 int rolled, just no one used that array. The array that drew the most attention was (I think) 17 Str, 13 Con, 10 Dex, 11 Int, 11 Wisdom and an 18 charisma. One player used it to make a tiefling warlock, another used it to make a half-elf paladin (but requested to refluff as tiefling because he thought it would be fun to have the character deal w racial prejudices). So essentially they have the same stats and its always amusing when the warlock kicks in doors or decks someone because I occasionally forget she's as strong as an ox.

My wife almost used it to make a bard, but decided to use another array with a 17 dex and played a rogue since she'd never played one before. She went with halfling as her race because she rolls terribly and that insurance against 1's is pretty awesome. The 15 con also shaped the character as being a tough little bugger. Now Virus Lou routinely eats things found in the gutter with little ill effect.

The human cleric went with point buy, as the one good wisdom array had pretty bad charisma and a 5 strength! The point buy was insurance to allow anyone to play a concept they had walking into the character creation session. No one was jealous of anyone else's monster stats because they could have had the exact same ones. We blasted through character creation in an hour and finished a whole adventure (a converted Pathfinder module, the Hangman's Noose) in one day!

 

[Minsc]

It makes your character stronger but is that better?

That is my question.

I believe that there is only 1 or 2 optimal layouts for each race and they all rely on 2 or 3 dump stats.

I don't think that is a good thing. Maybe the best way to go about this is to make a thread to discuss the optimal point buy layout in 5e. I did edit my OP to include the possibilities that I see.

The suggestion of only allowing one 8 might be the simple solution of allowing point buy while encouraging diverse character stats. I will have to play with that to see what the possibilities are.

Interesting.

I'm taking my daughter to the movies, and then dinner after.

I'll probably be done in 4-5 hours from now. When I settle in, I'll take a shot at what I think are the best "powergamer" setups for each class/theme.