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<blockquote data-quote="Man in the Funny Hat" data-source="post: 2964689" data-attributes="member: 32740"><p>Well, I think that most DM's prefer point-buy because too many people are under the impression that if my PC has higher stats than your PC, then my PC has an unfair advantage - that my character is then inherently more fun. Too many players then unnecessarily complain about that so DM's deal with it by using PB.</p><p></p><p>It's not as if I <em>hate</em> point-buy (I'd use it as a player if that's what the DM wanted without any problems - though I <em>strongly</em> prefer some method of rolling dice instead) but that I disagree intensely with the suggestion that PB makes things inherently fair. Even if you do use PB power levels are inherently highly variable. A 5th level fighter is not equal in power to a 5th level monk, who is not equal to a 5th level sorceror, and so on. This is then doubly, and quadruply true once you factor in skill and feat choices, magic items, and even the personality the player gives the character.</p><p></p><p>Limiting all PC's to the exact same stat potential does not ever "level the playing field" in any way because stats alone do not determine the inherent power level and more importantly the FUN level of a given character. Abilty scores are only one of many factors and the most important factor is the player attitude. When a player can accept that, "My enjoyment in playing MY character is not dependant upon the stats of someone ELSE'S character," then stats will assume their rightful place in the greater scheme of things.</p><p></p><p>Having said all that, to the OP's point I think that polls <em>here</em> at least show a preference for PB over other methods. This should not be taken as anything like an accurate sample. Random polls only show the preferences of those who respond, not a genuine cross-section of players, and I believe that among those who DO prefer point-buy they are more vocal about advocating point-buy as well. Additionally, among those who advocate for point-buy there is a MAJOR spread in the number of points actually used. 25, 28, 38... so the use of PB in and of itself is not an accurate determinative of the preferred power level for games. I think a scientific poll of DM's would likely show that the most common method is still dice, and the most common dice method is the default in the PH - 4d6 arranged as desired.</p><p></p><p>(There's still something masochistically appealing about the Ironman method - 3d6 <em>in order</em> even though I've never used it. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Man in the Funny Hat, post: 2964689, member: 32740"] Well, I think that most DM's prefer point-buy because too many people are under the impression that if my PC has higher stats than your PC, then my PC has an unfair advantage - that my character is then inherently more fun. Too many players then unnecessarily complain about that so DM's deal with it by using PB. It's not as if I [I]hate[/I] point-buy (I'd use it as a player if that's what the DM wanted without any problems - though I [I]strongly[/I] prefer some method of rolling dice instead) but that I disagree intensely with the suggestion that PB makes things inherently fair. Even if you do use PB power levels are inherently highly variable. A 5th level fighter is not equal in power to a 5th level monk, who is not equal to a 5th level sorceror, and so on. This is then doubly, and quadruply true once you factor in skill and feat choices, magic items, and even the personality the player gives the character. Limiting all PC's to the exact same stat potential does not ever "level the playing field" in any way because stats alone do not determine the inherent power level and more importantly the FUN level of a given character. Abilty scores are only one of many factors and the most important factor is the player attitude. When a player can accept that, "My enjoyment in playing MY character is not dependant upon the stats of someone ELSE'S character," then stats will assume their rightful place in the greater scheme of things. Having said all that, to the OP's point I think that polls [I]here[/I] at least show a preference for PB over other methods. This should not be taken as anything like an accurate sample. Random polls only show the preferences of those who respond, not a genuine cross-section of players, and I believe that among those who DO prefer point-buy they are more vocal about advocating point-buy as well. Additionally, among those who advocate for point-buy there is a MAJOR spread in the number of points actually used. 25, 28, 38... so the use of PB in and of itself is not an accurate determinative of the preferred power level for games. I think a scientific poll of DM's would likely show that the most common method is still dice, and the most common dice method is the default in the PH - 4d6 arranged as desired. (There's still something masochistically appealing about the Ironman method - 3d6 [I]in order[/I] even though I've never used it. :) [/QUOTE]
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