D&D 5E Point Buy vs Rolling for Stats

[Maxperson]

I don't see it as an issue, if you're doing a MAD build, you have to compromise a bit. If you don't want the compromise simply allow for more than 27 points.

The odds of getting significantly better numbers with 4d6 drop lowest is less than 50%, the resulting average numbers are quite close.

Wait! Now you're arguing that you don't get super high numbers when you roll?

 

[Maxperson]

Whether or not that is an advantage or disadvantage is an opinion.

It's a personal fact!

 

[Wulffolk]

More words have been written in this thread than in the Player's Handbook. More time has been spent parsing words in this thread than the designers spent considering the wording of the rules in the first place.

Before somebody points out that "Somebody on the internet is wrong" because I can't possibly know how much time the designers spent, please understand that this was intended as a sarcastically humorous observation about the extreme lengths that a handful of posters have gone to to prove that somebody else was wrong.

Please don't let this dose of reality interrupt the flow of this contest of verbal sparring. I am genuinely curious how many pages this thread can reach. I wonder what the record is. I am sure it must have been a thread started by [MENTION=6716779]Zardnaar[/MENTION].

;-)

EDIT: Well, that was dumb. I just needed to look a couple of post down from this to see the ForgedAnvil thread has 326 pages. You guys have a lot more work to catch up with that!

 

[Azzy]

So... Who's winning?

 

[Sadras]

Please don't let this dose of reality interrupt the flow of this contest of verbal sparring. I am genuinely curious how many pages this thread can reach. I wonder what the record is. I am sure it must have been a thread started by [MENTION=6716779]Zardnaar[/MENTION].

;-)

EDIT: Well, that was dumb. I just needed to look a couple of post down from this to see the ForgedAnvil thread has 326 pages. You guys have a lot more work to catch up with that!

We have some ways to go before we even reach some of the alignment threads.

 

[Barolo]

I'm not saying rolling is better or worse, just that standard 4d6 drop lowest does not give you a better chance of getting ability scores for your MAD class.

If you're using a modified rolling method that gives better numbers on average, that should not be compared to a 27 point buy.

I am not sure I understood what you meant here, but point buy in itself does not give me any chance (it is exempt of chance), whereas rolling does give me a chance (as chance is involved after all) to have better ability scores than point buy does. Just by giving me a chance, any chance, to roll higher, it already gives better chances, does it not? Of course, it also gives me a chance to have worse ability scores than point buy. I am not stating I have better chances to play a concept I would be playing no matter what my stats are, what I am saying (and what I guess [MENTION=6789021]Yardiff[/MENTION] meant) is that I have a chance to try a concept I wouldn't otherwise, or that would be too gimped, as it would not really work if I either rolled poorly, or average, or did point buy/standard array.

I can understand that, if I am wholeheartedly invested in a concept, then rolling might help, or totally get in the way of my fun, and the netting an average so close to point buy just means point buy will actually more often fulfill a minimum required for any generic build to be feasible. But from a perspective of someone who will play dozens of PCs over the years, and does not feel invested in any one single concept for one specific campaign, but has many concepts in mind and can use any of then, rolling just feels like extending the horizons.

I am trying to say is that what I see in play is that rolling allows for concepts out of the obvious. Sometimes because one needs to work around bad stats, they end up building some PC that does not really depends so heavily in stats to begin with. Sometimes because one can go for the underdog concept that would not really be effective in play given what point buy/standard array allows, but a higher than average roll makes it work.

 

[Maxperson]

So... Who's winning?

The Rams.

 

[Sadras]

point buy = choose concept first (class, race) and assign points to abilities
rolling = roll abilities first and then select concept (class, race)

Both are fun - it's my opinion and a fact

 

[Oofta]

Wait! Now you're arguing that you don't get super high numbers when you roll?

I've never said you do. The results are random. Some people roll high, some people roll low. The difference between the two can be significant.

People don't always use standard 4d6 drop lowest. Many use systems that guarantee higher numbers. Some people cheat. People have (recently) claimed that they roll for the sole reason that they want* super high numbers. None of this is new.

Edit: at least the chance of

 

[Oofta]

I am not sure I understood what you meant here, but point buy in itself does not give me any chance (it is exempt of chance), whereas rolling does give me a chance (as chance is involved after all) to have better ability scores than point buy does. Just by giving me a chance, any chance, to roll higher, it already gives better chances, does it not? Of course, it also gives me a chance to have worse ability scores than point buy. I am not stating I have better chances to play a concept I would be playing no matter what my stats are, what I am saying (and what I guess [MENTION=6789021]Yardiff[/MENTION] meant) is that I have a chance to try a concept I wouldn't otherwise, or that would be too gimped, as it would not really work if I either rolled poorly, or average, or did point buy/standard array.

I can understand that, if I am wholeheartedly invested in a concept, then rolling might help, or totally get in the way of my fun, and the netting an average so close to point buy just means point buy will actually more often fulfill a minimum required for any generic build to be feasible. But from a perspective of someone who will play dozens of PCs over the years, and does not feel invested in any one single concept for one specific campaign, but has many concepts in mind and can use any of then, rolling just feels like extending the horizons.

I am trying to say is that what I see in play is that rolling allows for concepts out of the obvious. Sometimes because one needs to work around bad stats, they end up building some PC that does not really depends so heavily in stats to begin with. Sometimes because one can go for the underdog concept that would not really be effective in play given what point buy/standard array allows, but a higher than average roll makes it work.

In other words you like to roll. That's fine.

I just disagree with the "flexibility of rolling" concept. When I sit down at the table with point buy, I have dozens of options available to me. Anything from 15,15,15,8,8,8 to 13,13,13,13,13,10 and dozens of option in between.

Rolling? Before I roll I have 0 options to choose from. After I roll? I have 1 array to choose from, the ones that the dice gave me.

In my opinion? Rolling is more restrictive than point buy. Then again I don't gamble either, I know the odds are always going to be in the favor of the house and that rolling 4d6 drop lowest gives me less than a 50% chance to roll an overall better character than I would get with point buy. It doesn't matter what numbers I could have, all that matters is the options that I do have. That and I see no value in some members of the party having better overall scores than others because of a one time roll of the die.