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Point Buy vs Rolling for Stats
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<blockquote data-quote="Oofta" data-source="post: 7213131" data-attributes="member: 6801845"><p>I don't care about my player's stats. I don't care about the bell curve or attempts at "realism". I don't care if the adventuring company reflects the society at large. The people who go adventuring instead of staying at home working the trade of their ancestors <em>because they are exceptional</em>.</p><p></p><p>I have no problem with wizards being more intelligent than most people, or clerics being wiser any more than I would have a problem with a basketball team with above average height. So yes, I want my characters to be good at what they do, exceptional even without being cheesed out.</p><p></p><p>An adventuring group could easily have more gnomes than normal for example because they feel like outcasts in a human dominated community. I would not allow someone to play a tabaxi in my campaign, because they don't exist. I do have a list of allowable races.</p><p></p><p>I see no value to randomly assigned stats for me. If I'm interested in a campaign, I'll typically get info about options, setting and general feel. I generally come up with a character concept before the session 0. So no, I would not want to be told "you will play this randomly generated character".</p><p></p><p>I do this because I want to create interesting characters that have <em>personality</em> and <em>history</em>. I'm going to be putting myself in their shoes for what I hope to be quite some time, I want to make sure the shoes fit.</p><p></p><p>Take an example. I want to play Throg. Throg is a half orc, and reasonably personable, smarter than people give him credit for but often acts without thinking. He's also quite clumsy, and can't follow in his adoptive parent's footsteps in the glass-blowing guild.</p><p></p><p>So that's my character concept. I'd throw in some other background stories that give a picture of the Throg as more than just a cardboard cutout - he really is a lovable lunk that simply leaps before he looks. Maybe he occasionally loses his temper because of his half-orc heritage, and although he would never harm family or friends he feels like he doesn't belong.</p><p></p><p>I do this before I figure out stats. Now that I have a picture of who Throg is, I have to figure out what he is. Yes, that means I'll probably have dump stats in dexterity and wisdom but I'll also make intelligence and charisma a bit above average as well. A logical class would be some type of fighter. Or maybe while writing up the background I decide he's fascinated with magic and becomes a wizard or an eldritch knight (even if it doesn't seem like a very effective class).</p><p></p><p>For the next campaign I'm going to be starting in a few weeks, I know <em>who</em> my character is and he has an intro story filled with mystery and deceit (that only my DM knows so far). I just don't know <em>what</em> he is yet.</p><p></p><p>The point is that the implementation follows the inception. Random stat generation could really mess with that concept, no matter how fair the generation method. For me, stats are not about min/maxing, it's about crafting the character that matches a concept I dreamed up. With reasonable limitations for game balance of course.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Oofta, post: 7213131, member: 6801845"] I don't care about my player's stats. I don't care about the bell curve or attempts at "realism". I don't care if the adventuring company reflects the society at large. The people who go adventuring instead of staying at home working the trade of their ancestors [I]because they are exceptional[/I]. I have no problem with wizards being more intelligent than most people, or clerics being wiser any more than I would have a problem with a basketball team with above average height. So yes, I want my characters to be good at what they do, exceptional even without being cheesed out. An adventuring group could easily have more gnomes than normal for example because they feel like outcasts in a human dominated community. I would not allow someone to play a tabaxi in my campaign, because they don't exist. I do have a list of allowable races. I see no value to randomly assigned stats for me. If I'm interested in a campaign, I'll typically get info about options, setting and general feel. I generally come up with a character concept before the session 0. So no, I would not want to be told "you will play this randomly generated character". I do this because I want to create interesting characters that have [I]personality[/I] and [I]history[/I]. I'm going to be putting myself in their shoes for what I hope to be quite some time, I want to make sure the shoes fit. Take an example. I want to play Throg. Throg is a half orc, and reasonably personable, smarter than people give him credit for but often acts without thinking. He's also quite clumsy, and can't follow in his adoptive parent's footsteps in the glass-blowing guild. So that's my character concept. I'd throw in some other background stories that give a picture of the Throg as more than just a cardboard cutout - he really is a lovable lunk that simply leaps before he looks. Maybe he occasionally loses his temper because of his half-orc heritage, and although he would never harm family or friends he feels like he doesn't belong. I do this before I figure out stats. Now that I have a picture of who Throg is, I have to figure out what he is. Yes, that means I'll probably have dump stats in dexterity and wisdom but I'll also make intelligence and charisma a bit above average as well. A logical class would be some type of fighter. Or maybe while writing up the background I decide he's fascinated with magic and becomes a wizard or an eldritch knight (even if it doesn't seem like a very effective class). For the next campaign I'm going to be starting in a few weeks, I know [I]who[/I] my character is and he has an intro story filled with mystery and deceit (that only my DM knows so far). I just don't know [I]what[/I] he is yet. The point is that the implementation follows the inception. Random stat generation could really mess with that concept, no matter how fair the generation method. For me, stats are not about min/maxing, it's about crafting the character that matches a concept I dreamed up. With reasonable limitations for game balance of course. [/QUOTE]
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