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<blockquote data-quote="Hussar" data-source="post: 7259074" data-attributes="member: 22779">In real life, you don't get to create your character either.&nbsp; The vast majority of people in the world, and certainly not in a medieval one, don't even get to choose their career.&nbsp; You are a farmer because your father was a farmer and, in many societies, that was the end of it.&nbsp; The notion that character generation, in any form, is &quot;realistic&quot; is laughable.That we limit the range from 8 to 15 is simply an artifact of this being a game and not any sort of simulation.&nbsp; The notion that your characteristics are entirely randomly determined is, again, laughable.&nbsp; It's not realistic.&nbsp; But, that's the point about post hoc justifications.&nbsp; &quot;I'm strong, so, my background says that I was a smith.&nbsp; (or whatever)&quot; This isn't related to anything realistic.&nbsp; It's a post hoc justification of a random die roll.&nbsp; You are changing the game world BECAUSE of a die roll.&nbsp; The die roll is in no way influenced by the game world.&nbsp; What element of realism is influencing those rolls?&nbsp; How are those rolls being determined by anything in the game world?&nbsp; Answer.&nbsp; They aren't.&nbsp; Any reason for those die rolls is determined after the fact to explain why you have this or that stat.How is that realistic?&nbsp; At least in a life path generation system, you have the game world influencing the die roll.&nbsp; I decide to roll on the &quot;Artisan&quot; table, and I get a point of Strength because I was training as a smith.&nbsp; Ok, fair enough, that's the game world determining the stats.&nbsp; But, trying to go the other way is just layering a veneer of &quot;realism&quot; over what is essentially a completely unrealistic system.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Hussar, post: 7259074, member: 22779"] In real life, you don't get to create your character either. The vast majority of people in the world, and certainly not in a medieval one, don't even get to choose their career. You are a farmer because your father was a farmer and, in many societies, that was the end of it. The notion that character generation, in any form, is "realistic" is laughable. That we limit the range from 8 to 15 is simply an artifact of this being a game and not any sort of simulation. The notion that your characteristics are entirely randomly determined is, again, laughable. It's not realistic. But, that's the point about post hoc justifications. "I'm strong, so, my background says that I was a smith. (or whatever)" This isn't related to anything realistic. It's a post hoc justification of a random die roll. You are changing the game world BECAUSE of a die roll. The die roll is in no way influenced by the game world. What element of realism is influencing those rolls? How are those rolls being determined by anything in the game world? Answer. They aren't. Any reason for those die rolls is determined after the fact to explain why you have this or that stat. How is that realistic? At least in a life path generation system, you have the game world influencing the die roll. I decide to roll on the "Artisan" table, and I get a point of Strength because I was training as a smith. Ok, fair enough, that's the game world determining the stats. But, trying to go the other way is just layering a veneer of "realism" over what is essentially a completely unrealistic system. [/QUOTE]

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