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Point Buy vs Rolling for Stats
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<blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 7267420" data-attributes="member: 29398"><p>It's a bit more than just determining a modifier within a +/- 5 range. It's also a way of mechanically differentiating between them and of backing up the narration.</p><p></p><p>If the DM narrates that the town blacksmith is a bit dim-witted but strong as an ox and for some reason people find him unusually persuasive, that gives a good thumbnail overview of the guy. But there's no frame of reference to place this in - does she mean Str 15, Int 6 and Cha 13 or does she mean Str 18, Int 9 and Cha 16 - and no comparison with the known PCs. I'm not at all saying the DM should rattle off the numbers as part of the narration - ye gods, no! - but that the numbers need to be there to back up the narration. And here's why:</p><p></p><p>Players come to develop ideas in their own minds of what each stat number might represent. Those ideas may vary from player to player, but that's not the point here. The point is that after a little experience playing the game each player is going to come to an idea of what Charisma 15 - as opposed to 12 or 10 or 7 - represents in his/her imagination. The DM, meanwhile, is also going to have her own ideas.</p><p></p><p>Where numbers come in handy is to tie these ideas together. Narrating that the blacksmith is uncommonly persuasive given his lack of intelligence might be the DM trying to narrate what she sees as Cha 15 while one player interprets it as Cha 12 and another as Cha 17; and this may well affect their decision as to whether or not to try persuading him to do them a favour. A player might ask "do I think he's more persuasive than Ballad and if yes, by how much?"* and the answer to this - which suddenly forces the blacksmith into a Cha score - puts the blacksmith's Charisma into terms both the DM and players can agree on.</p><p></p><p>* - the party's Cha 14 Bard</p><p></p><p>Lan-"strong like mountain - tough like mountain - smart like mountain"-efan</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lanefan, post: 7267420, member: 29398"] It's a bit more than just determining a modifier within a +/- 5 range. It's also a way of mechanically differentiating between them and of backing up the narration. If the DM narrates that the town blacksmith is a bit dim-witted but strong as an ox and for some reason people find him unusually persuasive, that gives a good thumbnail overview of the guy. But there's no frame of reference to place this in - does she mean Str 15, Int 6 and Cha 13 or does she mean Str 18, Int 9 and Cha 16 - and no comparison with the known PCs. I'm not at all saying the DM should rattle off the numbers as part of the narration - ye gods, no! - but that the numbers need to be there to back up the narration. And here's why: Players come to develop ideas in their own minds of what each stat number might represent. Those ideas may vary from player to player, but that's not the point here. The point is that after a little experience playing the game each player is going to come to an idea of what Charisma 15 - as opposed to 12 or 10 or 7 - represents in his/her imagination. The DM, meanwhile, is also going to have her own ideas. Where numbers come in handy is to tie these ideas together. Narrating that the blacksmith is uncommonly persuasive given his lack of intelligence might be the DM trying to narrate what she sees as Cha 15 while one player interprets it as Cha 12 and another as Cha 17; and this may well affect their decision as to whether or not to try persuading him to do them a favour. A player might ask "do I think he's more persuasive than Ballad and if yes, by how much?"* and the answer to this - which suddenly forces the blacksmith into a Cha score - puts the blacksmith's Charisma into terms both the DM and players can agree on. * - the party's Cha 14 Bard Lan-"strong like mountain - tough like mountain - smart like mountain"-efan [/QUOTE]
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