Point buy vs. rolling

[Zelda Themelin]

Point buy is idea that always ruins my day. I hate counting points. I hated it in Gurps, White Wolf-system, I hated it in every roleplaying game I've ever played.

Not getting to roll my stats in D&D takes out some fun I've always used to have. Randomness starts my character's life as personality. Point buy starts life of min-maxed 'careed planned from beginning for "fighter number 6"'. It's just how things happen to be in my head, thats all.

Now, if my players want to use point-pay method and they all agree to that, they are welcome to it, naturally.

Point buy is good method for net-games, where people can't really meet and verify their rolls.


I use following rolling methods:

3d6 for every stat.
4d6, drop lowest (most common).
4d6 drop lowest, reroll 1's (for few games where character are supposed to be beyond avarage).

In all cases stats can be arranged as wanted, but no other swapping points around.

 

[jester47]

I give an option:

you can use 28 point buy and design your character

-or-

you can roll 2d6+6, but you have to take the stats in the order that you roll them.

What this does is it allows the players that have a specific character in mind to design the one they want, and still allows for those that want to take a risk with their character.

All in all you will not have a stat below 8, which in my opinion is roleplayable butnot debilitating.

If all the neg bonuses are higher than the pos bonuses, I allow a reroll.

Aaron.

 

[Ace]

I don't use either point buy or rolling.

I just let the players make up what they want.

If everybody goes munchkin with mondo stas i just power up the bad guys as needed

I have never had munchkin problems with ths system.
I figure that my players appreciate the trust and I do reserve the right to tweak characters a little before play.

Ona funny note rs for stat balance IMC seem to be the rolls I witness .

I have witnessed the rolling of stuff like
18/18/18/15/12/17 and much worse. theese are with my dice rolled in front of me!

As far as HP rolls, I just assign a nice high number. You are a mage, con14,5 sounds good for second level. Its much easier that way.

 

[JoeGKushner]

I use the point buy system, as do the other GMs I play with. We use a 42 point base, but all stats have to have a minimum of 10, which leaves 32 points for other purchases.

JGK

 

[Thorin Stoutfoot]

Rolling all the way

I've played point buy, and I've played with rolls. For me, it's rolling all the way. The character has more personality that way. And I don't find that some characters having better attributes makes the game all that unbalanced. Good play will always trump poor play.

 

[Victim]

Re: Rolling all the way

I've played point buy, and I've played with rolls. For me, it's rolling all the way. The character has more personality that way. And I don't find that some characters having better attributes makes the game all that unbalanced. Good play will always trump poor play.

Yes, but who says that people with good stats have to play poorly? Power players would be the most likely to optimize a character's abilities and a few tactics, and might also be more likely to reroll stats until they're good enough for whatever plan they have. Also, what about when the new player, who lacks the experience for "good" play, gets the low rolls?

Besides, good play and good stats is more effective than just good play, so even people with with good skills are left behind.

 

[The Kender]

I think you made a typo. You posted that a person gains points if they are over the point value.
3d6
Flip 2 Stats
25 Point Buy Comparison
Add Bonus Points

Here's my Druid.

STR: 11
DEX: 10
CON: 13
INT: 9
WIS: 14
CHA: 12

I will switch CHA & WIS around. That's 21 points.

Overall, I got:
STR: 12
DEX: 10
CON: 13
INT: 10
WIS: 15
CHA: 12

I like

 

[kenjib]

I think you made a typo. You posted that a person gains points if they are over the point value.

I'm not sure where you are finding the typo, so I can't tell for sure. Which post is it? You always get a minimum of 4 points to spend, even if you roll phenomenally well. Otherwise it would kind of suck if you roll exactly a 25 point total (or whatever the DM baseline is) and you can't customize your stats at all beyond one ability swap. You get more than 4 points if your point total as rolled is more than 4 below the DM's baseline

 

[bret]

As one of those people who has amazing luck with dice, amazingly bad that is, I much prefer point buy.

I've done various rolled statistic methods. It usually didn't take too long for a GM to decide that a reroll was in order. Or two. Why don't you try one more time...

In one group for AD&D, we used 4d6, drop lowest. Character had to have one stat of 16 or better or two 15s or it was 'stillborn'. I got the record for most rerolls required before getting a character that qualified.


Although occationally playing a character that is somewhat weaker is OK, it really sucks when you are always the weaker character.


From my point of view, point buy is the only really fair way to do it. There is enough randomness in the game without punishing someone who rolls low at character creation.

 

[Quickbeam]

Our group is split on the subject, with a 5/2 preference for rolling over point buy. The point buyers use a 28 or 32 point system I believe, while the rollers use 4d6.

For my current character I tried a concept posted in a thread similar to this one, from about three months ago. The idea is to roll 24d6, drop the six lowest scores, and then place the remaining 18 numbers into your attributes in six groups of three. This clearly promotes min/maxing, but it allows for a lot of creativity. And since 1's aren't re-rolled with this method, the attribute scores aren't much different than point buy provides.

As a final comment, I love rolling. Good, bad, or mediocre, I enjoy the process of watching my PCs take shape as I roll .