Point buy?

[MikeAlphaTangoTango]

I've seen a lot of people refer to a point buy system. I'm not really sure what that is, could someone enlighten me?

 

[CrimsonTemplar]

It's a way to generate stats without the dice rolling - a much more staisfactory method in my mind. You simply set the total points your players are allowed to spend to generate their stats before Racial modifiers are applied (e.g. - Living Greyhawk uses 28 Points, a more heroic home campaign might use 32).

Here is the gist of Point Buy:

Cost / Ability Score
-- / 6
-- / 7
0 / 8
1 / 9
2 / 10
3 / 11
4 / 12
5 / 13
6 / 14
8 / 15
10 / 16
13 / 17
16 / 18
-- / 19
-- / 20

 

[diaglo]

in the PHB. all stats start with an 8. you get x number of points to add.

but they cost different

to raise a stat from
8 to 8 is 0
8 to 9 is 1
8 to 10 is 2
8 to 11 is 3
8 to 12 is 4
8 to 13 is 5
8 to 14 is 6 pts.
8 to 15 is 8
8 to 16 is 10
8 to 17 is 13
8 to 18 is 16

you do this before making racial adjustments.

 

[kigmatzomat]

I don't use it but IIRC, look in the PHB in the section on character creation. (It may be in the DMG, but I think PHB)

It's not in the version of the SRD I downloaded last so I can't direct you to a table. I know you get extra points for low stats (minimum 8) and the cost above 14 goes up significantly.

 

[MikeAlphaTangoTango]

Ohhhh, thanks guys.

 

[MikeAlphaTangoTango]

My brother wrote an itty-bitty program for point buy but it starts with base 10, is about a point more expensive, but gives you bonus points for having less than 10. Try it if you like.

http://www.geocities.com/brewerhj/CharBuilder.html