point buy

[orsal]

I much prefer rolling randomly, without rearranging the stats, because I think part of the fun of character creation is trying to do good things ("good" here can mean both "creative" or "effective") with ability score combinations I wouldn't ordinarily think of trying. I call it the lemonade principle -- if the dice give you a lemon, you know what you've got to do.

 

[takyris]

Point buy rocks. I don't plan on having my players ever roll again when making characters. Randomness on a specific action is good. Randomness on a character you're stuck with for awhile is bad.

Ability scores are not inherently boring or exciting. Ability scores are what your players use to make their characters either boring or exciting.

 

[Crothian]

no point buy...no to rolling.

Let the players pick the numbers they want. It allows the players to constructy the character they want.

 

[Galethorn]

I like pointbuy for all the reasons already presented, and I dislike rolling for all the reasons presented.

That said, I preferred rolling until my group ended up with scores ranging from the equivalent of a 36 point buy to a 52, all with rolling. In front of me.

The three warrior-types in the group wiped the floor with CR3 monsters at level 1, and it was...irritating.

 

[der_kluge]

no point buy...no to rolling.

Let the players pick the numbers they want. It allows the players to constructy the character they want.

This must be a really unique combination. I mean, not only do you totally trust your players that they won't munchkinize their characters, but they must not be doing that, so they're really at it for the role-playing aspects.

But then, this is the same group of people that kept giving away all their magic items, so I'm beginning to wonder about them.

Are you sure they're not aliens?

 

[ender_wiggin]

I understand the arguments to both point buy and rolling. I use a different method. All the players roll 6 sets of 4d6. Then pool all of it and distribute as the players see fit. It allows for "flavor" but gets rid of that "1 guys rolls 22 points, 1 guy rolls 44"

 

[Crothian]

This must be a really unique combination. I mean, not only do you totally trust your players that they won't munchkinize their characters, but they must not be doing that, so they're really at it for the role-playing aspects.

But then, this is the same group of people that kept giving away all their magic items, so I'm beginning to wonder about them.

Are you sure they're not aliens?

Ya, I'm sure. I love my group. We have zero trust issues, we are all firends, it is just is a great working combination. Now we have our problems. The game is not perfect, we cannot seem to substane a game for any period of time. Life always interferes with one of us be it work, family, something.

You should have seen us at Origins. 3 of use played in two games together and we took over the games. It was a lot of fun, everyone had a blast.

 

[secretmantra]

Point Buy

Personally, I like point buy. In our group, this is what we do: roll 3d6, 1's become 6's, arrange as desired. If your rolls are crappy (as they are sometimes, though not usually), you can use a 28 point buy. It seems to work just fine. Our players rarely actually use the point buy, because the first method I described gives excellent stats normally. But it's nice to have as a "second chance" to make a decently playable character.

For my current character, I actually used the point buy (had a bad roll), and here is what I ended up with:

14, 14, 14, 10, 14, 10

Not bad, but nothing to gloat over, either. Of course, when I got done applying the Wood Elf racial adjustments, it looked like this:

16, 16, 12, 8, 14, 8

More powerful in terms of attack and AC, but definitely weaker for hitpoints, skills, and diplomacy.

 

[ender_wiggin]

Ignore this post.

 

[Wormwood]

Roll low in combat? Better luck next turn.

Roll low at chargen? Better luck next character.

Make mine point buy, thanks. No genetic lottery for me.