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Message: <blockquote data-quote="conanb" data-source="post: 1670153" data-attributes="member: 17930">My 2 CoppersWell, i'm running two campaigns right now, one weekly the other monthly. I have one where we did point buy, and the other where they rolled. I'm enjoying both games, and my players are too. So we're all having fun, but from a DM standpoint let me say that I prefer standard point buy over rolling. Let me tell you why.In the game with rolling, we've got a pretty decent party. The problem is we have one character who came up with a real strong character. This one is also a min-maxer play style. Well that would be ok, except in combat he overshadows the rest of the party by a lot. So in order to keep him challenged in combat, which is what he enjoys most, I have to keep throwing stronger and stronger monsters at him. But I also need to design them so they are still vulnerable to the other players. This isn't so bad, it just requires a lot of prep time for sessions. It also means I can't use anything "Out of the Box" so to speak because it would either decimate the rest of the party or not be challenging to the min-maxer. I also try to balance this with situations that are puzzling or where only diplomacy will get them where they want, thus pulling in some of the other pc's talents.Now, my other game that is point driven is much more balanced it seems to me. This is a group that doesn't have any "super-stars" on the field so to say. So they have to work as a team to take out the bad guys. This also means I can do a lot less monster-prep for them and more plot work. So I can honestly say that they're game session has a more intriguing and convoluted plot than the first, but that's because if I only have 2 hours to work on them, I'm not taking an hour to retool monster stats to challenge the party and can work for 2 hours on plot and Npc stuff.So, from a DM standpoint, I prefer standard point buy honestly over rolling. Now if you don't mind retooling monsters to match your party (because if they had all rolled badly, i would have spent the same amount of time probably making sure monsters didn't kill them) then go ahead and roll. But be ready to have to deal with a situation where one player is a going to excel in everything and the others might not come close. So be ready to juggle his star with the other players. But once going down this road, be ready for it. You don't want to punish him for rolling well, so just be ready to adjust your monsters accordingly.The only other tip I can give, is once the party's been around for awhile, that superstar's name is going to get banded around. The bad guys are going to begin to realize that to really take out that party they need to kill him first. This had led to some interesting battles where said super-star was on verge of death, and the others had to step up their game to save him. Just a tip from gameplay.</blockquote>

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