Stat Method vs. How long you've played

[RuminDange]

Rolling or Point Buy

Gotta love the triple post due a failure in the database.
RD

 

[Vahktang]

old school since basic in 1979-80
Gotta have those warm dice in my hand for "true" character generation.

Amen, brother.

Also, old school Champions so point buy seems natural.

Me, too, but different systems, different ways.
But that's just me.

Old School GURPS player since forever... so that explians my preference for point buy.

IMO if I wanted to roll stats I'd play old Mega-Traveler and have the chance of the character not surviving the character creation process. Thats hard core.


TTFN

EvilE

I hope you make that roll before you make all the others.
I'd hate to do the entire character, then find out it died before play.

That is exactly why I mandate point-buy in games I run. Die rolling for stats is inherently unfair. With the point-buy you make the character you want to play and everyone starts with a level playing field.

Well, you could try role playing your character.
Not just the stats.
That sounds fair.


More later,

Vahktang

 

[Psiblade]

Put me down as another old school converted to point buy. I had played in too many campaigns that were messed up by extreme differences in rolls for characters. I also play once in awhile with a couple that tended to have almost god like rolls. My favorite was when they each had four 16 + scores. Every game I DM or play in now is point buy. I also like point buy because it allows me to create a character concept and arrange stats to taste. Point buy allows you to focus on character not on dice. Point buy allows a level playing field for all characters, so that actually makes DMing easier.


-Psiblade

 

[Psion]

IMO if I wanted to roll stats I'd play old Mega-Traveler and have the chance of the character not surviving the character creation process. Thats hard core.

MegaTraveller had no death in chargen.

Nice try, no cookie.

 

[Kichwas]

I started playing with the Erol Otus drawn boxed set of basic DnD that came out in 1981 and I bought in 1982 with the $20 birthday money I got from an uncle (I think I spent half on DnD, and half on 'Panzer Leader' or some toy...).

That said, I dropped DnD prettyr quick because I found Melee / Wizard, then James Bond, then Champions - all point based build systems which I essentially stayed with until 3E.

I still played DnD up till around 84/85 when Champions allowed me a point based system that I could build stable gaming groups around. And I still consider games other than DnD for their lack of archetype-forced character design.

But I play and run DnD now regularly... and I would only do so under point buy as both a GM and as a player. In fact I'm even more particular than that, if the points are other than 28 I feel a bit off, and if they go above 30 I'll probably not join the game.

 

[MarauderX]

Dude. More options.

5. I've played since OD&D(red box) and use point buy in 3.5.

 

[nimisgod]

I'm actually almost at equal preference for point-buy and roll. The only reason I prefer rolling is that it takes less brain-power for me than point-buy. This is assuming, of course, that the rolling method allows the stats to be redistributed (put the 18 to str) and all that.

 

[jmucchiello]

Been playing since 82 and our group has been using point buy since 1990. Divide 75-80 points (depended on who was DMing really) among the 6 stats. With 3e we switched to the point buy in the DMG.

I'll bet this poll would be very different at dragonsfoot.

 

[Norfleet]

Pah! How did I *KNOW* that Altalazar, the ENworld Necromancer/Archaeologist, would somehow be at the top of the list when I saw this old topic resurrected?

The fundamental problem I see with point-buy is the way it promotes cookie-cutter characters, and all but obliterates the use of any class combination which involves more than one good stat. When I see "point-buy <whatever>", I don't even need to think very hard to know what I'm looking at, statwise. It doesn't exactly foster a sense of attachment to one's character when you know that it takes no effort to produce another one exactly like it. It's a very "send in the clones" feel when the work involved in generating a new character to replace a deceased one involves simply erasing the name off your character sheet.

The inherent imbalances that can be produced by random rolling can easily be rectified through the implementation of a bartering system, so that players who roll well can be bribed so that a player who rolled poorly can balance out his stats. Invariably, it proves to be ultimately beneficial to everyone this way, since a player who rolls well doesn't unbalance the entire group, he merely pockets a small profit.

Just make sure that now that he has the most money, he gets to be the one to order the pizza.

 

[the Jester]

edit: but of course that may reflect the fact i have over 14000 dice.

I must attest to the literal truth of this statement.

I prefer dice- I don't like the fact that point buy never gives you a character with a truly low score. Some of my favorite characters ever were all the more memorable because of low stats.