Stat Method vs. How long you've played

[Kichwas]

I mean, why should a paladin HAVE to have a ton of high stats?

Rolls at the table is nice if you have the time to devote a whole session to character creation, but some don't have the luxury of that amount of time.

Rolling is only fair if everyone has to use the same dice, and those dice are casino dice rolled from a cup onto a predetermined surface.

That said, it's still anti-design, and will lead to uneven results that have too much impact on the game. Few other die rolls made throughout the life of the game will have as vast of an impact on the nature of play - stats are just too signifignt, figuring into almost every other roll made thereafter.

On Paladins and Monks, I find this issue fictitious, I see nothing wrong with stats like these:

Paladin:
s15 d8 c13 w12 I10 ch14
s15 d10 c13 w12 I8 ch14

Monk:
s12 d14 c13 w15 I10 ch8
s15 d12 c13 w14 I10 ch8

In a game where everyone else also had 25 point buy. It just means that just like everyone else - your character doesn't do everything all the time, but fills her niche.

 

[National Acrobat]

Hmm. Like I said before, I've gamed with the same folks for a long time, and we play everyweek on the same day, in the same alloted slot. So for us, it isn't a big deal to use a session for creation, etc. I understand for others it is. I wouldn't play in a group that wouldn't do that. We also are a group who's spouses hang out, the kids go to school together, etc. so usually the first 30-45 minutes of every session is a catching up and discussion anyway. So, dice rolls and backgrounds in the open for character creation are no big deal for us. Our pace is probably a lot slower for most folks, and most of the players like the randomness of stats, preferring to be creative and get the most out of the randomness.

 

[Seonaid]

Am I in the minority here, with being completely okay with wanting to be a fighter (for example) and rolling consistent 13's? Or a rogue with the same? Usually the way I do character creation is I pick what I feel like being, and then make the best of whatever stats I get (since I like rolling). For the fighter, the high stat goes into Str, even if it is a 13. And so on. If I'm doing point-buy, same thing applies, but I'll usually only buy up the most important stat (or two) for that character. Thus, I'll have Str 18 and the rest are 13's (or whatever).

 

[Shard O'Glase]

varies though I guess most recently it was a point buy. But I despise the dmg point buy and wont use it an a DM.

 

[Altalazar]

Am I in the minority here, with being completely okay with wanting to be a fighter (for example) and rolling consistent 13's? Or a rogue with the same? Usually the way I do character creation is I pick what I feel like being, and then make the best of whatever stats I get (since I like rolling). For the fighter, the high stat goes into Str, even if it is a 13. And so on. If I'm doing point-buy, same thing applies, but I'll usually only buy up the most important stat (or two) for that character. Thus, I'll have Str 18 and the rest are 13's (or whatever).

I think part of what would make that ok is the group - if you have a set of crappy stats, but one or more others in the group have god-like starting stats, then they dominate and you have the problem of encounters being uneven.

If EVERYONE has crappy stats, that can be ok - encounters can be balanced accordingly. The main problem, again, isn't so much for a single character, but all of them together. That is why, IMNSHO, point buy will always be superior to rolling. Everyone gets the same set of points. If you want to play all 13s or less, you can just do a 21 point build for all players and see how it goes. If instead you want kick-ass characters, everyone gets 35 points, and encounters are balanced accordingly. No muss, no fuss.

 

[ejja_1]

I tell my players that I dont really care how they generate stats, becuase the adventure is tailored to fit whatever strengths and weaknesses they may have. Ive even told them to take all 18's if they wish, but to beware that the adventure will be that much harder for them. So far I have only had one player take the all 18's option, he made it a couple sessions and then fell victim to a dire bear.
The best part was, that I really didnt have to go out of my way to make anything happen. He simply became overconfident and charged into battle with the wrong monster.

 

[Henry]

I think that rolling, unless it is something along the lines of roll 3d6, in order, and take what you get, usually ends up with something very close to or exactly like a point buy - only it takes a lot of die rolling, shifting around, rerolls, and even DM fiddling before you get to what is exactly the same result.

However, sometimes the destination is not the point - the journey is.

 

[Tsyr]

However, sometimes the destination is not the point - the journey is.

Here here!

 

[HellHound]

I've been playing since before 1e came out, and now we use different methods for different campaigns.

Some campaigns are point-buy (our Arcanis campaign for one), others use the 'organic' stat rolling method.

 

[DMScott]

Hmm, another necrobump?

I've been playing for about 25 years, and when I DM I mostly use point buy. When I play, I'm happy with whatever. I can honestly say I've never noticed a difference in my or my players overall enjoyment of the game or playing style based on generation method. Maybe I'm missing some incredibly important facet of the game, but I treat stat generation as one of the steps I have to go through before I get to the fun stuff (i.e., actually playing the game), so all the advocacy for different methods seems bizarre from where I'm sitting. YMMV.