Stats for Heros

[Elf Witch]

I was wondering what most of you think about the point buy recommendations in the DMG?

22 for a challenging game 32 for heroic. I play mainly rolled characters and the average rolls for me usually come out to about 32 to 36 and I usually enjoy the game but to be honest the couple of times I played a higher stated character the game just seemed more fun and more heroic the higer pluses gave you more leeway in developing a really effective character.

Looking at characters out of movies and books I don't see Aragorn as 32 point character or Conan for that matter.

I am not saying that it can't be fun and challenging to play a character with minuses but I am just wondering why in a heroic game why such low points?

 

[Darklone]

Well, the last Conan build I saw had several 18s... for a start...

 

[Xeriar]

I was wondering what most of you think about the point buy recommendations in the DMG?

22 for a challenging game 32 for heroic. I play mainly rolled characters and the average rolls for me usually come out to about 32 to 36 and I usually enjoy the game but to be honest the couple of times I played a higher stated character the game just seemed more fun and more heroic the higer pluses gave you more leeway in developing a really effective character.

I tend to think of 36 points as a minimum when I run games now - If there are 10 million people in your world and you have them play with 25 point buy, there are over a million people as good as (or better than) them.

It really depends on your story, but in my opinion the characters need to stand out in the crowd.

 

[John Crichton]

I tend to think of 36 points as a minimum when I run games now - If there are 10 million people in your world and you have them play with 25 point buy, there are over a million people as good as (or better than) them.

Those are some odd numbers. 10% of the population are heroes and have PC classes? Keep in mind that the average person has either a 10 or 11 for each stat (averaged out over all 6 stats). That, at most, equals an 18 pt buy.

I tend to like my characters to have stats (both DMing and playing) towards the higher end of the number charts but our groups are typically small and 25 pt buy characters are a little easier to kill in such small numbers.

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

I consider 32 to be reasonable, though my group is more used to 45.

Ever look at the stats on any named NPC from Forgotten Realms? This is why 25 point buy is absolutely ridiculous for D&D.

 

[Xeriar]

Those are some odd numbers. 10% of the population are heroes and have PC classes? Keep in mind that the average person has either a 10 or 11 for each stat (averaged out over all 6 stats). That, at most, equals an 18 pt buy.

10% of the population averages 12 or better for each stat.

Do they have PC classes? Not necessarily.

But, if everyone is rolled on 3d6, 10% of the population will average 12 or better for every attribute (for large enough populations - 1,000 or greater, the chance of this not happening is statistically insignificant).

 

[diaglo]

imo, point buy sux.

a hero is a pc willing to take the risks necessary to be seen, heard, and recognized. whatever their stats/abilities.

3d6 six times in order.

 

[John Crichton]

10% of the population averages 12 or better for each stat.

Do they have PC classes? Not necessarily.

But, if everyone is rolled on 3d6, 10% of the population will average 12 or better for every attribute (for large enough populations - 1,000 or greater, the chance of this not happening is statistically insignificant).

Untrue. Averages state that 10.5 is an average roll, not 12. Additionally, just using the PHB to support this all average scores for humans (who are the base humanoid for the core game) are 10-11 (read 10.5).

None of this is my opinion. It's right there in the books.

 

[Chacal]

But, if everyone is rolled on 3d6,

Is there any reason to assume this ?


Chacal

 

[Xeriar]

Untrue. Averages state that 10.5 is an average roll, not 12. Additionally, just using the PHB to support this all average scores for humans (who are the base humanoid for the core game) are 10-11 (read 10.5).

None of this is my opinion. It's right there in the books.

Do you even understand what I'm saying?

roll 6 sets of 3d6, 1,000 times.

Group in order from highest total to lowest total.

Look at number 100

His or her average 3d6 score will be 12.

None of this is opinion, it's basic statistics. If you don't comprehend this, than hopefully I can spell it out for you in a different manner:

When one rolls 3d6, one does not always get 10.5, indeed, verily, occasionally a 9, 10, 11, 12... or even any number in the ranges of 3, to 18, inclusive, may be rolled.

When one rolls 3d6 in groups of six (6) in order, we shall call that group of six an Individual, okay?

One individual, by the nature of 3d6, will not necessariyl be the same as another.

If many individuals are made, some will end up being simply better than others. One means of figuring this is to organize them by their raw totals.

Once we gather enough totals, we can make judgements about individuals at various levels of innate ability. We may notice that, in a grouping of 1000 individuals so organized, if we lop off the bottom 900 of them, the worst individual in the remaining group of 100 will have a total of seventy-two (72).

Dividing by six (6), this individual's attributes will average to twelve (12).

Is that clear enough for you?