Stats, PC's and the effect on a Campaign

[Hackenslash]

Hello All,

This may be in the wrong thread so I will apologise in advance. I will be starting a new (moderate magic) campaign with approx. 6 PC's but I am having trouble deciding what point system to use for stat. generation, as I would like to try and keep an element of randomness with some die rolls and I feel that generates a competitive spirit in the PC's when creating characters, plus if someone rolls the highest possible then that persons character is all the more special, but realise that if left totally up to die rolls PC's can end up with very un-hero like stats. and unplayable characters, also the group I am with tends to want to play specific characters and the majority do not like experimenting to much with new characters, or shall we say new takes on stereo typical characters. Yes, that would be more correct. I am not keen on the systems in the DMG as I find them a little too lean and stingy but then again I do not want to have PC's with high bonuses in every single stat. Also I am reluctant to let the PC's use other than standard races and no Templates. I have found that if the PC's are too powerfull early on in a campaign they tend to lose steam after about mid level and get bored easily, plus it makes the DM's life harder to try and keep interest in the campaign and generate suitable challenges. So I am in a Quandry, Do I let the PC's more or less play the character they want ? or Do I let them play the Character that their stats. and or race have dictated ? or Somewhere in between ??? Any suggestions and or advice would be most welcome especially from other DM's who may have experienced the same problems. Cheers All

 

[Grishnak]

Let us have everything, YOU know it makes sense that we have uber stats and uber monsters to play as, bagsy on the Human/Half Kraken Ghostly Vampire Made already with stats shame about the sucky hp's (Damn those constituitionless, plodding, brain eating manifistations) See ya soon bud

 

[Hackenslash]

err....No you Can't.......

To Grishnak - you have 2 Hopes of playing a Half Kraken/Ghostly/Vampire in my campaign and one of them is BOB and the other is NO.......DOH !!!! On the other hand if you have any other suggestions on how I can incorporate different types of characters, with acceptable stats. in my campaign, then I'm Bugs Bunny, and all EARS.
Take care Brutha....peace

 

[LokiDR]

Organic system.

4d6, drop lowest, in order. Player gets one reroll and one swap. This forces players to deal with high or low stats in interesting places but still allows you to play most concepts. If anyone rolls a dismal character, roll again and average stat by stat. Let them decide what is dismal, as it will only move them closer to statistical average.

 

[Philip]

Roll 3d6 for each ability in order. The roll 4d6 and let the player distribute the dice (not the points) anyway they want. Heroic characters, chance for some low ability scores or some high ones in places the player doesn't neccesarilty desire and lets the player play the character he or she wants.

 

[Sir Whiskers]

The problem with straight point-buy is that players will too often min/max their stats. Using die rolls, though, can easily create significantly unbalanced characters. I use a mix of the two which you might consider:

4d6, drop lowest
Arrange stats as wanted
Add 4 points (total) to these stats
Add/Subtract racial modifiers

If you want to even out the die rolls, set die minimums (all 1's become 2's, or all 1's and 2's become 3's, and so on). You can adjust the overall average by using the minimums and increasing/decreasing the extra stat points available.

In my current campaign, I've been generous with stats and have not found it to be too much trouble. The characters were more survivable and competent at lower levels, and needed buffs less often at mid-levels.

 

[Hackenslash]

Thanks for the suggestions.

Hello All,

Thanks to those of you who have provided suggestions on character creation and I think I will be adopting a modified version of "Sir Whiskers" method. I will use a standard 4d6, dropping the lowest and also counting 1's as 2's, then let them place the stats where they want, but will then let the character add 6 points to whatever stats they want with no more than 3 per stat. and no higher than an 18 before modifiers for race etc. I think that should let PC's get the character they really want to play, considering the long term implications of the campaign I have in mind, but with out having "Uber" stats. Plus it also allows that PC who rolls especially high on his die rolls to really shine but without being too far ahead. Any other suggestions please let me know. Here are few sample 1st level Human Characters I created using this method:

Fighter: Str 18, Dex 12, Con 18, Int 13, Wis 10, Cha 10.

Wizard: Str 10, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 18, Wis 16, Cha 10.

Cleric: Str 14, Dex 10, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 18, Cha 16.

Rogue: Str 12, Dex 18, Con 13, Int 16, Wis 10, Cha 12.

Does anyone think these characters are too powerfull for 1st level ?

 

[yennico]

Re: Thanks for the suggestions.

Fighter: Str 18, Dex 12, Con 18, Int 13, Wis 10, Cha 10.

translated in point costs
16+4+16+5+2+2 = 45 points

Wizard: Str 10, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 18, Wis 16, Cha 10.

2+10+4+16+10+2=44 points

Cleric: Str 14, Dex 10, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 18, Cha 16.

6+2+6+2+16+10=42 points

Rogue: Str 12, Dex 18, Con 13, Int 16, Wis 10, Cha 12.

4+16+5+10+2+4=41 points

Does anyone think these characters are too powerfull for 1st level ?

IMHO yes, if you use normal unchanged monster out of the MM.

I recommend the standard point buy method. How much points depend on the campaign.
Every player has the same amount of points, so no jealousy.
If one player rolls low with dice he has low attributes. He will be annoyed.
The player can customize their PCs and have within limits that attribute scores they want.

Just my 2 cents
yennico

 

[Aaron2]

Semi-Random point buy

I wrote a program that would randomly roll by the 4d6 method and then filter out all rolls below 25 points and above 35 points. Then I got a table that lists 300 (it could have been 3 million) stats. The player rolls or chooses a number from 1 to 300 and gets those results off that table.


Aaron

 

[Kae'Yoss]

We once used this:

4d6, drop lowest.
Roll 7 times, drop lowest roll.
Increase one of those rolls (not an 18) by one point.

Of course, stats arranged at will.

I wouldn't let them have more than 1 or 2 points to increase their ability scores, unless you think players should start out with several 18's.

By all means, just use point buy: They will min/max the ability scores, of course, but they'll end up with the AS they want (more or less), and don't have to tailor their character concept to their ability scores, but can tailor them to the character concept. As for the assigned number of points to buy, some do standard point buy (25 points), some do high-level point buy (32 points), some even more. I'd advice you not to set the limit above 40 points, somewhere around 35 would still mean really nice scores.