What is the best way to generate balanced d20 characters?

[shilsen]

I give my players 80 pts to divide among the six stats. Only one stat can be maxed out and no stats below 8 before racial modifiers are applied. That does create powerful characters, which is what my players want and I'm fine with it. Since you're still fairly new to DMing, badash56, I'd suggest sticking with point buy (30 pts).

 

[diaglo]

3d6 six times in order. str, int, wis, con, dex, cha

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

@diaglo -- Can I get an Amen?

I prefer 25-point buy, because it makes things easier for the DM. The monsters in the MM have ability scores built so that a 25 to 28-point character is at an appropriate level of power. For higher point buys, you'll need to tweak your monsters and NPC upward in power to continue to challenge PCs. So if you're not looking to do too much work, and want to be able to flip the MM open to an appropriate CR monster and have a relatively balanced encounter, stick with the lower point levels.

You don't need uber scores to have heroic characters.

 

[FreeTheSlaves]

We just started a new campaign and after much discussion offered the choice of 25pt buy & average hps or 4d6 six times with rolled hps. The guys all chose to roll and got a 20, 22 and 33pt buy equivalent characters.

I was worried about viability and offered a regeneration but they said no. The consensus was that they had wanted to take a chance with high stats and if they had got it they wouldn't want me to say they were "too powerful". Given that, they wanted to accept their characters and anyway I think their characters are all quite cool (they have become landed nobility at mid 1st level!).

NPC's in this campaign are generated with either 15,20,25 pt buy or the 4d6/rolled hps. NPC's get a default 15pts, PC-classed NPC's (and special NPC-classed NPC's) get 20pts, while leaders get 25pts. Special types get 4d6. Only PC-classed characters get max hps at 1st level.

The above set up is designed to recapture the specialness of good ability scores that, I think, Diaglo enjoys. I just want to have a few back stops to ensure the PC's get playable scores. So long as this exists for the NPC's, I think the players won't think twice.

 

[Ibram]

I use a straight 75 point buy, with no character allowed to go above 18 or below 6 before racial modifiers.

Usualy IMC its more like 75+1 as I like to start games at lvl 4-5. In addition to their regular stat increases I bump everyones stats by 1 when they reach 10th level.

In older campaings I allowed rolling, but sometimes it created characters that were just to powerful or not powerful enough (one player in my group has uncanny luck with dice when it comes to rolling stats). To even it out player wise (and make it easier for me as the DM to create NPCs) I changed to the point buy system.

For NPCs I use three different point buys to create characters...

Mooks get 70 points, tough guys get 75, and guys I want to be realy tough get 80-85 points.

 

[badash56]

Wow thanks for all the replies! I think I have decided to go with the DMG point buy system, with 28 points. I know my players won't be pleased, as they like to have uber characters with 17s and 18s, but I think this will be a more balanced game. I agree with Olgar Shiverstone, I would like the CRs to be pretty accurate when I make encounters. Our last few games we played our characters were way to powerful and the DM had a tough time. Our encounters would either be way to easy or way to hard. The players in our group are used to starting off with high stats and lots of magical equipment. I personally think starting at the opposite end provides a much more enjoyable game. I ran a Star Wars campaign a few years ago like this, and everyone playing said how much more rewarding it is to work for something rather than just get it handed to you.

Thanks!

 

[shaylon]

I think the point buy method from the DMG works well. It is all I have used since moving to 3.x and it seems to serve my groups well. If you want to be generous, make the point buy 30 or more. If not, 25-29 would be sufficient to make a decent character.

-Shay

 

[Odhanan]

I've used 35 pts in a high-powered game, that worked pretty well. I've played with 32 pts, suitable for a tough campaign, and 28 pts, suitable for a standard campaign. I think 25 pts is a bit low.

I completely agree with this scale.

 

[Razz0putin]

I'm not a fan of the point buy. I liked it at first because it seems to make you pay for being greedy with abilities but then I realized every player deserves to have a shot at an 18. However I didn't want the radomness of 4d6 method. So I came up with 78 points distribute how you will. Then I had people using charisma as a slouf stat and so now I start all abilities at 8 and add 28 where you will up to max.

 

[TBoarder]

The players in our group are used to starting off with high stats and lots of magical equipment. I personally think starting at the opposite end provides a much more enjoyable game. I ran a Star Wars campaign a few years ago like this, and everyone playing said how much more rewarding it is to work for something rather than just get it handed to you.

Thanks!

I think this is a recipe for disaster. It sounds like you're trying to force a play style on a group of people who truly don't prefer it. If this group of people isn't the same group that enjoyed your Star Wars campaign, how do you know that they'll react in the same way? The decision to go with this kind of low powered generation should probably be talked over with your group. Don't force them to do something they don't want to do... while at the same time you shouldn't do something that you truly don't want to do. If you can't compromise, it's best to look for a newer, more compatible group. I'm not trying to sound dire here, just want to make sure everybody is having fun, which is the true object of the game.