What point buy system do you use?

[Descartes]

I'm getting ready to start a new game with a new DM who wants to use the standard point buy system with 25 pt. but I feel this system puts PCs at a disadvantage from the start. Take some of the published adventures like The Sunless Citadel which is a 1st level adventure. There is a weak troll in there which still has 42HP & an 18 AC who could possibly kill any 1st level PC in one melee. Then the 1st level adventuring party you fight at the end obviously didn't use the point buy system and they are accompanied by 3 twig blights which are pretty easy and a 4th level druid who also out stats any PC.

What point buy systems have you come up with that your players have liked?

 

[ggroy]

Not point buy per se, but some DMs I've known just give the players the maximum allowable hit points for a particular class at a particular level, instead of rolling hit die. This sometimes helps with lessening the effect of players dying too easily at lower levels in older editions of D&D/AD&D. (This gets around the problem of a magic user or thief rolling one hit point at the first level).

 

[Herobizkit]

Welcome to the boards, Descartes!

Just a minor note first: if you are going to include DM-only information from a known published module, you may want to add a "Spoiler alert!" for those who haven't played it.

For point buy, I generally allow 25 pts. for pre-published works and up to 35 for homebrew stuff. The modules are written with the assumption of a 4-man party using either the 25 pt array or the Standard array of 15-14-13-12-10-8. That module is also 3.0, and there have been a slew of additional rules that can make a lot of mileage out of 25 pts.

Trust that (acc'd to module design back then) at least one fight is meant to be very challenging (CR+3) and at least one is supposed to be "impossible" (CR+4). The PCs can deal with said challenges any way they see fit, and it is possible that they might die. They might not, too. Schrodinger's cat.*

* I just watched the Season 1 finale of "The Big Bang Theory". In short, it means both possibilities are true (win/lose), but you can't know which until it happens.

 

[IronWolf]

I'm getting ready to start a new game with a new DM who wants to use the standard point buy system with 25 pt.

I think that is a fine amount to start with in a 3.x game. I've played in games that start at that and no issues. Of course I've also played in campaigns that are well above that as well.

As long as the DM knows what the point buy started at and doesn't adjust encounters upwards then when characters are starting out with a standard point buy then it should be fine.

In games I've DM'ed where I allowed a higher point buy, I also tend to scale some encounters upward as well. So in a game I run, getting excited by a 32 point buy might not be worth doing - as some of the critters very well may have been scaled up in some fashion as well.

 

[Dykstrav]

25 points on a point buy is fine for 3.5 rules. I used 28 when I DMed, but 25 is do-able.

Honestly, I don't think that ability scores are as important as some players seem to think they are. Smart/cautious play is far more important to the long-term survival of characters. If I ran into a troll at 1st level, I wouldn't try to fight it. There's nothing wrong with running away to fight another day, or in returning with a solid plan and some preparation.

 

[Achan hiArusa]

40 points based on the 3.5 system. This makes the characters mathematically equivalent to a 7/5/3 White Wolf character and gives an average of 14.5 for an ability score. After I played it I also used the Star Wars +1 to two different ability scores every 4th level, and when 4e came out I backported the +1 to all ability scores, but I did it at 12th level in place of the +1 to two ability scores.

 

[BlubSeabass]

For 3.5 I used 25, which worked fine for most classes in the long run, but gave some players a hard time in the first 2-3 levels. Using pathfinder, the 15 points worked excellent for everyone. If you're experienced players, the 25 could be seen as a healthy challenge . It's do-able.

 

[IronWolf]

Using pathfinder, the 15 points worked excellent for everyone.

Not disagreeing, but it was funny to read this and know about this 678 post thread on Paizo's board about whether a 15 point buy in Pathfinder is reasonable.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

We simply made the assumption that "heroes" averaged 13-14 in each stat.

So we we simply gave each PC 78 (6x13) or 84 (6x14) points, freely distributed, with no stat over 20 and none under 3. Depending upon DM, you either did or did not apply racial stat modifiers to those totals.

 

[Krensky]

In Fantasy Craft, I use the default point buy of 36, which works out to a pre-origin (think race) 13 in all scores with an even distribution. In practice I (and a whole lot of SC2/FC players) typically start with three 14s and three 12s.

In an upcoming Pathfinder game I'm using a 20 point buy, so I'll see how that goes.