What stat method do you use??

[Grishnak]

This may have been posted previously but I haven't seen anything whilst looking so thought I'd post it.

My question is how do you produce stats for your characters/Npc's?
Do you prefer the randomness of a dice or the min max of stat buy???
I personally prefer to roll as I get a buzz from rolling those 16's, 17's & 18's rather than saying ive got for example 18, 17, 16, 10, 10, 10 (These stats are only off the top of my head so don't nerf me saying the point buy is too high or whatever) . I know stats dont make a character and is only a small part but I think the min maxing is for computer games where you need the best stats to survive on your own ( eg Neverwinter nights)

 

[DMScott]

I prefer point buy because I hate to see a good character concept get steamrolled by bad rolls.

 

[Buttercup]

Actually, this question has been covered many times. That doesn't mean we can't talk about it again, however.

I couldn't answer your poll, because you don't have an "Other" option. I ask players to distribute a certain number of points, usually 72, on a one-for-one basis. (Not starting at 8 for each stat, but at zero.) Then I give them a list of items they could include in their biography to earn additional points. In my current campaign, a player who gives me everything on the list ends up with 80 points to distribute.

I like this method for several reasons.

1. Everyone can have the same number of points if they want to do the work for them.
2. Everyone can have *exactly* the stats they want.
3. I get wonderful, multi-page character biographies that give me enough plot seeds to last for the entire campaign.
4. I like the PCs to be on the heroic side. This method usually results in each character having one or two 16s and only one or no penalties. I realize not everyone likes that idea, but it works for me, and my players aren't complaining.

 

[Hackenslash]

err....I did let you roll ?????

Hi Grishnak,

Yes this topic has been covered before, err....by me....DOH!!! and you posted your response to it when I was fishing for ideas on a point buy system for my new campaign about 2/3 months ago......Duh !!!

I did let you roll your stats as you requested, when everyone else was ok with my new point buy system. But I should have anticipated a visit to ENWolrd on Stats. due to yours being out of synch with the others in the campaign. I don't think your stats are that way off though, I'm at work, so I can't remember the details but they can't be that bad from what I remember of your dice roll. You do have a 16 and a 14 if I remember correctly. I did catch your comment on the gaming night though...."...yeah my stats aren't as good coz I rolled mine..." or words to that effect. Think you were talking to Gary at the time. To be honest, I think I should have not given in and made you use the same system as everybody else, but that was me tring to compromise and be fair, rather than laying down the law, and dictateing rules etc...as has been done by other DM's. I personally feel that point buy is the fairest way to go for generating characters and that is the only reason why I went through the trouble of creating a new point buy system, plus it does allow you to play the character you want to play, without having to worry about poor dice rolling. And no, don't you dare say it....your infamous " well they would just have to deal with it "......hahahaha ....yeah right !!....There is a big difference in dealing with it and dealing with it by getting the character killed or retireing the character because it's unplayable or not as playable as other players characters, because they rolled higher stats than you did. Put it this way, if I wanted to play a fighter, and rolled a bunch of poor stats...like 10's 11's and 12's, I just would not want to play it and would end up playing something else, I did not really want to play. Oh well I think you can guess what I voted for....Cheers Matey !!! ZAL>

PS. I got an animated axe swinging Minotaur Avatar, low res...that I thought you might be interested in. Let me know and I'll e-mail it to you.

 

[Zappo]

I only use point buy. Me and all of my players want to be able to create exactly the character we have in mind, and we also want each character to be balanced against the others.

 

[d4]

always point-buy.

32 points for PCs and major NPCs, 25 points for "generic" run-of-the-mill NPCs, 15 points for commoners and such.

i prefer point-buy because i feel it is more balanced and fair to everyone.

 

[Zerakon]

I couldn't answer your poll, because you don't have an "Other" option.

Ditto. "Other" for me too; please take a little more time to create poll choices if you want to attach some meaning to the results. Anyway, here's my "other" method; it mixes the randomness of rolling with the similarness* of point buy.
*I don't want to say "fairness" because any system can be considered fair, as long as everyone uses it.

(a) Roll 3d6 five times.
(b) Calculate X = the sum of the attribute modifiers for those 5 rolls.
(c) Restart and go back to (a) if X is less than -3.
(d) Assign your 6th attribute = 15-X.
(e) Order your attributes as you want.
(f) Roll d6 twice on the Level Up chart, ignoring HP gain, which will basically give +1 to two random stats.

So, if you roll really well for your 5 rolled attributes, your 6th attribute will be average. If you roll average to poorly for your 5 rolled attributes, your 6th stat will be good to outstanding.

The above method is a "harsh" method; typical characters will end up with +3, +4, or +5 total attribute modifiers, whereas 25 point buy generates characters with, what, around +10 to +12 total attribute modifiers? However, I'm letting characters gain +1 to any attribute for each level that they go up. But I'm not letting them choose which attribute goes up, it's randomly rolled, but at 4th/8th/12th/16th/20th they do get to choose (just like normal).

 

[Severion]

Other

8-18 even numbers, assign as you please then adjust for race.

I just read about (on the rules board i think) roll 18d6s reroll the first round of ones, arange in threes. It sounds usable.

 

[ElMorte]

I use dice-rolling, because i still to dumb to get the point-buy-system.

 

[Thanee]

One dice rolling method we used, also results in quite heroic characters, but stats are not as fine-tuned as they usually are using point buy.

name a stat, roll 9d6, take best three
name another stat, roll 8d6, take best three
name another stat, roll 7d6, take best three
name another stat, roll 6d6, take best three
name another stat, roll 5d6, take best three
last remaining stat, roll 4d6, take best three

This sounds more overpowered, than it actually is. Sure, stats are great, but you have a few quirks, like you could roll a bit lower than average on your first stat, resulting in maybe "only" a 15 or 16 in your primary attribute. It could be modified by starting with 8d6 and going down to 3d6 for less powerful stat arrays, tho.

What I like about this method is, that it gives characters some outside influence, while the player is still in control of the general layout, but this control is not 100% as it is with point buy (or to a degree 4d6 drop lowest, then distribute). The point is, you don't know your remaining stats when deciding for which one to roll next.

Currently we are using simple 4d6 drop lowest, since most players were against the point buy method.

Bye
Thanee