Why I hate Point-Buy (and D&D 3.0 and beyond)!

[Fenris]

It used to be that we would run a D&D game:show up, roll your stats, make a character. No sweat, easy and fun. Pick a race pick a class and run with it. But NOW, sheesh. I just spend every waking minute of the past week trying to make a back up character. A BACKUP. Now that I can make it at home, before the game I have more time to ponder it. How to assign stats, I know them and I can try every permutation. It used to be that the stats defined the character, now the character can define the stats, which is great except that there are so many character concepts. The worst is that in 3.0 and beyond multiclassing is so versatile that you can make scads of concepts. It is just like in Champions and Shadowrun. Perhaps it is my obsessive personallity, but in those games I would make character after character. Any concept that came into my mind was immediately put down on a sheet and worked out ad nausem until it worked for me. I still have files filled with characters I never played in those games. D&D was always the last bastion, I couldn't do that in D&D. Unitl now. Well phooey to options not restrictions, phooey to point-buy and phooey to multiclassing everyone and everything.

Sorry, I really do actually like point-buy and the 3.0 and beyond systems, but does anyone else have this problem. I mean I knew, knew the basic concept I wanted but went through at least 50 different ways of getting there between stats and class combos. It drove me mad, until I nailed it. I am alone in this?

 

[Thaumaturge]

Yes.


Thaumaturge.

 

[Zaruthustran]

You're not alone. I'm just as obsessive-compulsive as you are. Point buy is a min/maxers nightmare.

I created a handy Excel file that automatically derives final scores based on how many points you spend. It even looks up and includes racial modifiers, and gives you your starting skill points based on class, Int bonus, and race bonus (if human). I can email it to you if you want--it saves loads of time.

-z, spending way too much time obsessing over his own backup character for Living Greyhawk.

 

[heimdall]

One of the things I miss about OADND was how fast you could generate a character from concept to completion. However, I think part of the problem is that you're exploring different concepts for characters and that will always take time. There's nothing saying you can't just have a "stock" character template for various classes with a pre-defined basic set of skills, etc. If I were to lose my bard and we needed another PC right away (we lost our wizard on Sat because he did something bone-headed but we were in a situation where we could manage without him... the bard's arcane spell abilities was enough to compensate until this next session), I'd pull out a stock Paladin or Fighter (typical warrior-esque feats like Power Attack, etc.) to carry through the game session.

 

[Azul]

Point-buy systems seem to encourage some of us to go through a reiterative design process where we sit there and analyze every single possibility to death, constantly optimizing this way or that. Drives me a little buggy because I do it naturally and frankly, it leads to relatively little variety in stats (simply because some permutations are so much better than others).

My entire group has a general dislike of pure point-buy systems, so we use the organic system from the DMG. It's a semi-random system that produces pretty solid PCs with a great deal of variety in their ability scores. We find it to be a very satisfactory middle ground between a pure point-buy and a purely random system.

 

[Fenris]

I created a handy Excel file that automatically derives final scores based on how many points you spend. It even looks up and includes racial modifiers, and gives you your starting skill points based on class, Int bonus, and race bonus (if human). I can email it to you if you want--it saves loads of time.

-

yes please!

Thanks to all,
My name is Jon and I am a min/maxer.
All: Hello Jon

 

[Zaruthustran]

Done.

 

[Angcuru]

I like organic as well, but only when the entire party uses it. I get tired of the constant "Alright, we need a fighter, a thief, a mage, and a cleric." Point buy lets you do that real easy. When you roll organic, however, you don't always end up creating the stereotypical party. Which is good. Creates now challenges.

 

[Negative Zero]

...I created a handy Excel file that automatically derives final scores based on how many points you spend. It even looks up and includes racial modifiers, and gives you your starting skill points based on class, Int bonus, and race bonus (if human). I can email it to you if you want--it saves loads of time....

that sounds awesome. i wanna see, i wanna see!
(include "DnD" in the subject so my junk mail filter lets it thru)

~NegZ

 

[dropshadow]

You're not alone. I'm just as obsessive-compulsive as you are. Point buy is a min/maxers nightmare.

I created a handy Excel file that automatically derives final scores based on how many points you spend. It even looks up and includes racial modifiers, and gives you your starting skill points based on class, Int bonus, and race bonus (if human). I can email it to you if you want--it saves loads of time.

-z, spending way too much time obsessing over his own backup character for Living Greyhawk.

Would ya send one my way?

-dropshadow