D&D General Why I love Point Buy or Array when creating a PC

[DEFCON 1]

There was a "random PC generation" thread here on the boards maybe a year or two ago that I thought was really cool and allowed me to create what ended up being a very interesting character for myself... which was to randomly roll to get a 1st level spell of some type. Then based on that spell, create a PC designed around it. I ended up with Create or Destroy Water, and the ideas that came out of that random reception were fast and interesting. It was a cool variant on the standard "create a PC via randomness" concept we usually see.

 

[ad_hoc]

If I were to do random stats I would have them in order with no fudging.

I don't really see the point otherwise except to hope to have the most powerful character at the table.

My favourite random generation method is to use playing cards so the sum of everyone's stats are the same.

At our table we just use standard array. Even point buy is too finicky for us.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

There was a "random PC generation" thread here on the boards maybe a year or two ago that I thought was really cool and allowed me to create what ended up being a very interesting character for myself... which was to randomly roll to get a 1st level spell of some type. Then based on that spell, create a PC designed around it. I ended up with Create or Destroy Water, and the ideas that came out of that random reception were fast and interesting. It was a cool variant on the standard "create a PC via randomness" concept we usually see.

And such a thing can be quite interesting! I would see this as similar to the "make a painting with a palette chosen randomly/by someone else" thing. A fun challenge, which could even lead to a very beautiful final product.

 

[MGibster]

f you wanted to play a paladin you didn't bother rolling for charisma, they just had a 17. Once I played Living City (the 2E public play game) I switched to their early point buy system. I could talk about my bad experiences with and my opinion of rolling, but that's another thread.

Back around 1990 or so, the DM decided he wanted us to roll 2d6 for each ability, take the highest roll of one die, and multiply it by 3. I rolled my dice in from of God, the DM, and the other players which resulted in 18s across the board save for Charisma which was only 15. I could not play a Paladin and I ended up going with Magic-User instead. A huge, bodybuilding brute of a magic-user.

I also prefer point buy methods in order to ensure that players can create the character they want to play. Like you, we fudged our numbers on a fairly consistent basis anyway.

 

[Baron Opal II]

If I'm playing B/X or AD&D, I'll roll because stat bonuses aren't going to be too important beyond fifth level or so.
If I'm playing 5e, I'll pick because stat bonuses are going to equal or exceed level bonuses most of the character's life.

If I don't know what I'm going to play, I prefer rolling. Even if I shuffle the array later at the beginning I can get some inspiration. If it's a situation where everyone's picking and I don't know, I'll roll dice to see how to place the array.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

For an OSR game, I'll roll, as that's part of the fun/experience.
For 5e, which is notionally "balanced", I'll points buy, and any game I run is points buy

 

[John Lloyd1]

I like standard array, because it is quick and easy. Gets me to the fun part quicker. I am tempted to get rid of ability scores and racial ASI, and just use the ability modifier using a FATE Accelerated array (+3, +2, +2, +1, +1, 0) or similar.

Rolling or point by feel like book keeping to me.

 

[Seramus]

I enjoy rolling, then allowing players to pick from ANY set.

Allows the variance and inspiration of rolling, while eliminating imbalance between players. It does make the average stats of your party higher, but that is easily compensated for on my side of the screen.

Plus, you can always put a cap on the sets if you don't want anything too gonzo.

 

[MGibster]

Rolling makes character creation more fun. But the built in inequity bothers me, and is a real problem when working with beginners, which I do a lot. For beginners, standard array is the way to go, because they don't know the game well enough to do point buy, and rolling leads to a lot of fudging and a lot of jealousy.

While I prefer point buy for the most part, there is something inherently fun about rolling up a character. Maybe it's the thrill of gambling? I created a character for Delta Green the other day, and I rolled everything up. To be fair, I rolled fairly well, but I made a character I likely wouldn't have made with a point buy system. DG is similar to the CoC rules where stats are between 3-18 points and my character had a 17 Strength and a 15 Constitution, so he's a pretty big guy. So I thought, what does that say about him? In his background, I came up with someone who wanted to be a bodybuilder when he was younger, but when he got to the point where he couldn't really advance without taking steroids or some other supplements, decided on a career change.

 

[Oofta]

While I prefer point buy for the most part, there is something inherently fun about rolling up a character. Maybe it's the thrill of gambling? I created a character for Delta Green the other day, and I rolled everything up. To be fair, I rolled fairly well, but I made a character I likely wouldn't have made with a point buy system. DG is similar to the CoC rules where stats are between 3-18 points and my character had a 17 Strength and a 15 Constitution, so he's a pretty big guy. So I thought, what does that say about him? In his background, I came up with someone who wanted to be a bodybuilder when he was younger, but when he got to the point where he couldn't really advance without taking steroids or some other supplements, decided on a career change.

I'll roll dice thousands of times over the course of my character's lifetime. Sometimes I'll roll a 20, sometimes I'll roll a 1. But in the long run all that will all even out.

What won't even out over the long run is the ability scores my PC was created with. That two minutes of rolling, even if it was thrilling (it's not for me), could never compensate for the hundreds of hours I hope to play that character.