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Why I Love Rolling Up Characters
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<blockquote data-quote="Blue" data-source="post: 9193391" data-attributes="member: 20564"><p>I really like rolling, but prefer not to do it for 5e.</p><p></p><p>Let me unpack.</p><p></p><p>While I started back with Moldvey's Red Box Basic, where I think I really matured as a roleplayer was a decade long intertwined series of campaigns a friend ran in AD&D 2nd. And back there we rolled three sets in order and picked one. In front of the DM.</p><p></p><p>You didn't get the class you wanted often. As a matter of fact, Paladin had a minimum CHR (that's CHA to more recent folks) of 17, so even having the option to play one was very rare.</p><p></p><p>And what you got from ability scores also varied by class. Unless you were a fighter or one of it's subclasses like ranger, barbarian or cavalier (yeah, different world), once you had a 16 CON you didn't get more HPs per level for having a 17 or higher. Fighter types with an 18 strength could also get a percentile which was like a whole extra range in there - a 18 to 19 STR was like 18 to 24 STR now.</p><p></p><p>Anyway, it gave me organic characters that I had to figure out what I wanted to do with. Also consider that multiclassing (only open to demihumans - that is non-human races) had to be set at character creation.</p><p></p><p>I remember playing a bard with an 18 CON. Which meant nothing more than a 16 in most ways. But the DM let me drink a lot before getting intoxicated. He could drink others under the table, except the dwarves, and they at least would appreciate that he tried. It became a point of the character.</p><p></p><p>But for 5e, I really don't like rolling and strongly prefer point buy, or baring that standard array. Yes, I'd rather have standard array than rolling in 5e, after talking about how much I love rolling.</p><p></p><p>First, there's a large gap between whomever rolls the best and whomever rolls the worst. (BTW, I'm generally talking about character's best few ability scores - D&D has always favored specialization. Anyone who looks at the average of all six just misses the point.) And with bounded accuracy, that gap is felt even more since there's so few ways to make it up. And then ASIs become math catch up for some, and cool new toys (feats) or pulling further ahead for others.</p><p></p><p>And that really is my second point. The Faustian choice of ASI vs. feat is only a meaningful choice when you want both aproximately equally. If you have great ability scores, bringing up your 3rd best by a +1 modifier doesn't hold a candle to a feat - it's no longer an interesting choice because only one side has real worth. And meaningful choices are what help define our character. How do you grow is a real question, and deserves a meaningful answer with your particular pick from among many valid picks.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Blue, post: 9193391, member: 20564"] I really like rolling, but prefer not to do it for 5e. Let me unpack. While I started back with Moldvey's Red Box Basic, where I think I really matured as a roleplayer was a decade long intertwined series of campaigns a friend ran in AD&D 2nd. And back there we rolled three sets in order and picked one. In front of the DM. You didn't get the class you wanted often. As a matter of fact, Paladin had a minimum CHR (that's CHA to more recent folks) of 17, so even having the option to play one was very rare. And what you got from ability scores also varied by class. Unless you were a fighter or one of it's subclasses like ranger, barbarian or cavalier (yeah, different world), once you had a 16 CON you didn't get more HPs per level for having a 17 or higher. Fighter types with an 18 strength could also get a percentile which was like a whole extra range in there - a 18 to 19 STR was like 18 to 24 STR now. Anyway, it gave me organic characters that I had to figure out what I wanted to do with. Also consider that multiclassing (only open to demihumans - that is non-human races) had to be set at character creation. I remember playing a bard with an 18 CON. Which meant nothing more than a 16 in most ways. But the DM let me drink a lot before getting intoxicated. He could drink others under the table, except the dwarves, and they at least would appreciate that he tried. It became a point of the character. But for 5e, I really don't like rolling and strongly prefer point buy, or baring that standard array. Yes, I'd rather have standard array than rolling in 5e, after talking about how much I love rolling. First, there's a large gap between whomever rolls the best and whomever rolls the worst. (BTW, I'm generally talking about character's best few ability scores - D&D has always favored specialization. Anyone who looks at the average of all six just misses the point.) And with bounded accuracy, that gap is felt even more since there's so few ways to make it up. And then ASIs become math catch up for some, and cool new toys (feats) or pulling further ahead for others. And that really is my second point. The Faustian choice of ASI vs. feat is only a meaningful choice when you want both aproximately equally. If you have great ability scores, bringing up your 3rd best by a +1 modifier doesn't hold a candle to a feat - it's no longer an interesting choice because only one side has real worth. And meaningful choices are what help define our character. How do you grow is a real question, and deserves a meaningful answer with your particular pick from among many valid picks. [/QUOTE]
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