Why won't you switch?

[Fifth Element]

No more rolling for hit points. That was the last straw. I didn't mind more hit points at first level, but lets keep the chance in there. The risk is what makes it fun. How daring is your hero if there is no chance of failure?

Why stop there? What about random feat acquisition, random attack bonuses and random defence bonuses?

Sorry, that's a bit snarky. Randomness in play is fun; randomness in character creation and advancement is not. And how does getting a fixed number of hit points = no chance of failure?

 

[BryonD]

Why stop there? What about random feat acquisition, random attack bonuses and random defence bonuses?

Warhammer Rocks!!!

Randomness in play is fun; randomness in character creation and advancement is not.

Did I mention Warhammer?

 

[Imban]

Randomness in play is fun; randomness in character creation and advancement is not.

I disagree; randomness in character creation can have its place, because it makes it unlikely that any two given characters will be mechanically identical. This is important to some players, and a much bigger deal in some systems than others - in something like Rules Cyclopedia D&D, point-buy ability scores and fixed HP would result in every character being drawn from a pool of about 12 legal character mechanic sets. On the other hand, in 3e D&D, it's unlikely that a random sampling of characters will have multiple using the exact same mechanics, especially after some levels are gained, so randomness in character creation isn't as essential for differentiation.

EDIT: And now that I think about it, people have been playing and enjoying BRP for a long, long time, and that does use random advancement for essentially everything.

 

[hong]

I disagree; randomness in character creation can have its place, because it makes it unlikely that any two given characters will be mechanically identical.

I use point buy and fixed hp, and I have never, ever, ever (is that enough evers?) seen two characters mechanically identical. The scope for variation in D&D's chargen system post-2E is such that most players will only explore a fraction of the build space. The distaste for so-called cookie-cutter chargen is a relic based on 25-year-old first impressions.

 

[Fifth Element]

I use point buy and fixed hp, and I have never, ever, ever (is that enough evers?) seen two characters mechanically identical. The scope for variation in D&D's chargen system post-2E is such that most players will only explore a fraction of the build space. The distaste for so-called cookie-cutter chargen is a relic based on 25-year-old first impressions.

Agreed. There are so many options available in D&D now that the chance of having identical characters is close to nil, unless you plan it that way.

 

[Imban]

post-2E

Did you even read my post? Seriously?

 

[hong]

Did you even read my post? Seriously?

Yes.

Is this a trick question?

 

[Imban]

Yes.

Then you must have just utterly failed to note that I dismissed the necessity of random HP in 3e and assumedly 4e, at least for myself. Some players may still find it necessary because they are even more uncomfortable with clone characters than I am, but the only good reason I can see for using random HP in 4e would be tradition.

 

[hong]

Then you must have just utterly failed to note that I dismissed the necessity of random HP in 3e and assumedly 4e, at least for myself.

... or you may have just utterly failed to note that not everyone always disagrees with you. Unexpected, I know.

 

[Imban]

... or you may have just utterly failed to note that not everyone always disagrees with you. Unexpected, I know.

...Er, um, whoops. That's what I get for staying up all night.

Back on topic, tieflings are almost enough for me to not want to even pick up 4e books, because their art direction bothers me in almost every way a character race's art could - the red skin, huge horns, and tail are all bad enough, but did they have to add ridiculously impractical gripless weapons to it to boot? Really?