Got a question for you. Which do you prefer? Rolling for

I enjoy rolling stats more. Less effort, and less chance of minmaxing.

Rolling for stats, its exciting leaving it up to chance.

In particularly crunchy games (D&D especially), I really struggle with feeling "useful." I prefer point-buy, because then I *know* that my entire character isn't being held back by mediocre rolls.

Point buy, everybody should start with the same opportunities.

Rolling, 3d6 straight down if D&D or similar system. I have too many character concepts for my own good and that at least narrows the choices down.

File: 1276755626783.gif (1MB, 302x201px) Image search: [Google]

1MB, 302x201px

>>49809455
I like both for different applications.

I like rolling stats when I have no idea what I want to play, and everyone agrees to do so as part of a narrative thing, mostly in AD&D and whatnot. It's like emulating RL sort of; you never know what you'll be handed and have to make the best of it. I only have one group of friends that goes for this, but it's a lot of fun when we do it. Some of the longest and best campaigns have started this way.

If I'm in a group or running for a group that wants to play concepts, which is most of my groups, then point buy is the way to go. It lets people do what they want, and for some players, that's how they enjoy the game. They couldn't enjoy a character being handed to them, which is basically what rolling does, so they are more comfortable on this side of the spectrum.

>>49809455
I like to alternate between them.

File: Consider-The-Following-random-31200159-500-500.jpg (37KB, 500x500px) Image search: [Google]

37KB, 500x500px

>>49809455
Depends on the type of game. I like rooling for something silly or something I know is just going to be a oneshot. Experiment in a space where it's good to do that with no real risk, basically. If it's more serious and likely to be a longtem campaign, I'd want to build my character up more with a concept in mind.

Though for many more complicated systems, I'd probably just prefer to roll so I don't have to spend 8 hours shopping in the book just so I can make a build that won't die 4 seconds into combat. I can accept a randomly generated dieing that quickly since less went into it and the challenge is more of an improve one of just trying to make an interesting character out of whatever nonsense you rolled.

Rolling if it's a group of new players when it will take forever for me to help them make characters... it saves a lot of time.

Point buy they're capable of building on their own time.

Rolling is fun, and generally my preferred, but I like their to be a threshold for the party. Particularly if everybody rolls better than one or two folks, it's just unfair to them because they can't contribute as well/at all if there's redundancy in roles.

Generally I go with:
Roll, but if you roll an average lower than average standard point buy, then you can point buy.

>>49809455
Rolling stats is only acceptable for short-living characters with frequent rotation in group.
I don't find enjoyable trying to roleplay some retarded combination of stats for half-year just because of that one roll at character creation.

I prefer no stats.
Just direct skills.
What you need to know is what character can do and what he cannot. And how good he does things he can do.
You don't need to know what those abilities stem from. Or, rather, you don't need them to be FORCED into stemming from this or that as opposed to anything else you can think as an interpretation.
In a game where there is just "swords" skill, and not DEX/STR/ETC bullshit, you can perfectly tell that your warrior is good because he is very strong, OR very quick OR combines those to some exent OR because something completely else. The game isn't creating forced paths for you.

BUT if your game has stats already, point buy is a mechanic that is fair to everyone and won't make any player feel like secondary character.

Why would anyone ever roll for stats? It's about as fun as dragging your ass on glass shards.

I find point buy incredibly boring and enjoy randomly generating characters but I don't think it's necessarily suited to all games.
I just wish more games had non-random non-pointbuy character creation.

File: Solve this.jpg (374KB, 950x1382px) Image search: [Google]

374KB, 950x1382px

Point buy. Rolling is fucking retarded. I don't want to be the party's bitchboy, and I don't want anyone else to be forced into that position.

Once the game starts, I can get fucked over by the dice to whatever deity watching's content, but for fuck's sake, I don't need to get screwed before the game even starts.

Besides, if I'm going to be playing this character for any period of time, I want them to be built more or less how they were in my head. Like I said above, once the game starts, bad shit can happen. If I want to play X, I want to play X, not some crippled version of Y because I rolled like hot garbage.

>>49810043
Ok, legit question. What's an example of non-random, non-point buy, because I'm seriously struggling to come up with anything.

File: 1476607936413.png (310KB, 1696x2502px) Image search: [Google]

310KB, 1696x2502px

>>49810088
here

>>49809455
Depends. Normally point buy because I like building my character how I want, but Im going to run WHFRP soon and me and all the players are looking forward to getting to know our characters as they happen.

>>49810088
I believe burning wheels life path system fits that description

>>49810121
That's still random, because you're drawing randomly from a deck of cards, or rolling to randomly determine which array you use, then randomly determining which number goes where.

File: 1452785629980.jpg (12KB, 180x204px) Image search: [Google]

12KB, 180x204px

>>49810159
read again

>>49810178
>What's an example of non-random, non-point buy
>posts an image in response which is full of randomisation in the chargen process

Point buy for balance, rolling for wacky and fast characters.

Thus most of the time Point buy is king.

>>49809455
point buy, rolling stats is for retards

pointbuy

if you see someone minmaxing they aren't worth having at your table

File: 1454650495984.png (73KB, 360x403px) Image search: [Google]

73KB, 360x403px

>>49810201
>wants an alternative
>is given one
>complains it's not the original idea of the century he thought it was going to be

>>49810384
>asks for something that's not X
>gets given X
>'why are you complaining?'

>>49810379
Minmaxing with rolls. How is it even possible ? If he's rolling in front of you (like he should), how the hell is he going to minmax ?

>>49809455
Point buy. Everyone should have the opportunity to feel useful.
It's also somewhat annoying to come up with a character concept, roll stats, and then not get anything that fits the concept.

But I'm not picky, and I'll play both.

>>49810395
He means that pointbuy is better because you can instantly see who's minmaxin

>>49810393
what is an alternative anon ? It's something that's not X nor Y. Why complain that it contains elements from both when those are the only possible ways to do Z ?

>>49809455
I usually ban rolling for stats when I DM. Rolling is bullshit that ends up with inevitably uneven parties.

File: 1430647652712.jpg (40KB, 640x400px) Image search: [Google]

40KB, 640x400px

>>49809455
I just use the standard array, if someone wants to roll they have to do it with the entire party as witness and they have to keep what they roll.

>>49809455
For Anima, Savage Worlds, or EotE: Point Buy
For D&D, Rolling or Array.

>>49809455
Thanks doc

>>49810088
>Ok, legit question. What's an example of non-random, non-point buy, because I'm seriously struggling to come up with anything.

Stat arrays. I mean they're basically just point-buy with all possible permutations already calculated for you but it's still a lot faster to just pick an array rather than doing the numbers yourself.

Alternatively you could set up some sort of "pick your ability scores based on most important to least important" and just assign scores based on that.

I'm not saying any of these are good alternatives mind you. Just alternatives.

File: ferret-poodle.jpg (3MB, 2334x2304px) Image search: [Google]

3MB, 2334x2304px

I prefer rolling stats because my DM is pretty chill and will tell me if he wants me to reroll stats if he feels that they are too low. He says there's no point in making a character if they are just going to become the party bitch and do nothing because they rolled shit numbers before the game even began.

>>49811321
My DM does that too, and it feels like everyone always ends up with having demigods as characters.

>>49811371
It's hard not to become overpowered if your DM is lax on what you can do with bluff and intimidate. A potion of glibness is game breaking if your DM lets you use it in a crowd of people.

Rolled 1, 5, 2, 3, 4, 5, 1, 5, 1, 4, 6, 5, 3, 2, 4, 2, 4, 2, 3, 3, 3, 1, 2, 3 = 74 (24d6)

>>49809455
Let me answer with the following:
Check this nat 18 STR:
in-order, dropping the lowest of each set of 4 dice.

>>49811843
STR: 10
DEX: 14
CON: 15
INT: 9
WIS: 10
CHA: 8

Okay... not exactly what I wanted. Could make a decent barb, though.

I like rolling because it lets you try things you might not otherwise consider. It also keeps you from min-maxing too much. I do think it is, however, important to allow re-rolls in some situations. For example, if a player has rolled pretty much the same stat makeup for the last few campaigns and is getting tired of picking the same classes, they should be allowed to try again. If a player has 2 or more stats below 6, they should be allowed to re-roll one of them.

STR:9
DEX:13
CON:10
INT:12
WIS:9
CHA:8

>>49811321
So why roll stats in the first place?

>>49809455
Points-buy. It's more balanced and gives me much greater control over the sort of character I want to play. I can pick a concept I like and assign stats that fit, rather than having to work with whatever the dice give me. Honestly I'd be extremely reluctant to join a game that used rolled stats.

Point Buy for life. I don't want be condemned to mediocrity because of six rolls before the game really started.

inb4 "but muh clever play," a fucktard with a 6-10 Int and Wis isn't going to be the man with the clever plans unless you are a metagaming twat.

>>49809455
Usually point buy, but in D&D I prefer rolling even if it's the worse choice.

>>49809455
I prefer rolling for stats in a better system that D&D.

>>49811888
What about the guy that rolls all his stats in the 10-13 range, meaning he hit fucking average and is actually good at nothing.

Point buy because I have shit tier luck

>>49809455
>Got a question for you. Which do you prefer? Rolling for stats or point buy?

Rolling for point buy.

>>49812322
He can multi-class into some really wonky combinations.

File: 01.jpg (435KB, 1280x960px) Image search: [Google]

435KB, 1280x960px

>>49812370
And suck at all of them. Awesome.

>>49812449
Well, it's useful if your party has a lot of roles that still need filled. Or, you can look for some synergies. I wouldn't force the player to go with the roles, but I'd encourage them to at least consider them.

File: cirno the saddest.jpg (191KB, 500x500px) Image search: [Google]

191KB, 500x500px

>>49809500
Not realistic at all

I like to roll.

3d3 exploding.

>>49809455
I hate using an array of stats. It makes every character feel the same, just with their stats switched around.

It really depends on the system. In something like D&D I really feel like rolling your stats helps the players get invested in their character. It has the potential to give unique things for you players to latch onto ("hey guys, remember that one rogue I played with 5 Wisdom? That sure was cool"). Basically, I feel like it provides a mechanism for creating more interesting characters.

>>49812322
>>49812449
I can't seem to find it, but I'm pretty sure that 5e RAW says that if you don't have any ability scores above 13 or have a net modifer of 0 or lower then you can reroll.

>>49813385
>3d3 exploding
That's pretty shit mate.
http://anydice.com/program/99ab

At least you won't ever get an average stat, but are very likely to be BELOW average.

>>49813609
That's the point you autist. It's all or nothing, none of this namby pamby in between bullcrap.

>>49809850
this.

It might be acceptable for a one-shot but if you like playing long games with actual character growth and roleplaying you're quickly going to tire of having the RNG tell you what kind of character you can play for the next god knows how long.

>>49810701
That's the whole fucking point, how goddamn stupid are you, you little shit? He said non-random.

That's fucking random. Its not an alternative when its the fucking thing, fuck's sake.

>>49809455
Hey, my gf has those.

>>49809455
Roll 21 d6 find the sum, distribute the sum between your stats to a max of 18 before racial modifiers per stat.

>>49815279
>the worst aspects of random rolling and point-buy in one shitty package

If you're going to roll that many dice anyway, you may as well take a point buy system and roll [points given]d6, distributing the points as they come up.

So e.g.
1,1,1,2,2,3,3,3,3 means "3 points into Str, 2 points into Dex, 4 points into Con" (or into stat A, stat B, stat C, if you want to arrange them)

>>49815308
I am sure you enjoy making crippled characters, but not everyone does.

10s across the board. For everyone. No exceptions.

>>49809455
Rolling. More fun.

>>49811843
If you go in order it's 3d6 a stat no reroll.
8
10
11
9
9
6

>Shit
The games I've played is 4d6 3 highest put them where you want them

So obviously any game is going to be unique to the group playing it, but as a DM I tend to go for point-buy because everyone I play with is like me: we take an almost perverse pleasure in finding the weakness of a system and figuring out how to break it utterly (at least in theory).

We're all horrible, horrible min-maxers on paper and it causes very real stress when we see stat efficiency left on the table due to a poor build, or (even worse) the wrong allocation of points.

But another way of looking at that is that none of us want to play a character that's hobbled by the game mechanics--we like to rip apart the mechanics to get at the wonderful gooey center of what makes our characters tick, and once we've done that? Once we've achieved our absurdly overpowered characters?

All that goes right out the window once the gameplay actually starts. Again, I think this is an uncommon sort of trait for a group of players to have, but just because our characters can do something doesn't mean that they will. A common thread of our games is characters who wield potential unholy power but in practice act with restraint (or just goofiness). It works for us, and it's fun, so I go with point distribution.

>>49809455

Rolling. Point by reeks of a game that's headed to no-fun/high-player-drama. Randomness is why you play dice-based rpgs.

File: CpLAwaOWEAAoXFS.jpg (23KB, 326x323px) Image search: [Google]

23KB, 326x323px

rolling is the most fun, because when you roll for stats you get to roll dice. and rolling dice is fun

QED

>>49809455

Depends on the system.

Meatgrinder games or old-school dungeon crawls can get away with 3d6 down-the-line if they feel like it, as can just about any game where character creation is quick and life is cheap.

Games designed for long campaigns or with complex and lengthy character creation are generally better off with point-buy.

>>49809455
Point buy.

>>49809455
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBmEFgd_4ho

>>49818091
It's funny because deendeefags unironically believe this

>>49819666
>The average that you're going to roll on 3d6 is a 9
Um...

Point-buy:

Rolling, for me, seems inconvenient and is denying my input on my own character because there's now a meta-game where you have to invent a character concept within the confines the rolls dictate.
This should be, from what I've seen here, fine for many, but usually my players and I like to set up the character concept first, then quantify that concept second.

>>49820528

Well, The minimal would be 3 and the max would be 18.

I think he just took 18 and divided by 2.

Rolled 1, 5, 3, 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 2, 4, 2, 1, 2, 2, 6, 2 = 52 (18d6)

>>49809455
Let's see what I can make. I just hope I don't have a character with like 4 Int or something.

>>49809467
>chance of minmaxing
except minmaxing is a conscious, and rolling just fucks you, or makes you busted.

More often than not, if you put any emphasis on system and game mechanics, like any at all, bad scores mean a bad time.

File: anigif_enhanced-11707-1410608649-1.gif (500KB, 500x263px) Image search: [Google]

500KB, 500x263px

>>49821638
>>49821638
Str: 9
Dex: 6
Con: 12
Int: 10
Wis: 5
Cha: 8


Oh dear... well, at least I'd get a chance to reroll soon.

I use point buy because I expect everyone to min max for SOMETHING and want to discourage the idea that making a character that is good at something is wrong.

>>49821638
how the hell did you roll that badly?

Also if you can roll 4 4s in a row, go to vegas or play the lottery

>>49810088
Adjusted rolling.

After rolling as many times as your stats, you can sort the rolls as you wish (the system has to be adapted if not all stats are the same dice combination). You can also adjust any stat by some rule, often something like: adjust upwards by one point at a cost of two points in another stat, as long as you stay within the race max/min interval.

So basically yeah, it's not non-random, non-point-buy, it's both.

Stat array for everybody at my table.

Either the whole group point buys or the whole group rolls each stat down the line. Those are the two acceptable styles.

>>49821737
And that's why you should never roll for stats.

three twenties, three ones.

>>49813336
Yeah, because dragons, cyclopi and vampires are realistic, right?

Rolled 2, 4, 1, 5 = 12 (4d6)

Rollin'

>>49809455
Point buy. I generally like to have a character concept in mind and begin with stats that make it mechanically viable, rather than just taking something random and improvising, I've done that shit enough times that I've established my roleplaying bonafides, I don't need to do it yet again to prove once more that I'm good at playing pretend.

For D&D 4e and 5e i use the standard array. In 3.5e rolling saves me time.

>>49809890
>In a game where there is just "swords" skill, and not DEX/STR/ETC bullshit, you can perfectly tell that your warrior is good because he is very strong, OR very quick OR combines those to some exent OR because something completely else.

Then where do you get carrying capacity or regular old strength rolls from?

I like stat array.

It means you don't have someone massively over or under powered, but still have weaknesses.
Also super quick and easy, while keeping a limit on min/maxxing.

May I say "Life paths"?

>>49809455
4d6 drop lowest for a casual game
15-point buy for a more serious game.

In a casual game i just want to have fun with my friends. In a serious game, i want to feel like someone who is slightly-better than the average who's been thrust into the spotlight and has to be a hero. In a serious game I want to have flaws and weaknesses and strengths in somewhat equal measure so some optimization is preferred. In a casual game it doesn't really matter

>>49813456
>I hate using an array of stats. It makes every character feel the same, just with their stats switched around.
If everybody is using the same array, I agree. Everybody is just just as good at their best thing, just as bad at the worst, and they line up on everything in between. It's one thing for characters to be equal overall but to have different patterns, but to have the same exact scores divvied out? That's lame. But you could always use something like this >>49810121 to address that problem.

Generally speaking, the further you go back in D&D's history, the less important stats are. The power gap between a character with low stats and one with high stats is much bigger in 3.5 than it is AD&D, and the same thing can be said of AD&D vs. OD&D. For this reason, rolling stats in 3.5 is probably a bad idea, while it's no big deal in OD&D.

>>49809455
Rolling stats by far
its nice to have one or two good stats and be average joe in everything else
or on rare occasion its spooky to be pretty damn good at everything and be expected to pull everyone's weight
I think rolling for stats represents the randomness of the individual person
compared to "my character has 10s in everything except for his wisdom which is 15" which is in no way interesting and literally whats the point?

>>49809455
I roll for points