Realistically speaking point buy isn't as fun as rolling the dice
>>96520258Wrong
>>96520258Rolling dice for character creation is fine as long as you have a system that actually supports it, rather than designers including it as a sacred cow without considering what the range of stats/characters that will result.
>>96520258It's also bullshit to begin with. No one is going to trade off to have multiple negatives. Most end up looking like Standard Array in the end.
>>96520258Depends so heavily on the game and the group you're playing with that your statement is meaningless.
>>96520258In D&D that's true but there are better systems for point buy
>>96520569It's worth noting that even the guys who originally created D&D eventually decided that rolling stats wasn't all that good of a character creation method.
>>96520653Sure but the way the stats are set up in D&D makes point buy super unsatisfying.You basically drop a stat to negative modifiers or suffer from it, while in something like GURPS you will always have enough points for increased stats
>>96520258If you have a player who knows exactly the character he wants to play and isn't going to try to 'optimize' it, point buy is acceptable. The majority of players are not like this, and point buy is just a pain for them because they'd rather just start playing, or be given a character/choice from selection of characters to play rather than have to create one from scratch. I actually like the approach of troika! & the bastionland games where character creation is ~4 rolls and you get something pre-made but somewhat flexible.
Balances party more evenly. Statistically overall less powerful characters.
>>96520302>rather than designers including it as a sacred cowThis puzzled me"Sacred cow" such as?
>>96520258Depends entirely on the system.If it's detailed, not loaded with trap options, and actually allows variety, putting together your PC is incredibly fun.On the other hand if it allows meaningfull randomization that goes beyond "see of your character sucks or not" it can also be fun. I liked the approach of "a wanderers romance" where you had a fixed number of stats and the dice merely decided how they were distributed.I also like a mixed approach like Midgard does it. Roll stats, buy skills and roll some details. Especially because the random stuff has mechanical effects beyond having good or bad stats.
>>96521114A good lifepath system is almost as good as a good point buy system like GURPSBut lifepaths SUCK 99% of the time
>>96520258Rolling the dice is fun, and is a good way of making a random NPC (You meet the owner of the tavern, rolls, oh he's apparently the son of Zeus but somehow got into hospitality). However fun is not the only important thing to play and fun is not the same thing as satisfying. A fun thing's funniness can fade, but something stays satisfying. I'd happily do a one shot of random characters like that.For a longer story about getting stronger, bad stats stop becoming an fun time and start becoming an annoyance. When the story is built to be about exceptional people having exceptional adventurers half of them having asthma is going to affect the fun.
>>96520258Oh boy I love getting fucked by bad luck in fantasy escapism games just like I did in real life.
