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5 years ago ::
Dec 17, 2007 - 8:33AM
#1
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- Forum Guide
- Hero Craftsman Gold Medalist
- Master Dungeon Master
Date Joined:
Jun 23, 2005
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From Mazzanoble's new article:[indent]Previously, the dice controlled your character’s fate when it came to ability scores, and you often you wound up with a rogue who looked like he dove into a shallow gene pool and chipped his two front teeth. 4th Edition is like creating a “designer baby,” minus the controversy. Move over bad dice rolls, now there’s something meatier: point buy! You start with six base numbers and get to improve them with points you can distribute where you like. I dumped a bunch into Intelligence and Wisdom, and then bumped up Charisma because someone has to sweet talk the minions. If you’re the gambling type and don’t want to mess with science, you can still leave it to the dice -- just start saving your gold now for braces and SAT prep classes.[/indent] So it appears, point-buy is now default and randomization is the optional method. Interesting...
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5 years ago ::
Dec 17, 2007 - 9:05AM
#2
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Date Joined:
Jun 15, 2006
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I makes sense. Playtests will be more accurate with a point buy system rather than trying to balance for random stats.
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5 years ago ::
Dec 17, 2007 - 9:15AM
#3
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Date Joined:
Oct 10, 2007
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woot. Good to hear.
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5 years ago ::
Dec 17, 2007 - 9:36AM
#4
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Date Joined:
Aug 29, 2006
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I can go either way on this, but from a design point of view, I agree that this makes more sense.
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5 years ago ::
Dec 17, 2007 - 9:37AM
#5
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Date Joined:
Aug 22, 2007
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My heart is made glad.
Though I cannot claim the same for my all of my gaming group.
Truthfully, this does 'balance' things much more than the older system. Randomly rolled stats were the defining concept behind 'winning' and 'loosing' charcters in a lot of games, so much that it got to the point a few times where it was "just keep rolling till you got a block you like, just don't be too demanding of it." This thankfully worked with my group...usually. When point buy was brought up (either from DMG or PHB 2, I don't remember) they didn't care for it because it created 'subpar' characters. This meaning they couldn't have an 18 everytime unless they really wanted to take a hit elsewhere.
Though it may cause problems for a while in some groups, I for one am glad that they made the point buy system the standard.
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5 years ago ::
Dec 17, 2007 - 10:08AM
#6
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Date Joined:
Mar 31, 2007
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i for one. will still roll my dice. i love rolling dice. the only thing i do not like is the fact that it now is a variant, and that the risk that i would not be allowed to roll, would be dramaticly increased
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5 years ago ::
Dec 17, 2007 - 10:42AM
#7
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Date Joined:
Jan 25, 2006
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This is the worst thing I've heard about 4e so far. The idea of picking your ability scores (albeit with restrictions, I understand how it works) is unfathomable to me. I cannot even bring myself to tell how much I loathe point buy systems. And to avoid simply complaining, I will just state 'I can ignore it'. 
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5 years ago ::
Dec 17, 2007 - 10:43AM
#8
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i for one. will still roll my dice. i love rolling dice. the only thing i do not like is the fact that it now is a variant, and that the risk that i would not be allowed to roll, would be dramaticly increased
So um...horrible grammar aside, this shouldn't change anything for anyone. I'll be enforcing point-buy on my group, but I was going to do that with my latest campaign anyway. Just talk it over with your group/DM; come to an agreement or at least a consensus and build scores accordingly. If your DM tends to dislike variants on face, just have a mini-referendum of the players. He'll go the way of the group's wishes if he's any decent sort of bloke and you have good reasons for your insistence on rolling for scores.
I feel like people need this emphasized regularly: just because the 'official' rules will be changing immensely for this next edition doesn't mean you can't house rule things about 3e that you preferred. D&D will always (at least I assume it will) be a game driven by the individual.
In response to any dissidents, I would say that there is a good reason to use point-buy over rolling, and it happens to be the very same reason most players prefer to roll. Rolling allows a player to have "better" scores than another player. Many players, several in my group especially, have managed to wrap their ego up into the game and garner some sort of utility from having three 18s while everyone else has one. One might argue that they just like to have high scores period, but if that were the case then most groups would be using an elevated point-buy. Unfortunately, players having stat variance creates discord in the group. The larger the variance, the more a particular player (or sometimes even two or three) will be made unhappy. Put simply: it's just not fun when your character is the weakling and you feel consistently outclassed by your erstwhile friend. From the DM's perspective, it is best to curb this problem and foster as much fun in each player as possible. That goal is why I use point buy in my games. If I want to run a game with more realism, I offer fewer points. For a more classical heroic game, I offer more points. The system works, and the only flaw is that players tend to avoid odd scores (which feel like a waste of points), resulting in ability score blocks that feel manufactured rather than organic. That's a price I'm willing to pay for my players' enjoyment.
Cheers
Kyle
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5 years ago ::
Dec 17, 2007 - 10:47AM
#9
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Date Joined:
Aug 18, 2007
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Point buy is by far the best way to generate ability scores. It keeps everything even in the party, and avoids PC bitterness. Besides, in my experience, people who advocate rolling want to do so as long as they can keep re-rolling until they get what they want.
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5 years ago ::
Dec 17, 2007 - 10:51AM
#10
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Date Joined:
Jan 25, 2006
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Point buy is by far the best way to generate ability scores. It keeps everything even in the party, and avoids PC bitterness. Besides, in my experience, people who advocate rolling want to do so as long as they can keep re-rolling until they get what they want.
I still roll 3d6, down the line . . . no rerolls (unless there's nothing above 9)
But I suspect I'm in the minority here. 
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