If so, how did that go for you and your players?
What point buy amount did you use?
We did a 32pb and character's were quite powerful with no dump stats. Really, it just resulted in high CHA party. At lower levels, we did some mowing down, but that quickly evened out.
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I am currently running 2 games that use a 25 point buy but there is also a option to use a stat array that i give out that equals out to 30. I added the 30 point buy arrays with the stipulation that the 25 point buys could have dump stats while the arrays used stats as is.
#1 15,15,15,14,12,12
#2 16,16,13,13,10,10
#3 16,15,14,13,13,12
#4 17,16,15,10,10,10
5 18,17,10,10,10,10
#6 17,17,12,12,10,10
#7 16,16,16,10,10,10
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One time i was exeedingly lucky and got all 18 rolls. You know what? The other guys were just as good, because they focused on their power stats and a wizard with 18 str still can't punch out an ogre :P Given it was kinda funny she could uppercut a peasant over a fence and it was nice she could take a hit, still once you get up to big enemies it all settles out and focuses more on tactics and roleplay anywho.
Man. Imma go to Vegas next week. Want to come with me?
OT: We've never done point buy higher than 25 but have gotten much, much higher equivalent costs with rolling.
M
The higher the Point Buy I found better the MAD classes got. It's really hard to play MAD class with 10 PT buy.
I like 15 point buy it keeps the PC from being well rounded super beings. Combat is dicier when the wizard does not have a 16 con score and so on. Higher point buys always seem to there for the purpose of combat and the combat becomes less fun when the risk of death is diminished.
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We use 78 points spent on a 1:1 basis. The characters are all way above and beyond the norm, representing fantasy quasi-superheroes.
It works very well. There aren't many magical items and the NPCs are all built the same. Hit Points are maximised for monsters and characters alike.
Resurrection is nearly impossible.
The DM's have a good feel for how much everyone cant take and are very good at winging things while the players are happy to go with the flow 99.9% of the time for the sake of adventure/story/fun.
We did a 35 point buy it was a fun game started at level 3 being charged by a heard ( yes a heard) of trasques and saved by an elder god who then used us as pawns in a war fought to entertain himself and another elder
Still rolling stats with our groups, We don't beleive in misguided concepts of equality. All people might be equal under the law but some are smarter, quicker, faster, smoother etc... People may not like to hear that but it happens to be more realistic and despite it being fantasy we tend towards grittier stuff.
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i'm currently in a 40 point game, near absent magic item campaign world (besides those crafted by greedy folks for themselves, such as PCs).
it is going good, we're strong, but we've had a near-TPK in most all of our encounters, so it balances well enough.
as a GM i typically use 18,16,16(14),12,10,8 for NPCs / classed enemies (37pt/32pt)
Still rolling stats with our groups, We don't beleive in misguided concepts of equality. All people might be equal under the law but some are smarter, quicker, faster, smoother etc... People may not like to hear that but it happens to be more realistic and despite it being fantasy we tend towards grittier stuff.
+1
Also, we use different die rolling systems for different games. In another thread I mentioned the no magic items (except for artifacts) game. We used 4d6 drop the lowest reroll 1s until they're not 1s. That left the party with better starting stats to make up for no items to upgrade stats.
In other games, standard 4d6 drop lowest. Actually, in one game we did roll 3d6, drop nothing, reroll 1s until they're not 1s for a slightly grittier feel. That was a fun (if deadly) game.
50 points which works out to about what I gave out in 3.5 and it's worked pretty well.
We don't point buy, but we do roll with what I'm convinced are unbalanced dice. The mean point buy equivalent is about 45-50 with a range of about 35-60.
It kind of balances out because no one at our table knows how to make or play effective characters, and party tactics are non existent.
The higher the Point Buy I found better the MAD classes got. It's really hard to play MAD class with 10 PT buy.Whats an "MAD" class? I'm still not up to date with the new lingo.
Multiple Ability Dependent or something like that.
Applies to characters that have class features and niches that work with too many Ability Scores. Usually the Monk is a MAD class (in spite of getting AC from Wisdom, making Dexterity less important), it is a bit subjective.
Edit: Removed Edit after being too late
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The higher the Point Buy I found better the MAD classes got. It's really hard to play MAD class with 10 PT buy.Whats an "MAD" class? I'm still not up to date with the new lingo.Multiple Ability Dependent or something like that.
Applies to characters that have class features and niches that work with too many Ability Scores. Usually the Monk is a MAD class (in spite of getting AC from Wisdom, making Dexterity less important), it is a bit subjective.
Thanks man. Yeah, I'm getting too old for all this crazy lingo. Someone needs to post a sticky with all the most used terms and what they mean. Of course, I blame video games for a lot of this language creep in. I actually had a player once talk about attacking MOB's. And she didn't mean groups of peasants with torches and pitchforks.
Thanks man. Yeah, I'm getting too old for all this crazy lingo. Someone needs to post a sticky with all the most used terms and what they mean. Of course, I blame video games for a lot of this language creep in. I actually had a player once talk about attacking MOB's. And she didn't mean groups of peasants with torches and pitchforks.The higher the Point Buy I found better the MAD classes got. It's really hard to play MAD class with 10 PT buy.Whats an "MAD" class? I'm still not up to date with the new lingo.Multiple Ability Dependent or something like that.
Applies to characters that have class features and niches that work with too many Ability Scores. Usually the Monk is a MAD class (in spite of getting AC from Wisdom, making Dexterity less important), it is a bit subjective.
Uhm, thanks, but I suck at explaining things, I'm gonna make an example so it gets clear because I don't understand what I wrote lol
I.e.
A class that isn't MAD is the Fighter, you can use that for comparisons. He usually needs a lot of Str, furthermore Constitution (as anyone else), and Dexterity for AC and Reflex Saves (as *almost* anyone else). Wisdom is useful for Will Saves. Int isn't really important, Fighters don't relly on skills, as many other classes. Charisma is almost useless.
For a Ranger the same abilities count, he doesn't get more benefits or penalties from any ability... except Wisdom, he does need Wisdom to cast his spells. It isn't that bad because you want to have a high Will Save anyway, but you prolly need to draw 1-2 points from Str and put those in Wisdom, it makes the Ranger a bit MAD.
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Thanks man. Yeah, I'm getting too old for all this crazy lingo. Someone needs to post a sticky with all the most used terms and what they mean. Of course, I blame video games for a lot of this language creep in. I actually had a player once talk about attacking MOB's. And she didn't mean groups of peasants with torches and pitchforks.The higher the Point Buy I found better the MAD classes got. It's really hard to play MAD class with 10 PT buy.Whats an "MAD" class? I'm still not up to date with the new lingo.Multiple Ability Dependent or something like that.
Applies to characters that have class features and niches that work with too many Ability Scores. Usually the Monk is a MAD class (in spite of getting AC from Wisdom, making Dexterity less important), it is a bit subjective.
Uhm, thanks, but I suck at explaining things, I'm gonna make an example so it gets clear because I don't understand what I wrote lol
I.e.
A class that isn't MAD is the Fighter, you can use that for comparisons. He usually needs a lot of Str, furthermore Constitution (as anyone else), and Dexterity for AC and Reflex Saves (as *almost* anyone else). Wisdom is useful for Will Saves. Int isn't really important, Fighters don't relly on skills, as many other classes. Charisma is almost useless.
For a Ranger the same abilities count, he doesn't get more benefits or penalties from any ability... except Wisdom, he does need Wisdom to cast his spells. It isn't that bad because you want to have a high Will Save anyway, but you prolly need to draw 1-2 points from Str and put those in Wisdom, it makes the Ranger a bit MAD.
I totally understood you the first time. No problem. I was talking about evolved gaming lingo in general. But yeah, I got ya.
For what it is worth I don't know what MOB means.
For what it is worth I don't know what MOB means.
Monster or beast
We have a rule where you get whatever scores you want so long as you total mod equals +8 (only one stat mod can be negative, no less than score 8) then add racial.
Adds up to around 40 points.
No worries- Cha still usually a dump stat.
We usually fight APL+2
Man.
I am running a game. 42 point buy.
ANd everyone has HIGH charisma. But one guy. XD
Even the Half-orc fighter. Spent alot of gold. To get high charisma. Put his +2.. In charisma.
He has 18 charisma.
He can still fight REALLY AWESOME.. But wow.
He looks so good. XD
I'm currently doing Savage Tide with a PF party of 6 on a 34 point buy.
The party is overall fairly strong, but i rebuild all my encounters anyways.
I use the slow XP progression also, because i add a lot of character tied in background and subplots plus faction related sidetreks.
It plays fine as long as you know you won't be using an established adventure out of the box.
And here I thought I was alone with my 42 pt buy game...
I have a friend doing a 38 point buy.
Our games are so similar, its painful.
My game is named dragonslayer.
Because I modeled it after a campaign I would always want to play in. Classic dragonslaying.
Except in my friends game, where we are also fighting somewhat oddly similar dragons.
With my crew we have been thus far successful in Rise of the Runelords with a 35 point buy system, though the AP was upgraded giving the npcs/monsters an additional alotment of hit dice and attribute points, or an increase in overall number of said mobs.
The players needed the increase after that point, rarely going beyond 3 encounters in a day before needing to rest to regain spells.
We also have used this in Curse of the Crimson Throne, but in this the monsters had increase hit points (to roughly maximum), but this was with a variable size party (ranging from 3-5 depending if all showed up or if folks dropped).
If so, how did that go for you and your players?
What point buy amount did you use?
I ran a 36 point buy game and MOST of the Players got the point.
Beware of the Power Gamers who will stat dump to optimize.
As an example (and I really don't know why I said okay) the problem
character was a monk Str 22 Dex 18 Con 16 Wis 18 Int 8 Cha 7, and I let him buy monks Robes. Again I really don't know what I was thinking.
I'm sorry Cos :(
In retrospect, I should have just kept the charisma and intel at 10. I'm still trying not to be a dirty power gamer, but it's soo hard.The strenght was the main stat for that character, and the dex/wisdom would have dropped a lil bit. (One of em would have been a 16) and Hey I still took profession sailor, so I wasn't that super munchkin.
I on the otherhand as a GM keep on moving down the point buy... the players I play with now are all power gamers, and 15-20 point buy is where the game should be for expereinced players.
In Wardove's Rumble in the Jungle (eventual Serpent's Skull AP), we're using 40-pt buy Gestalts. The group is comprised of four PCs (one player has an alt character) plus the DM-PC. Essentially, the DM-PC befriended or otherwise recruited the rest of the group from amongst the characters in the old Limbo RP Tavern PbP from a few months back.
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There's a few reasons why I went with this...
- I couldn't represent even myself with a 25 point buy let alone someone who is actually of heroic quality. I just don't think that RP characters should be weaker than their players.
- Most of us are reprising characters from 2nd Ed or face-to-face games where dice rolling was used. Trying to cram them into a single class progression and with only a 25-pt buy would have meant stripping down what are some very dynamic, well-rounded (no pun intended), and 3-dimensional characters.
- I like to play rough, to be able to throw situations at the party that might not be even remotely close to level appropriate rather than handling them with a kid glove. Running away, performing recon rather than engaging a foe, or bypassing combat via guile are all acceptable if not (in some cases) encouraged.
- While I like the theory of rolling ability scores (did it for years), practice has shown me that the dice do not favor everyone equally. While I don't believe that all characters need to be created equal, I can concentrate on more complex plots, and puzzles by ensuring I don't need to waste those "clock cycles" balancing things for characters of vastly different power levels.
- Alis: Bard/Rogue DM-PC
- Felmor: Fighter/Rogue (alt character for Lureene)
- Lureene: Wizard/Tiefling Paragon
- Malandranas: Barbarian/Druid
- Priyya: Cleric/Paladin
Thus far, the result has been just great! My players are really involved, the characters seem real and genuine, and the game has a genuinely heroic feel to it. I can honestly say that this is the most fun I've had with a group in a looong time. :)
In Wardove's Rumble in the Jungle (eventual Serpent's Skull AP), we're using 40-pt buy Gestalts. The group is comprised of four PCs (one player has an alt character) plus the DM-PC. Essentially, the DM-PC befriended or otherwise recruited the rest of the group from amongst the characters in the old Limbo RP Tavern PbP from a few months back.
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There's a few reasons why I went with this...
- I couldn't represent even myself with a 25 point buy let alone someone who is actually of heroic quality. I just don't think that RP characters should be weaker than their players.
- Most of us are reprising characters from 2nd Ed or face-to-face games where dice rolling was used. Trying to cram them into a single class progression and with only a 25-pt buy would have meant stripping down what are some very dynamic, well-rounded (no pun intended), and 3-dimensional characters.
- I like to play rough, to be able to throw situations at the party that might not be even remotely close to level appropriate rather than handling them with a kid glove. Running away, performing recon rather than engaging a foe, or bypassing combat via guile are all acceptable if not (in some cases) encouraged.
- While I like the theory of rolling ability scores (did it for years), practice has shown me that the dice do not favor everyone equally. While I don't believe that all characters need to be created equal, I can concentrate on more complex plots, and puzzles by ensuring I don't need to waste those "clock cycles" balancing things for characters of vastly different power levels.
** spoiler omitted **...
Fascinating Laithoron. I love seeing concrete examples Thanks so much for posting this.