Who still rolls their stats?


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1. No. Not since 2005. I liked how much more balanced everyone was, how they didn't die as often, and how you got to custom make your character.

2. Half. Half of my gamers are from the old school, and still want to roll. The other half started gaming after the 2005 change over. Once, the old school gamers begged and begged to roll, so we did. The new schoolers, looking at their stats and saying "That wasn't really what I had in mind for my character," couldn't believe that anyone would ever roll for stats. As they (and I) have pointed out: "Who cares if in real life you have to play the cards you are dealt? I don't want to play some random guy; I want to play my own awesome hero!" The old schoolers got nothing but 9-12 on their rolls, and opted to point buy after all. Now, that said, in all but one of my games, the GM uses point buy. The one game we rolled for, the GM allowed point buy after I rolled three separate times and got nothing but 10's and lower.

3. Since 1998, when I was but a preteen.

4. AD&D/2nd Edition. We played the first five levels with the rules that the classes were Fighter, Cleric, Wizard, Rouge, Elf, Dwarf, Halfling, and afterwards switched to the Black Book AD&D set. You know, the set with the 'Monstrous Manual' instead of the Monster Manual?

Thank you.


Elthbert wrote:


So here are the questions.

Do you roll your characters?

Is your answer the deefault of your gaming group?

How long have you been gaming?

What system did you first game in?

Yes, I roll all my characters. I vary it up a little depending on what the group is going for. 3d6 rolled in order if we're doing a hardcore role playing type game, up to 5d6 6 times drop lowest two if we're doing a really high powered game. I'm looking forward to trying the dice pool system in Pathfinder, but haven't had a chance yet.

Rolling is the default for my gaming group. I don't know that I, or any of my GMs have ever allowed point buy.

Since 2004, so 7 years.

First system was D&D 3.5


TriOmegaZero wrote:
Martin Kauffman 530 wrote:
IN ALL MY HOME GAMES CHARACRERS ARE STILL ROLLED USING 4D6 DROP ONE. I STARTED PLAYING D&D IN 1980. My groups prefer this as it leads to more interesting characters and more roleplaying.
Pretty sure that has more to do with your groups attitude than how you roll the dice.

I think we can all agree that capital letters are more interesting characters than lower-case letters.

Sovereign Court

I feel lke an old timer in here since I have been playing since Sept 1979. The PH was still fairly new (one or 2 months old). Back then we where happy to have 3 books. And when Unearthed Arcana Came out we did back flips. Then another back-flip with a cartwheel when Fiend Folo hit Back then only modules where released on a fequent bases. Now days it seems like a new HB book s released every month (well with 1 company they are)

Hard to believe I have playing that long


Elthbert wrote:


So here are the questions.

Do you roll your characters?

Usually no, though we do with some games (like Call of Cthulhu or Warhammer)

Elthbert wrote:


Is your answer the deefault of your gaming group?

Yes, all of our GMs usually do Point-Buy.

Elthbert wrote:


How long have you been gaming?

About 3 years.

Elthbert wrote:


What system did you first game in?

Star Wars Saga Edition

Elthbert wrote:


Thank you.

No problem.

RegUS PatOff wrote:


Q: What RPG systems have you played (regularly)/what has your system progression looked like?

Star Wars Saga Edition, D&D 4E, Anima: Beyond Fantasy, Dark Heresy, Rogue Trader, BESM, Vampire: The Masquerade, Feng Shui, Pathfinder, Call of Cthulhu, Warhammer Fantasy 2E, Stickmen (starting soon).

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
RegUS PatOff wrote:

And my additional question:

Q: What RPG systems have you played (regularly)/what has your system progression looked like?
A: D&D, Traveller (original), Boot Hill (original), En Garde, Chivalry & Sorcery, Bushido (original), Tunnels & Trolls, Commando (old SPI), Top Secret, Metamorphosis Alpha, Gamma World (original), lots of homebrews, RuneQuest, AD&D, Rolemaster, 3.0/3.5, Pathfinder.

Didn't notice someone else posed a question when I answered. My answer to this question is.

DnD and a host of other games all of them was short lived 3-6 months and included Rolemaster, Spacemaster, Traveler, Champions, GURPS, Gamma World, Top Secret, Boot Hill, Twilight 2000, and I am sure more I am forget.

After that I got into Vampire and other World of Darkness games and started playing them almost exclusively only occasionally playing Deadlands and In Nomina during that time.

About the time 3.5 came out I went back to DnD and have mostly played it every since(eventually switching to Pathfinder). But we do still play some short campaigns of Deadlands, Serentiy, Spacemaster, Star Wars, Twilight 2013, and 4e.

I still want to try CoC and Dreseden Files

I have likely forgot a few games.


Ernest Mueller wrote:
We roll, 4d6 6 times. Point buy is the heart of min-maxing.

What utter hogwash!

I've played since '81 and rolled stats until about 1996. Since then it has been point buy of some sort or another. I remember one DM of mine who introduced me to the concept of point buy - he said arrive at your stats anyway you like but he used a variant XP bonus system. If the total of your stats was over X (80 points I think?) you got a -2% penalty to earned XP per point over. I you were under X you got a +1% bonus to earned XP per point.

Everyone in the game went for a balance of +0 (which, we found out later, was exactly what the DM wanted). I don't think I'd ever use this myself but it was the first time I had experienced a 'point buy' system in use.


Elthbert wrote:
Do you roll your characters?

Yes

Elthbert wrote:
Is your answer the deefault of your gaming group?

Yes when we play games that allow it. IE games like Legend of the 5 and Champions Rings is totaly point buy

Elthbert wrote:
How long have you been gaming?

26 years about

Elthbert wrote:
What system did you first game in?

Basic D&D

Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

No - Our groups have a fixed array that they place in any order.

Yes - We found it prevents minmaxery, and makes each character equal (albeit with different focus)

Since 2000/2001 (so about 10 years now) woah.

Technically HeroQuest board game, but didn't play a proper RPG until 3.0 (we used to roll then 4d6 drop the lowest), it always ended up with one character who had uber-stats, two characters with manageable stats, and one character with barely acceptable stats. Which made for the game feeling like No challenge for the uber-stat, and No fun for barely acceptable stats.

Sovereign Court

Q: What RPG systems have you played (regularly)/what has your system progression looked like?

A: 1st Ed D&D, Travaler, Gamma World (Original), Tunnels and Trolls, Top Secret, Boot Hill, Champions, Star Frontiers, Pendragon, Twighlight 2000, Marvel Super Hero, Role Master, Warhammer RPG, Middle Earth Role Playing, 2nd Ed, 3.0, 3.5, Pathfinder. I am sure there were more, they just slip my mind.

Started with Blue Box basic and by the end of the week I was playing AD&D, Got into Traveler and played heavy for a short time. Moved into Gamma World and played that off an on, and then a short stint in T&T, Played alot of Top Secret once I was out of the military, as well as Boot Hill, Champions.

When SF came out, we ate this game up. We loved it and came up with our own rules for space travel that seemed to be lacking in SF.

One of the DM's we had wanted to play Pendragon. Fun game that really took chivilary to what it should be. We then played a long time in TW2000 and really enjoyed ourselves.

From there everything else was sporatic until 2.0, 3.0 and 3.5. But I will say it was sporatic playing between 2.0 and 3.0


This is somewhat of a tangent, but I think Elthbert will forgive me. This question is for John, and for anyone else who rolls and point buys depending on which game they're playing:

John Kretzer wrote:


Elthbert wrote:
Is your answer the deefault of your gaming group?
Yes when we play games that allow it. IE games like Legend of the 5 and Champions Rings is totaly point buy

First I'd like to ask whether you have a preference for rolling games or pb games?

Second, have you ever considered house ruling a pb game to roll for stats, or vice versa?


Tequila Sunrise wrote:

This is somewhat of a tangent, but I think Elthbert will forgive me. This question is for John, and for anyone else who rolls and point buys depending on which game they're playing:

John Kretzer wrote:


Elthbert wrote:
Is your answer the deefault of your gaming group?
Yes when we play games that allow it. IE games like Legend of the 5 and Champions Rings is totaly point buy

First I'd like to ask whether you have a preference for rolling games or pb games?

Second, have you ever considered house ruling a pb game to roll for stats, or vice versa?

To answear your questions...

1) I perfer rolling the dice to generate stats. As I see it cuts down tremendously on min/ maxing and you stop seeing cookie cutter stat blocks. Also I never had a concept that I could not adapt to what I rolled...most of the time the character is actualy funner to play due to rolling.

But I don't mind PB...it is just I see people who resist adapting their concepts to the dice...their characters tend not to grow as their 'concept' become all consuming. Not everyone but that is the real trap of PB systems in my opinion.

2) Never really cared to bother to do that...except when I came across my first PB system...and did not understand it....but I was younf back than.

Overall how you got the stats is more of a whatever issue to me...in the end it is not really all that important.


Ernest Mueller wrote:
We roll, 4d6 6 times. Point buy is the heart of min-maxing.

That's about as accurate as saying "Rolling for stats is the heart of munchkinism". I.e., it's sometimes true, but not particularly helpful as a generalisation.


1. Yes, 4d6 drop lowest, six times. I love it. I'm actually getting interested in making the rolls fixed with the stats when I run, which my group will absolutely hate.
2. Unfortunately, not my current one. They hate it.
3. Since 1986 or so.
4. The first game I played in was the pre-WotC Star Wars RPG. After that it was Basic D&D, followed by Advanced and Advanced 2e.


Elthbert wrote:

Almost all of the discussion I see here involves point buy characters.

How many people still roll their characters up? My group does, but we are either old timers, or those the old timers introduced to gaming. I am curious how many people still role thier characters and if thier is a corralation between that and length of gaming. I also onder what the influence of point buy systems like white wolf had on it.

So here are the questions.

Do you roll your characters?
Is your answer the deefault of your gaming group?
How long have you been gaming?
What system did you first game in?

1) Yes.

2) Yes.
3) 20 years.
4) D&D 2e.


Elthbert wrote:
Do you roll your characters?

Preferential method of character generation. Not a fan of point buys, too determinant, not enough randomness. I like roll 3d6 and assign as roll. I have used roll 4d6 drop lowest, 3d6 reroll 1s, and 4d4+4 method.

Quote:
Is your answer the deefault of your gaming group?

Yes. I am the primary GM, the other two that GM are gamers I introduced to gaming and follow suit.

Quote:
How long have you been gaming?

Off and on between 1981 and 1989, regularly since 1989.

Quote:
What system did you first game in?

Red Box Dungeons and Dragons, otherwise known as Basic DnD, where playing a Dwarf was your race and class.


-We used to roll, but with Pathfinder we found that using point buy was more enjoyable
-Point buy is our current default
-2002, started with 2ed and quickly moved on to 3.0 and then 3.5 came out shortly after. Years later we heard about PFRPG and haven't looked back. We have dabbled with World of Darkness lately.


RegUS PatOff wrote:

And my additional question:

Q: What RPG systems have you played (regularly)/what has your system progression looked like?

Did not see this question...

I don't have a system progression...as in a game I played 10 year ago I might dust it off and run a game of it(like I did with 7th Sea)...so no game I have played that I liked gets completely abandoned.

But here is the list of RPGs I ave played...

All versions of D&D(including PFRPG), 4th ed Heroes and up to recent edition, L5R (1st and 4th only), Rifts, 7th Sea, Dark Hersey, WoD games, Marvel Super Heroes, Star Frontiers, Alternity, Gamma World( not the most recent one though), Boot Hill, Deadlands Weird West and Wasted West(the orginal versions), Savage World, GURPS, Chill, Star Ace, Deathwatch, Scion, Exalted, All Flesh must Be Eaten, Dead Reign, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, BESM(s20 and tristat versions), WHFRPG, Start Trek(I don't remember wich version though), Brave New World...and that is all I can think of right now...I am sure there are others.


Goblins Eighty-Five wrote:
The new schoolers, looking at their stats and saying "That wasn't really what I had in mind for my character," couldn't believe that anyone would ever roll for stats. As they (and I) have pointed out: "Who cares if in real life you have to play the cards you are dealt? I don't want to play some random guy; I want to play my own awesome hero!" The old schoolers got nothing but 9-12 on their rolls, and opted to point buy after all.

There's something wrong with the balance of the game if a few bad rolls force certain character choices. In my opinion, especially since 3E, you can play any character class with any stats.

But maybe you were talking about rolling stats in order, and then keeping them. That, I agree, is too restrictive. But when you say "that wasn't really what I had in mind for my character", you're just whining about rolling badly at that point.

How about I just try and get away with this: "oh, those stats aren't exactly what I had in mind. I was hoping for all 18s, and infinite gold, and make me level 20, and while we're at it, let's just say I won the game and go play Call of Duty."

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Jawsh wrote:
How about I just try and get away with this: "oh, those stats aren't exactly what I had in mind. I was hoping for all 18s, and infinite gold, and make me level 20, and while we're at it, let's just say I won the game and go play Call of Duty."

What does that even mean? Was that a 'playing the man not the ball argument?' or was it more of a 'straw man' argument? Listen, all I'm saying is that, at my table, dice rolling stats denies the custom made character. I want players with awesome stats, and their idea in their head to be placed into a fantasy world that I created. All 18s sure are boring, and the players know that. It is all about having fun. So, we sit down, and have fun. And Call of Duty is boring to me and mine, so we play PnP RPGs, where the object is to have fun, not win. Tell you what, you have fun your way, I'll have fun my way, and everyone will, ya know, have fun! :)


When we rolled dice it was 4d6 drop lowest and if the 3rd die was the same was the lowest reroll. Also lowest score became 18. Yes we were powerful, but we needed it to be honest... we had (still do) one of them killer DMs. Now-a-days the DM is better and we point-buy (25-point I believe).


Tayleron wrote:
When we rolled dice it was 4d6 drop lowest and if the 3rd die was the same was the lowest reroll. Also lowest score became 18. Yes we were powerful, but we needed it to be honest... we had (still do) one of them killer DMs. Now-a-days the DM is better and we point-buy (25-point I believe).

I like that system, there's no way my DM would go for it but it sounds fair and you get the type of character you want.

The point buy suggestion just won't work at my table. We like our characters as powerful as possible to have a better chance of living.


Elthbert wrote:


So here are the questions.

Do you roll your characters?

Is your answer the deefault of your gaming group?

How long have you been gaming?

What system did you first game in?

Thank you.

Yes, we still roll our characters. 4d6, drop the lowest, 6 times. Assign the numbers as you wish.

Yes. We allowed point buy for two new players, but were unpleasantly surprised to find out they were min/maxers, so we no longer allow this.

I first played 2nd edition D&D back in 1997, I believe. This was my first RPG experience. I have been playing 3.5/PF for 2 1/2 years now.


Goblins Eighty-Five wrote:
Jawsh wrote:
How about I just try and get away with this: "oh, those stats aren't exactly what I had in mind. I was hoping for all 18s, and infinite gold, and make me level 20, and while we're at it, let's just say I won the game and go play Call of Duty."
What does that even mean? Was that a 'playing the man not the ball argument?' or was it more of a 'straw man' argument? Listen, all I'm saying is that, at my table, dice rolling stats denies the custom made character. I want players with awesome stats, and their idea in their head to be placed into a fantasy world that I created. All 18s sure are boring, and the players know that. It is all about having fun. So, we sit down, and have fun. And Call of Duty is boring to me and mine, so we play PnP RPGs, where the object is to have fun, not win. Tell you what, you have fun your way, I'll have fun my way, and everyone will, ya know, have fun! :)

And all I was saying (I admit, with unnecessary snark) is that it's not true that dice rolling denies the custom made character.


Elthbert wrote:

Almost all of the discussion I see here involves point buy characters.

How many people still roll their characters up? My group does, but we are either old timers, or those the old timers introduced to gaming. I am curious how many people still role thier characters and if thier is a corralation between that and length of gaming. I also onder what the influence of point buy systems like white wolf had on it.

So here are the questions.

Do you roll your characters?

Is your answer the deefault of your gaming group?

How long have you been gaming?

What system did you first game in?

Thank you.

Yes we usually roll. Our house system is 4d6, re-roll 1's drop lowest, arrange as you wish

Been gaming since the late 70's

First started using the D&D basic set


Started playing with 2nd Edition. Pretty much always use point-buy.
If we want low-power, use low point buy, if we want high powered, use high point buy.
Probably would only use rolling now in a game where you can´t choose where the numbers go (i.e. which stats).

Scarab Sages

For those times when I'm bored at work (or eating lunch) I made an Excel d6 roller and will generate sets of scores.


Do you roll your characters? Yes, in fact, we've never done point buy.

Is your answer the deefault of your gaming group? Yes. Kind of already answered that one.

How long have you been gaming? Pretty much since the day D&D 3.0 came out although much of the group has been doing this longer than I.

What system did you first game in? Kind of already answered that one.

Thank you. You're welcome.


Do you roll your characters?
I prefer to, but most GMs I've met prefer point buy (and I don't care enough to argue over it). When I GM I allow rerolls upon request of the character score average is well below 12-13. (I know a guy who hates rolling after getting a char whose highest stat was an 11, and not being permitted to reroll. That pretty much violates my zeroth rule of GMing, which is that the game should be fun.)

Is your answer the deefault of your gaming group?
It's become the default, yes.

How long have you been gaming?
About eight or nine years.

What system did you first game in?
D&D 3.0


1) yes I see pathfinder as a game of skill (choices you make) and luck (dice rolls) combining the two just makes sense. So players get to roll 4d6 and drop the lowest roll for each stat. they get one re-roll and one switch.

2) half and half sometimes we do point buy, but when I GM it is usually the 4d6 route. One time we did dice pool, but its like an OP point buy so it is discontinued.

3) a little over a year (hehe guess that makes me the newb)

4) Pathfinder, since I'm only 18 and it was so highly praised.


Do you roll your characters?
Yes. 4d6 drop the lowest, 3 sets of six. Pick the set you like best. Tends to err towards more powerful characters but my groups tend to err on the side of fewer than 4 PCs so it balances out.

Is your answer the default of your gaming group?
I DM so yes.

How long have you been gaming?
12 years.

What system did you first game in?
AD&D

And welcome to the newbs. I dunno, it just needed to be said.


Yes, we roll for character stats in our group.

The method we use is:

4d6, best three, down the line, re-roll lowest stat, swap any two stat rolls. If all six stats total less than 72, allocate the points making up the difference, but no stat can be more than 18 after allocation.

This or a variant is our default for fantasy d20 games.

I've been gaming since 1978.

I first played OD&D with some variants because 1st Ed. AD&D was coming out.

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