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So we're getting ready for our first Pathfinder adventure. We were going to do Master of the Fallen Fortress...but now with the stats I'm not sure if we'll be doing that or I may have to just edit the crap out of it (I'm GMing)
Here are a few of the groups STARTING (Lvl 1) stats:
Orc Barbarian:
17 HP
19 AC
22 STR
18 DEX
18 CON
8 INT
14 WIS
-2 CHA
Drow Ranger:
12 HP
17 AC
16 STR
19 DEX
12 CON
13 INT
13 WIS
15 CHA
Half-Orc Cleric:
10 HP
17 AC
20 STR
18 DEX
15 CON
17 INT
18 WIS
15 CHA
(All these are with Ability bonuses added in and all that jazz)
We used a 7d20 drop the lowest distribute 1d6 form of stat rolling and EVERYONE got crazy rolls. I don't have the Human Fighter or the Elf Sorceress' stats on me atm but they are equally as crazy.
This is our first campaign and most of us are unversed in Pathfinder.
I'm not sure what to do? Do I make them fight like CR 3+ monsters and have a chance of themselves being 1 shot? Or do I have them face a TON of CR 1ish monsters?
I really don't want to make everyone reroll as the initial setting up of the characters took forever because we had to instruct half the group on how to pick starting gear/skills/spells.
I think this could be fun and trying at the same time, especially for me as a new GM. Any suggestions?
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Well the rolling method you used is going to generate much higher than average ability scores to begin with.
I'd recommend just switching to point buy though. Our group got to a point that our rolled ability scores were getting crazy and we made the switch. We've all been much, much happier with point buy.
We used a 7d20 drop the lowest distribute 1d6 form of stat rolling
I don't understand what you're describing here. Are you saying that each ability score is winding up as 12+1d6? If that's the case, whoever agreed to such an insane rolling system is to blame for the party's stats.
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It's roll 1d20 7 times (re-roll 5 or under). Each is a separate value for a stat. Drop the lowest. Then roll a 1d6 and distribute that value amongst your chosen stats. So if I rolled and got a 12 13 14 15 16 13 8 I'd drop the 8 then roll my 1d6. If I got a 4 on the 1d6 I'd distribute 4 extra ability points anyway I wanted.
Yeah I had just never rolled that way. A couple of the players suggested it so I went with it...never have I been so wrong...
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Does that Orc Barbarian have a -2 Cha? Am I reading this right? If so i'm pretty sure he would just be comatose.
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That's amazing. I'm cackling. I'll have to let him know. I've played through a bit of Kingmaker but as far as pen and paper goes we're pretty nubbish and still trying to get the gist of everything. I have the books and am trying to ingest all of the information but that absolutely slipped through the cracks.
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Fair enough, that's what I'd like to do (make them re-roll and most like what I will do). But let's say everyone was adamant they didn't want to re-roll right away and maybe just wanted to play around mini-style with these guys? I think having two sessions where we just sat around rolling characters and re-doing the tedious stuff may be demoralizing for them. That's my biggest worry.
What would be a good way to throw a challenge towards them that either wasn't too easy or too unforgiving? Just for them to get a taste.
Point buy is the answer and the fairest since everyone has the same points to work with.
Sort of. There's this weird thing where MAD classes who want a high everything suffer with it, though SAD ones do have a pay a bit to get their one stat higher. People also tend to use spare points into dump stats if you use a 25 point buy instead of 20 for instance, but tend to crank the stats they need in all point buys and are more tempted to dump in lower. Weird how that works. APs are meant for 15, but I always thought that was too tame and makes MAD classes really suffer. Something to remember is that sometimes a +1 won't make or break you... sometimes.
Also! Those stats are crazy good. Except the apparently dead orc... How'd that happen? And why did the ranger dump con but crank charisma! Weirdness.
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Were these dice rolled in front of you at a table? If they were, buy them all new dice, and take away these wonderfully and obviously totally fair dice and use them for GMing. If they weren't rolled in front of you, then take a wild leap of logic at what happened here.
Yessir they were all rolled in my presence; I was just slack jawed the entire time.
You probably need to rebuild from scratch at this point.
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Also! Those stats are crazy good. Except the apparently dead orc... How'd that happen? And why did the ranger dump con but crank charisma! Weirdness.
We didn't know that it would kill him, he wanted a 0 charisma Chaotic Neutral Full blood Orc barbarian. The group is mostly evil. He just wanted to be as brash and hateful and indignant as possible.
As far as we knew (and this is my fault for not reading everything before they rolled) having 0 charisma didn't do anything negative but affect those rolls and he got the -2 by switching from Half-Orc to Orc which took his CHA down by 2.
It's roll 1d20 7 times (re-roll 5 or under). Each is a separate value for a stat. Drop the lowest. Then roll a 1d6 and distribute that value amongst your chosen stats. So if I rolled and got a 12 13 14 15 16 13 8 I'd drop the 8 then roll my 1d6. If I got a 4 on the 1d6 I'd distribute 4 extra ability points anyway I wanted.
Yeah I had just never rolled that way. A couple of the players suggested it so I went with it...never have I been so wrong...
This is a horrible way to generate stats. Your stat generation needs to create a bell curve, which means you need to be rolling and adding multiple dice. Rolling a single die makes every value equally likely (although given the numbers you've posted, I'd say those dice are suspect as hell).
I'm going to reiterate the point buy suggestion, but if the players really want to roll, use the standard 4d6 drop the lowest.
It's roll 1d20 7 times (re-roll 5 or under). Each is a separate value for a stat. Drop the lowest. Then roll a 1d6 and distribute that value amongst your chosen stats. So if I rolled and got a 12 13 14 15 16 13 8 I'd drop the 8 then roll my 1d6. If I got a 4 on the 1d6 I'd distribute 4 extra ability points anyway I wanted.
Yeah I had just never rolled that way. A couple of the players suggested it so I went with it...never have I been so wrong...
Let's see what the math actually works out to, shall we?
1d20 but not allowing values 1 through 5... average of 13.
Only you do this 7 times and drop the worst of them. I don't know the formula to calculate that, but it's inherently going to push the average up somewhat. Call it 14.
That's the equivalent of a 30-point buy, which is double the assumed 15-point buy.
Only then you add an average of 3.5 (1d6) anywhere you'd like. That's a flat bonus that defies measure in point-buy because you can't tell where the bonus is going to go.
You're talking about an average set of stats that reads 14,14,14,14,14,17.
Now let's look at this a different way... extremes. Yes, your system allows for stats of 5,5,5,5,5,6 if someone rolls incredibly poorly. But it also allows for 20,20,20,20,20,26 if they roll incredibly well. A 15-point buy allows for 14,14,14,10,10,10, or a few other distributions like 16,14,10,10,10. (This all assuming no sub-tens.)
You see how your players' method renders averages way higher than recommended, and extremes way, way outside of recommended? That'd be why it's a Bad Method. The average works out to 38 or 42 points depending on if that 1d6 average 3.5 is a 3 or 4.
Compared to 15-point, that's insane. Which is why your players suggested it. Someone understands the math.
Now, my games I allow an "Epic Fantasy" 25-point buy, but I demand no stats beneath 10 before racial modifiers. That's because I like my players to be able to round their characters out. Fighters don't mind putting a 12 into Int because it doesn't cost them a little bonus in Dex and Con to go with their big Str. I see more variety and ability and less max/min games.
My strong suggestion is to go back to the drawing table and point out that the method used to generate stats is "for some other gaming system, not Pathfinder" and that it "generates ability scores that make game balance impossible." Then point them to any of the appropriate stat generation methods. Personally I prefer point-buy as it's the most fair but it's also the least... random.
Just deliver the news to the group as admission that you made the mistake of allowing something that isn't even almost appropriate for the game and thank goodness you caught it before they'd played a bunch in a ruined game and got attached to characters that literally wouldn't ever face a challenge. If you take ownership (despite that you almost positively got gamed), nobody can be mad at you.
So we're getting ready for our first Pathfinder adventure. We were going to do Master of the Fallen Fortress...but now with the stats I'm not sure if we'll be doing that or I may have to just edit the crap out of it (I'm GMing)
Here are a few of the groups STARTING (Lvl 1) stats:
Orc Barbarian:
17 HP
19 AC
22 STR [17]
18 DEX [17]
18 CON [17]
8 INT [0]
14 WIS [10]
-2 CHA [0]Drow Ranger:
12 HP
17 AC
16 STR [10]
19 DEX [13]
12 CON [5]
13 INT [3]
13 WIS [3]
15 CHA [3]Half-Orc Cleric:
10 HP
17 AC
20 STR [17]
18 DEX [17]
15 CON [7]
17 INT [15]
18 WIS [17]
15 CHA [7](All these are with Ability bonuses added in and all that jazz)
We used a 7d20 drop the lowest distribute 1d6 form of stat rolling and EVERYONE got crazy rolls. I don't have the Human Fighter or the Elf Sorceress' stats on me atm but they are equally as crazy.
This is our first campaign and most of us are unversed in Pathfinder.
I'm not sure what to do? Do I make them fight like CR 3+ monsters and have a chance of themselves being 1 shot? Or do I have them face a TON of CR 1ish monsters?
I really don't want to make everyone reroll as the initial setting up of the characters took forever because we had to instruct half the group on how to pick starting gear/skills/spells.
I think this could be fun and trying at the same time, especially for me as a new GM. Any suggestions?
Point buy exists for a reason. If you want powerful characters then go with 25 point buy.
I always had players show up to games with super powered characters when I allowed them to roll statistics.
For flavor just DL the PFS iconics and have them all play those.
If you are wondering
10 point buy is weaker than NPCs.
15 point buy is as powerful as NPCs.
20 point buy is slightly stronger.
25 point buy is much more powerful than NPCs.
Your orc essentially has
61 point buy, or, in other words, an absurd amount of power.
Your half-orc essentially has
80 point buy, or, in other words, an even more retarded amount of power.
Your Drizzt Clone essentially has
37 point buy, or, in other words, higher than average but WAY more forgivable than the other two.
The Orc is bad, but the Half-Orc is a walking deity.
The Drizzt Clone is just, meh. I wonder if his animal companion is going to be a Panther. OH MAN! SO ORIGINAL!
All jest aside just give them 20 point buy, and have them build their characters with that. Once I started using point buy I NEVER looked back.
If it is your virgin campaign then go with 25 point buy so you all know what it feels like to be powerful, yet still mortal.
I just use 4d6 drop low with one complete re-roll if your first roll is awful. Not for any particular reason. It's just what I'm used to. And point buy... I dunno, It just seems less interesting. You're always going to get an average character and never have anyone out of the ordinary. Sure, sometimes rolling leaves you with a totally crap character, but sometimes you've got an 18 to give to int so you put a 17 in str, a 17 in con, a 15 in dex, put a 12 in wis and make cha your dump stat at 11... and have Mike the Murderous Melee Magician, The Wizard with a Maul.
You have obviously never met the completely min-maxed attributes of the Orcish Barbarian that has
15 point buy
STR 20_(16+4)[+10]
Dex 15_(15)[7]
Con 16_(16)[+10]
Int 5__(7-2)[-4]
Wis 5__(7-2)[-4]
Cha 5__(7-2)[-4]
20 point buy
STR 22_(18+4)[+17]
Dex 14_(14)[5]
Con 16_(16)[+10]
Int 5__(7-2)[-4]
Wis 5__(7-2)[-4]
Cha 5__(7-2)[-4]
25 point buy
STR 22_(18+4)[+17]
Dex 13_(13)[3]
Con 18_(18)[+17]
Int 5__(7-2)[-4]
Wis 5__(7-2)[-4]
Cha 5__(7-2)[-4]
Also, one's statistics are not the things that define if the character is boring or interesting, it is the RP that is taking place by the Player.
My GM has a system for rerolls when people have horribly rolled stats. Just the same, when someone gets 4 18s you should point out that that is going to unbalance the game and let him keep one stat at the 18. We used to use a 2 for 1 system to raise low stats, 2 points of a high stat to raise 1 point of a low stat.
Also I suppose if you used that hero point system, people wouldn't feel like you pulled the rug out from under them before the game started.
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I've messaged everyone informing we're just going to reroll with a 4d6 drop the lowest. I'll let them do that twice and take the best set.
About the Drizzt clone... I KNOW! I've done everything I can to convince him to try to be a bit more original aside from just outright forcing him. But I want him to have fun and if that's what he wants to play, so be it ^_^.
I enjoy rolling the dice. That's the neat part. The REALLY REALLY cool part to me is the RP and description but everyone enjoys rolling those dice.
Like I had mentioned earlier I just really don't want to be too stringent on people though. This is everyone's first time playing with all 6 of us and a couple of the players first adventure into paper and dice period. So I'm cautious for the first bit to try to just let them start having fun. I don't want anyone to be wore out by the time we start to ACTUALLY play.
My big concern with any of this (the OPness) was that even if I WAS able to throw challenging encounters at them, the Sorceress was going to be left out having only 1st level and 0 level spells and be no where close to as effective as the big melee bros.
But I think it's all good atm. I'll meet with each of them individually this week and get the characters set back up and ready to rock ^_^.
OH and just as a bit of extra information, these guys didn't whoodoo me. All of these rolls were made with me in the room looking at the dice and most of the time were made with MY dice. Which I really wish were loaded. But alas they are not, hah.
They got really lucky and we used a flawed system. But it's being fixed and hopefully I can get these guys slapping some steel and fire to some Trogs next week when we all meet up for our first play night!
I wish you luck with the 4d6 thing. That is what we do. Thing is, I tend to roll 10's and 11s and 9s. I'm just lucky the GM has his system.
About the Drizzt clone... I KNOW! I've done everything I can to convince him to try to be a bit more original aside from just outright forcing him. But I want him to have fun and if that's what he wants to play, so be it ^_^.
Don't worry, dual wielding Scimitars sucks horribly in Pathfinder so, please, DO encourage him to dual wield them.
He will get the -4/-4 penalty for attacking with both, and might eventually just decide to only use one and pick up a shield.Then again maybe he will just stick with it. Could be funny.
Just remember, Scimitar are NOT finessable, so he is going to be sitting at
2 Scimitar +1/+1(1d6+3/1d6+1)18-20/x2
{1[bab] +3[str] +1[focus] - 4[twf penalty]}
Strength bonus is 1/2 for off hand.
1 Scimitar +5(1d6+3)18-20/2x
{1[bab] +3[str] +1[focus]}
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We didn't know that it would kill him, he wanted a 0 charisma Chaotic Neutral Full blood Orc barbarian. The group is mostly evil. He just wanted to be as brash and hateful and indignant as possible.
Lemme wrap my aching brain around this. You are a new GM, your PCs are powered up like demi-gods (due to a couple of them convincing you to allow them to use a whackjob character building method), AND they are playing mostly evil characters?
Cripes.
My GM-sense is screaming.
EDIT: Well, I see now you're re-rolling. At least there's that.
Wait, that -2 Charisma wasn't a typo? Never mind that he'd be dead with a 0 Charisma, does this player understand that Charisma is force of personality? A super low Charisma doesn't make him loud and rude - it makes him so unassuming that people will forget he's even in the room.
it seems unlikely that one more person saying this will change your mind but you really should switch to a point buy. first- its more fair for the players (that way you don't end up with 1 guy who's stats suck compared to everyone else). second- its how the adventures were designed. no offense but if you're not experienced enough as a GM to know exactly what was going to happen with that rolling method then you're not an experienced enough GM to try to completely redesign adventures. just have everyone redo their stats with a 25 point buy (and let them make whatever changes are necessary to account for the new stats)- they'll still rip through challenges without too much difficulty but they'll at least be balanced compared to each other and within the realm of what pathfinder was intended to allow.
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I wouldn't worry too much about your player wanting to re-create drizzt. I had a player once in a 2nd ed game that rolled a really strong fighter and called him Conan. His emulation lasted for about a month, and then the story events pulled his character development in a very different direction, and he ended up with a very non-Conan type personality.
As your own storyline develops, your Drizzt fan will probably end up in a very different place personality wise. Lots of new players do this sort of thing, so they have sort of a platform of familiarity to cling to when exploring a complex game like Pathfinder.
One more voice to the chorus...your PCs don't need amazing scores to be heroic. Especially the spellcasters will be extremely powerful later on if you let them have scores that are beyond the norm.
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I just use 4d6 drop low with one complete re-roll if your first roll is awful. Not for any particular reason. It's just what I'm used to. And point buy... I dunno, It just seems less interesting. You're always going to get an average character and never have anyone out of the ordinary. Sure, sometimes rolling leaves you with a totally crap character, but sometimes you've got an 18 to give to int so you put a 17 in str, a 17 in con, a 15 in dex, put a 12 in wis and make cha your dump stat at 11... and have Mike the Murderous Melee Magician, The Wizard with a Maul.You have obviously never met the completely min-maxed attributes of the Orcish Barbarian that has
15 point buy
STR 20_(16+4)[+10]
Dex 15_(15)[7]
Con 16_(16)[+10]
Int 5__(7-2)[-4]
Wis 5__(7-2)[-4]
Cha 5__(7-2)[-4]20 point buy
STR 22_(18+4)[+17]
Dex 14_(14)[5]
Con 16_(16)[+10]
Int 5__(7-2)[-4]
Wis 5__(7-2)[-4]
Cha 5__(7-2)[-4]25 point buy
STR 22_(18+4)[+17]
Dex 13_(13)[3]
Con 18_(18)[+17]
Int 5__(7-2)[-4]
Wis 5__(7-2)[-4]
Cha 5__(7-2)[-4]Also, one's statistics are not the things that define if the character is boring or interesting, it is the RP that is taking place by the Player.
Having a -4 to your will save isn't optimized it's idiotic, even if you're using the superstition rage power. In addition anything that inflicts mental attribute damage to your character has effectively become save or die =/.
Wait, that -2 Charisma wasn't a typo? Never mind that he'd be dead with a 0 Charisma, does this player understand that Charisma is force of personality? A super low Charisma doesn't make him loud and rude - it makes him so unassuming that people will forget he's even in the room.
He is super dead, he is so dead he is not dead, sort of like Undead.
Let the new player have his Drizzt clone. Heck, you can even give him a figurine of wonderous power and then show his this feat to make his (not-so) inner fanboy gleeful.
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Having a -4 to your will save isn't optimized it's idiotic, even if you're using the superstition rage power. In addition anything that inflicts mental attribute damage to your character has effectively become save or die =/.I just use 4d6 drop low with one complete re-roll if your first roll is awful. Not for any particular reason. It's just what I'm used to. And point buy... I dunno, It just seems less interesting. You're always going to get an average character and never have anyone out of the ordinary. Sure, sometimes rolling leaves you with a totally crap character, but sometimes you've got an 18 to give to int so you put a 17 in str, a 17 in con, a 15 in dex, put a 12 in wis and make cha your dump stat at 11... and have Mike the Murderous Melee Magician, The Wizard with a Maul.You have obviously never met the completely min-maxed attributes of the Orcish Barbarian that has
15 point buy
STR 20_(16+4)[+10]
Dex 15_(15)[7]
Con 16_(16)[+10]
Int 5__(7-2)[-4]
Wis 5__(7-2)[-4]
Cha 5__(7-2)[-4]20 point buy
STR 22_(18+4)[+17]
Dex 14_(14)[5]
Con 16_(16)[+10]
Int 5__(7-2)[-4]
Wis 5__(7-2)[-4]
Cha 5__(7-2)[-4]25 point buy
STR 22_(18+4)[+17]
Dex 13_(13)[3]
Con 18_(18)[+17]
Int 5__(7-2)[-4]
Wis 5__(7-2)[-4]
Cha 5__(7-2)[-4]Also, one's statistics are not the things that define if the character is boring or interesting, it is the RP that is taking place by the Player.
Yes, but most stuff doesn't send that at you right off the bat so you'll be a god of smashing things for at least three levels. But--as soon as something targets Will you are screwed.
Also, you completely misread the statistics, the stuff in [brackets] is the point buy, while the stuff in (parenthesis) is the attribute breakdown, and the stuff on its own is the final attribute.
You should actually read things and learn their meaning before arbitrarily assigning meaning.
The will would be at a -2, not a -4, Captain Cranium.
Furthermore, I never stated that it was optimized, I merely stated that it was min-maxed. Min-maxed is not always for a universally beneficial build. The barbarian above kills things in melee.
Thats pretty much it.
Him see enemy. Him get angry. Him smash enemy. Him fatigued afterwards. Him sleep. Him dream of beating up wizard who talk of "weaknesses" whatever that mean. "Weaknesses" of Slashing--AXE!--or Blunt--CLUB!--or "piercing"--he thinks it means stabby, so SPEAR!--
Him not smart. Him not "karusmatik". Him not have "will powur." Instead, him have axe, and him mad.
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Yes, but most stuff doesn't send that at you right off the bat so you'll be a god of smashing things for at least three levels. But--as soon as something targets Will you are screwed.
Also, you completely misread the statistics, the stuff in [brackets] is the point buy, while the stuff in (parenthesis) is the attribute breakdown, and the stuff on its own is the final attribute.
You should actually read things and learn their meaning before arbitrarily assigning meaning.
The will would be at a -2, not a...
No it would be a -3, but thanks for the personal attack. I understood your point buy numbers. Your arrogance is amusing though. No will saves early huh, yep sleep and color spray sure are bad spells that never get used at early levels sounds about right.
No it would be a -3, but thanks for the personal attack. I understood your point buy numbers. Your arrogance is amusing though. No will saves early huh, yep sleep and color spray sure are bad spells that never get used at early levels sounds about right.Yes, but most stuff doesn't send that at you right off the bat so you'll be a god of smashing things for at least three levels. But--as soon as something targets Will you are screwed.
Also, you completely misread the statistics, the stuff in [brackets] is the point buy, while the stuff in (parenthesis) is the attribute breakdown, and the stuff on its own is the final attribute.
You should actually read things and learn their meaning before arbitrarily assigning meaning.
The will would be at a -2, not a...
My arrogance is my favorite, it is better than everyone else's. :)
Also, yes, most MONSTERS don't use color spray or sleep. Now if a caster comes out then, well, looks like the party has something to do if the caster survives for more than one charge.
Also, you're welcome. *forced kissing*
I just use 4d6 drop low with one complete re-roll if your first roll is awful. Not for any particular reason. It's just what I'm used to. And point buy... I dunno, It just seems less interesting. You're always going to get an average character and never have anyone out of the ordinary. Sure, sometimes rolling leaves you with a totally crap character, but sometimes you've got an 18 to give to int so you put a 17 in str, a 17 in con, a 15 in dex, put a 12 in wis and make cha your dump stat at 11... and have Mike the Murderous Melee Magician, The Wizard with a Maul.You have obviously never met the completely min-maxed attributes of the Orcish Barbarian that has
15 point buy
STR 20_(16+4)[+10]
Dex 15_(15)[7]
Con 16_(16)[+10]
Int 5__(7-2)[-4]
Wis 5__(7-2)[-4]
Cha 5__(7-2)[-4]20 point buy
STR 22_(18+4)[+17]
Dex 14_(14)[5]
Con 16_(16)[+10]
Int 5__(7-2)[-4]
Wis 5__(7-2)[-4]
Cha 5__(7-2)[-4]25 point buy
STR 22_(18+4)[+17]
Dex 13_(13)[3]
Con 18_(18)[+17]
Int 5__(7-2)[-4]
Wis 5__(7-2)[-4]
Cha 5__(7-2)[-4]Also, one's statistics are not the things that define if the character is boring or interesting, it is the RP that is taking place by the Player.
How is this orc doing anything but proving his point?
And to the OP. You have already made the characters. I suggest you go with them an enjoy.Good stats like that can be difficult to make encounters for but not impossible. Unless you go core book only and 15 point buy you will have to remake most of the encounters any way so that work is still there.
When you remake the encounters remember that just adding a few baddies more can be a valid solution since action economy is the same on a 15 point buy as on a 81.
And welcome to the wonderous World of GMing:)
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And to the OP. You have already made the characters. I suggest you go with them an enjoy.
Good stats like that can be difficult to make encounters for but not impossible. Unless you go core book only and 15 point buy you will have to remake most of the encounters any way so that work is still there.
When you remake the encounters remember that just adding a few baddies more can be a valid solution since action economy is the same on a 15 point buy as on a 81.
And welcome to the wonderous World of GMing:)
Thanks ^_^ I'm excited. I've been working on some encounters and maps for them and I'm happy with how they're coming out.
I asked everyone if they'd be okay with a reroll (just stats) and I think they are so we may just do that. It'll be easier at least for the first night and give the sorc the ability to do something rather than fire a couple poopy spells while the rest are face smashing EVERYTHING.
And to the OP. You have already made the characters. I suggest you go with them an enjoy.
Good stats like that can be difficult to make encounters for but not impossible. Unless you go core book only and 15 point buy you will have to remake most of the encounters any way so that work is still there.
When you remake the encounters remember that just adding a few baddies more can be a valid solution since action economy is the same on a 15 point buy as on a 81.
And welcome to the wonderous World of GMing:)Thanks ^_^ I'm excited. I've been working on some encounters and maps for them and I'm happy with how they're coming out.
I asked everyone if they'd be okay with a reroll (just stats) and I think they are so we may just do that. It'll be easier at least for the first night and give the sorc the ability to do something rather than fire a couple poopy spells while the rest are face smashing EVERYTHING.
Yes, redo the stats if at all possible. They are not balanced in the least... and not even balanced between one another.
Point buy is wonderful. 5 or 10 is gritty. 15 is moderate/standard power. 20 is high magic. 25+ is epic tales of greatness.
It works out beautifully.
I had the good (bad) fortune to roll a ridiculous string of numbers once when making a character. We used 3d6, we rolled 6 times. I did it in front of my whole crew and the DM. 18, 18, 18, 17, 17, 15. It was the most powerful, and obscene character imaginable... and it got old quick, and made everyone else annoyed. I learned my lesson the hard way (I was young once).
Point buy. Use it.
But… if you must continue with things as they are… simply tack on more monsters. If it was going to be 4 orcs, make it 6. If it was going to be 6 goblins, make it two waves of 6 separated by a couple rounds.
At level 1, the effect of higher stats isn’t yet fully realized. They will still have a host of vulnerabilities like every other level 1. So going with higher CR monsters is likely to kill some of them off…
But as they level, that is exactly what you’ll need to do, but, also keep the numbers of low level minion/mob guys higher as well. Be careful selecting the higher CR monsters though, as some have defenses or abilities that simply require higher level abilities to counter your PCs wont have no matter how good their stats are.
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Make them reroll. If they dont like it, then let them know they can GM.
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I'm screwing around with PCGen rolling different characters and using different point buys and rolling methods.
It's pretty fantastic.
My Human Paladin:
25 PB Version
16 STR
13 DEX
14 CON
10 INT
12 WIS
14 CHA
4d6 drop the lowest
12 STR
11 DEX
11 CON
7 INT
9 WIS
12 CHA
2d6+6
18 STR
14 DEX
17 CON
10 INT
11 WIS
14 CHA
This is all before any racials or anything, just flat rolling.
I gotta say as far as interesting stat allocation. I enjoyed doing the Point Buy. Maybe 25 is a bit TOO forgiving for stats but I think that's what I'm going to have them do. It'll be good to start off with and give them some buffer room for making terrible decisions which I guarantee they'll make just due to the inexperience of everyone.
Bleh to point buy.
It's boring.Weenks, don't listen to them when they advise point buy.
Oh drat! The whole 1-2 minutes of that part of character generation is sooo boring. If only there was some kind of pay off for having to endure such a long and grueling hardship.
Something to make it all worth it, like customizability, having a character conform to your idea and goal, being balanced, both for the intended campaign and with fellow party members, consistent, a reliable a fair distribution without need to be supervised or watched... you can make a character yourself this way, entirely legit, and never worry about if your stats look a little 'too good' to be credible.
Hrm… I wonder what benefit point buy has, if only it had some benefit…
A few rolls before the game even starts should not change the course of the entire game for the entirety of the game. Rolling for stats does this.
It might be exciting. But so is betting your rent money on double zeros.
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If you want semi-random, but fairer generation, I stumbled upon the following method:
Use the 4-9 cards from 2 suits in a deck of cards. Draw 2 cards and add-up the total for each stat. Generates 6 stats between 8-18 and generates fairer range than dice, but still random.
Keeping the two suits of cards in separate pile (and drawing one from each pile for each stat) raises the chance of an 18 (or an 8) slightly.
If you want semi-random, but fairer generation, I stumbled upon the following method:
Use the 4-9 cards from 2 suits in a deck of cards. Draw 2 cards and add-up the total for each stat. Generates 6 stats between 8-18 and generates fairer range than dice, but still random.Keeping the two suits of cards in separate pile (and drawing one from each pile for each stat) raises the chance of an 18 (or an 8) slightly.
I think, intuition speaking, that this is identical to 2d6 + 6. I'm almost certain it is.
Edit: It is. Why use cards?
It gives the same kind of bell curve that rolling gets, except that one of the dice is essentially assumed to be a 6. It gives higher than average results, but is just as random.
Use point buy
I say just run with it. So all of your heroes are over the top. That puts a little more work on you; you will have to up the challenge of the encounters. Other than that, they are all comparable to each other. That means you won't one player feeling under-powered and the rest gods, or you will have one shining god-like character and three average Joe's just following him around.
Honestly, rolling great stats and then having to re-roll them sucks. Let them have their powerful characters. Slap a few advanced templates on a few of the monsters, and go.
As far as Kingmaker goes; read up on action economy up (exchange one monster for several lower CR monsters), add one or two to the once-a-day encounters, and have a blast. You as the GM are n't here to fight against the players, your are here to challenge them.
In short, you have action movie heroes. This is awesome. Give them action movie villains.