Who still rolls their stats?


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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.


1. Yes, 4d6 drop lowest, six times.
2. Yes.
3. Since ca. 1980.
4. AD&D, or maybe Basic.


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. Hate point buy Personally, I like letting the dice do all the work for me and go from there.

Yes. Everyone rolls there stats, much more fun.

6-7 Years roughly

White Wolfs World of Darkness, then moved onto 3.5, then NWoD, now Pathfinder


Do you roll your characters?
A: Sometimes. Less now than we used to.

Is your answer the deefault of your gaming group?
Depends on the game. For Pathfinder, we are gradually switching over to the point buy method.

How long have you been gaming?
Long story short, I got my first RPG book in 1987,but first officially gamed in 1991.

What system did you first game in?
A Palladium mish-mash of TMNT, and Ninjas & Superspies

Sovereign Court

No more rolling characters please.

For Pathfinder point buy is our default.

Been gaming on and off in many different games for only about 5 years aside from video or board games. I had RPG books long before then but never found a group to play with. First group played for several years fell apart at the end of 3.5 mostly due to one guys evil GF (long story). Current group been gaming once a week for just over 2 years now. Mix of Pathfinder, Call of Cthulhu, and board games.

Heroquest board game back in '91


Myself and my group always rolls.
4D6 six times twice. Pick the better of the two sets. If both sets are below average then re-roll (This doesn't happen often).

I can't stand point buy for Pathfinder or D&D. To each their own though. I much prefer the choices and challenge that rolling presents.

Thats just my opinion though.


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


Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

Yes

Usually.

less than 3 years.

3.5


Kirth Gersen wrote:

Do you roll your characters? Yes, 4d6 drop lowest, six times.

Is your answer the default of your gaming group? Yes.

How long have you been gaming? Since ca. 1980.

What system did you first game in? AD&D, or maybe Basic.

Ditto to everything Kirth said; he's obviously a man of breeding and good taste.


1 No< i no longer ROLL. It got old some folks having around 60 to 80 point buy and others having about a 15-18 point buy equivalent.

2: Yes, as I am the GM for one group and the other group I play in seems to like not rolling

3: Since 90 or 91, kinda vague on late 90 or early 91

4: Mechwarrior.

The Exchange

Do you roll your characters?
No
Last time I rolled up a PC though, we used a matrix of 36 rolls, 4d6/drop low , arranged in order in a 6x6 square, then choose a row or column you liked.

Is your answer the default of your gaming group?
Yes

How long have you been gaming?
Since 1979

What system did you first game in?
1st played: D&D box set, quickly replaced by AD&D.
1st GM'd: Champions.


Readerbreeder wrote:
Ditto to everything Kirth said; he's obviously a man of breeding and good taste.

You can tell that by glancing at my avatar. I really look like that.


started gaming with tunnels and trolls and dungeons and dragons in the late 70s.

gave up rolling stats with pathfinder. as DM, i have my players do a standard point buy.

also, we no longer role hit points. all characters receive maximum hit dice points at each level.

why? at a key level up, a fighter rolling 1 and a wizard rolling 4 on hit die just doesn't help my game.

i play my NPCs and monsters as tough as possible, so giving PCs beefy hit points balances things out...

Sovereign Court Owner - Enchanted Grounds, President/Owner - Enchanted Grounds

Elthbert wrote:
Do you roll your characters?

Yes.

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

Under debate.

Elthbert wrote:
How long have you been gaming?

Since 1981. 8 years old...oh the things I didn't know about...

Elthbert wrote:
What system did you first game in?

AD&D. A family friend was running White Plume Mountain and I joined in as a halfling thief. My first purchase was the Basic Set, though. After becoming very confused about the differences and floundering around for a couple years, I met the (first) girl of my dreams, and she taught me to correctly appreciate the wonders of AD&D. Slave Pits of the Undercity still holds fond memories...


1. 4d6 reroll 1's drop lowest.

2. Yes

3. Since '85 or '86.

4. Basic D&D


Q: Do you roll your characters?
A: Yes - 3d6 three times, take best roll, repeat for a total of six times & place as desired in the six stats.

Q: Is your answer the default of your gaming group?
A: Yes - our DM sometimes modifies/increases by rolling 4d6 for certain values after we've finished our rolls and assigned to stats but before full character creation.

Q: How long have you been gaming?
A: Since 1977 (old school!)

Q: What system did you first game in?
A: D&D (pre Greyhawk)

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.


RegUS PatOff wrote:

And my additional question:

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

AD&D, Basic D&D; (original) Traveller, Gamma World, and Boot Hill; Top Secret; Victory Games James Bond 007 (loved this one); 2e, homebrew hybrid of 1e/007; Amber Diceless; 3.5, PF, current eclectic d20 houserules.


seekerofshadowlight wrote:

1 No< i no longer ROLL. It got old some folks having around 60 to 80 point buy and others having about a 15-18 point buy equivalent.

2: Yes, as I am the GM for one group and the other group I play in seems to like not rolling

3: Since 90 or 91, kinda vague on late 90 or early 91

4: Mechwarrior.

This is why I think that the point buy system is better. Last campaign I got two 18's, a 16, a 14, a 10, and a 9. However I didn't do a huge amount with it because it felt unfair to the people that got 14 as their max score.

Sovereign Court Owner - Enchanted Grounds, President/Owner - Enchanted Grounds

RegUS PatOff wrote:

And my additional question:

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

AD&D --> Pathfinder

I guess I'm boring. As I said, I bought Basic, but didn't understand why the Halfling couldn't be a thief. When I was taught correctly, I bought up all the AD&D books and modules I could find, diving into DMing. We got the 2e stuff, but never used anything outside the Core books and Dragon Magazine content. We bought into 3.0 when it first hit (lots of marketing swayed us), hated it, and went back to AD&D within a month. We didn't play anything else until PFRPG came out with its Beta play test.

Other than that, we played Mechwarrior (and lots of Battletech) in the late 80s and early 90s on a regular basis. Pretty much nothing else.

Grand Lodge

My home campaign has always rolled abilities. However, about a month ago, two of the players informed the rest of the group that they rerolled until they got something they liked.

This ticked me off, since my stats are miserable and they're working with 18-16-16-15-13-9...

Their desire to cheat has caused me to insist on a point-buy from now on.

Cheaters ruin it for everyone.

Only been gaming for about 2 years now... if that helps.


Elthbert wrote:

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.

My method of rolling involves everyone rolling stats (4d6) for every character they created, picking the top six scores, using that array for each character. If no one rolls an 18, reroll. If everyone rolls an 18, reroll. This is the only generation method where no one complains and everyone gets decent stats.

I've been seriously gaming for almost a decade. I started in 2001 with 3e, but my first game was either (honestly can't remember the order) AD&D or Wraith: The Oblivion.


1: No - Point buy since Pathfinder, I find that it prevents super over powered characters. When we converted all our characters from 3.5 all of them were over 40 points, some over 80. Also max HP per level.

2: Yes.

3: 1991 or there about.

4: AD&D.


Elthbert wrote:
Do you roll your characters?

I had my players roll their ability scores.

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

Yes

Elthbert wrote:
How long have you been gaming?

1984

Elthbert wrote:
What system did you first game in?

Dungeons and Dragons (Basic, not AD&D)


Its not the start of a new campaign without the thunderous clatter of lady luck christening it, the cheers of those who achieve statistical godhood, and the lamentations of those cursed to mediocrity

Is your answer the deefault of your gaming group?

-I think we have a mix of rollers and buyers.

How long have you been gaming?

1987

What system did you first game in?

Paladium- Teenage mutant ninja turtles and other strangeness.


Black_Lantern wrote:
This is why I think that the point buy system is better. Last campaign I got two 18's, a 16, a 14, a 10, and a 9. However I didn't do a huge amount with it because it felt unfair to the people that got 14 as their max score.

Last game I used point buy

PC one: 18,18,18,17,17,16
PC two: 12,10,7,12,15,11
pc three: 15,12,12,14,11,13
Pc four: 17,16,18,18,17,15

or there about all used the same dice, 4d6 drop the lowest, all rolled in front of me.


I roll, and yes, I am an old-timer (41 years old, started gaming 1981). I roll on the rare occasions I am a player, though mostly I am GM. I do use various point-buy and general rules guidelines when generating NPCs for my own campaigns.

I roll for my own PCs because I believe there's no such thing as an unplayable character (within reason), and part of the challenge is making a non-superb character function on those occasions when they come up. That is not to say that my GMs have not allowed me to re-roll when a character is so gimped as to be no fun at all.

My wife prefers to roll. She has never liked point-buy. I have a friend, also an old-timer, who prefers to roll because he just loves the gambling aspect of it all, and he, too, loves the challenge of roleplaying an imperfect character.

For my most frequently-playing group, though, I give them very strict guidelines on point-buy. The reason is the infamous boyfriend of a friend, who we can't seem to shake from the group, who will definitely screw with the numbers and somehow manages to end up with these ridiculously overpowered characters, not because he knows how to optimize (he doesn't, much), but because he is not afraid to end up with a character whose ability scores he cannot explain due to "fuzzy math." Rather than let him overpower everyone else, and rather than deal with the political fallout with his girlfriend (my friend) of calling him out each time he comes up with these unbelievable stats, I just make them all do point-buy.


RegUS PatOff wrote:


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

Humm. Mechwarrior, Marvel super heros, Ad&d2e, Shadowrun, earthdawn, d&d 3e, d20 modern, Mutants and masterminds, world of darkness, Pathfinder,agon,travllaer, d6 space,savage worlds, eclipse phase, rogue trader.

Silver Crusade

Roll Dice or point buy for ability scores?

If it is a PFS game, its a point buy.

If it is a home game....I have my players roll their stats. For us its more fun.

We generally use 4d6, drop lowest die and reroll 1s ..six times, assign as desired.

For us, rolling our stats we feel produces a more "organic" character. Also you never know what you are going to get.

Point buy does have its advantages. 1) everyone starts off from the same baseline. and 2) it is better to use if you are not familiar with your players.

Drawbacks i find to the point buy method...sometimes it produces a character with a single spike in one statistic....feels less organic to me...

And well it is fun to roll the dice.

So yes I and my players still roll dice to determine ability scores

How long have i been gaming?

I probably stared around 84 when i was 12..

What was the first system you started gaming in?

I first remember playing with the red box. I also remember playing Marvel Super heroes and Top Secret as well.


Elthbert wrote:

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?

I still roll them.

We roll by default, though individual DMs have different specific methods.
Been gaming since 1981.
Started with Holmes Basic D&D.
Branched into AD&D, Traveller, Champions, Villains and Vigilantes, Top Secret, James Bond 007, Recon, Gamma World, Star Frontiers, Chill, Indiana Jones, Marvel Superheroes, Megatraveller, Talislanta, Toon, Paranoia, Call of Cthulhu, Ghostbusters, Top Secret SI, Mutants and Masterminds, GURPS, and a bunch others...
Currently playing Star Wars Saga Edition (skinned as Mass Effect), Pathfinder, D&D 3.5, and 4e.


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.

1) Yes, I usually roll up characters (4d6 drop the lowest d6, six times, arrange as desired).

2) Answer 1 applies to at least half of my gaming group (of course, everybody rolls stats when they play in a campaign that I am running).

3) I have been gaming since 1985 or so.

4) First game system: D&D BECMI.


Kirth Gersen wrote:

1. Yes, 4d6 drop lowest, six times.

2. Yes.
3. Since ca. 1980.
4. AD&D, or maybe Basic.

Same here, but we re-roll a 1 and arrange as desired.

Scarab Sages

Roll 4d6 & drop the lowest, six times and arrange as desired.
Usually the game group does the same, however it depends on who is DM.
Playing/ DM ing since 1979
4. The origional AD&D then shadowrun.


Rolled here - most often 4d6, drop lowest (for Pathfinder anyway) but sometimes via other methods. I recently asked my wife to use point buy for a character (as an experiment) and she looked at me like I was a pod person.
Which, honestly, is fine by me. I don't care for point buy.


Part of the reason point buy discussions are common on the boards is because discussing builds when you assume rolled stats is very...bizarre, whereas point buy builds can be easily discussed. Further, point buy is more conducive to min/maxing than rolling stats. Some people dislike the party imbalance, and pregen adventures, as well as organized play are written with standardized characters in mind. All said, this skews the discussions, such that point buy appears to be overwhelmingly more popular, when it likely is not.

I roll stats, and it is the most common method among my group, excepting those who run pregens. I've been gaming since the mid-nineties and started on D&D 3.0

Shadow Lodge

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 their characters and if their is a correlation between that and length of gaming. I also wonder what the influence of point buy systems like white wolf had on it.

So here are the questions.

Do you roll your characters?

Not anymore. Since my group started playing Pathfinder we changed for the point buy system. To tell you the truth i never look back, with the luck i used to have rolling stats... Now my luck in the dice doesnt get in the way if i want to play a paladin, a monk or a ranger.

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

Yes

Elthbert wrote:
How long have you been gaming?

For 18 wonderful years.

Elthbert wrote:
What system did you first game in?

GURPS


We also roll 4d6 drop the lowest, we don't reroll 1's you get an extra die to drop after all. Now I allow players to arrange them, but for most of my gaming experiance we rolled straight down the line.

To me point buy is just not very D&D at all.

As for the question about what I have played in order.

D&D basic ( through immortal rules), AD&D, concurrent with different groups, top secret, star frontiers (which I still have a real fondness for) AD&D second edition (though I was a long term hold out and when I finally started playing it I pushed to introduce lots of 1st editon things into the game, Vampire,CORPS, Rifts (definently my favorite game other than D&D, All sorts of Palladium stuff within long term Rifts games, D&D 3.X, and now Pathfinder. Nothing else I can think of off hand, but have lloked ata lot of other games and freely rip off ideas from them.

oops Gurps should be in there somewhere, as should warhammer fantasy.


Elthbert wrote:

So here are the questions.

Do you roll your characters?

Point buy.

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

When I play 3e or 4e, yes. When I play 2e, no. Other games are typically skill based games, not class based. We do random chargen for REIGN because it's literally and unobjectively the best randomized character generation that has ever been created.

Quote:
How long have you been gaming?

About a decade and a half.

Quote:
What system did you first game in?

Second edition

RegUS PatOff wrote:

And my additional question:

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

Most recent systems are AD&D2e, D&D 3e, D&D 4e, BESM, Eclipse Phase, Legends of Anglerre, and REIGN.


I think rolling stops me from min maxing quite so much.

My last sorcerer had a 13 int and a 9 wisdom. Its not big deal because i have a good will save anyway. With die rolls i might be willing to keep them there rather than switching them around, but there's NO way I'm getting a 13 int if it stops me from getting that 20 charisma, or that I'd ever spend the points that could go anywhere else on it. It keeps a little variety in the game and helps to encourage a lack of clones.


1. Yes, 4d6 drop lowest, six times.
2. Yes.
3. Since ca. 2000.
4. D&D 3.5

Rolling just gives the extra info on my character, he might be a lucky looser or a super-human.
If I'm really bored and it's a one shot game, I ask that the rolls are prelinked to abilities, with some bonus, because I can make nearly every stats work.

Grand Lodge

1) Sometimes, usually 4d6 dropping the lowest dice six times
2) No
3) Since 1998
4) AD&D

While I like the "roll for stats" option, I've been know to have to roll as many as 4 times just to get a somewhat playable character. I've had groups of roll that have been 6, 9, 8, 5, 10, 12. Since I'm one of the most unlucky rollers I know I do usually prefer the point buy system because then I can at least play the character I want to play vs the character my stats force me to play.


Do you roll your characters?
In our current Pathfinder game we did, using 28D6, spread out over the 6 stats before rolling. The character should have a minimum of a +7 modifier. As it is, the group started out with between a total modifier of +8 and +11 It was nice to see the players break out of their default boxes, as their rolls might not have fitted their original plans. For instance the usual rogue player rolled low dex and high strength, ending out as a barbarian. The usual fighter rolled 18 int, which made him go wizard.

Is your answer the default of your gaming group?
Depends a lot on the system. Some games we use point buy others we roll characters.

How long have you been gaming?
First dips in the late 80s, regularly since the early 90s.

What system did you first game in?
Drakar och Demoner (a Swedish RPG)


Since the beginning we've always rolled. 4d6 drop lowest, straight up. When we started 3.0 I decided to let them arrange their scores as they saw fit after their sixth roll. For my last campaign I offered rolling or 20 point buy, players chose to roll.

This new campaign we recently started, once again I gave them the choice, once again they chose to roll.

I've known the hobby since the early 90s, like mid 1991 or so.

We started with AD&D.

Silver Crusade

Elthbert wrote:

So here are the questions.

Do you roll your characters?

Nope. Point buy since we play Pathfinder and discovered this method.

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

Yep.

For having been there before, we are all in the same state of mind about rolling : if you roll low, you feel weak, useless, and playing leaves you a bitter aftertaste ; if you roll high, you feel bad because your friend isn't having as much fun as you and feels cheated. (And is totally lying about it's stats being the reason he's not as much awesome as you, and you can't say he's wrong and it's bad mommy.) So, point-buy = fun for everyone.
We don't feel like point-buy is mini-maxing or too generic. There are waaaaaay enough paths with mechanics, classes, archetypes, backgrounds, builds and roleplay to make a difference between fighter-with-18-strength-1 and fighter-with-18-strength-2.

Quote:
How long have you been gaming?

6 Years. Pretty much a noobie.

Quote:
What system did you first game in?

3.5.


Do you roll your characters?

- Yes we have just started using 3d6 drop lowest and add 6. Before that 4d6 drop lowest.

Is your answer the deefault of your gaming group?

- Yes always has been, we have never used point buy when put to the group they are happy the way we do stuff so why change.

How long have you been gaming?

- Too long :) 30+ years

What system did you first game in?

- AD&D red box I think it was.


Do we roll?
Sometimes yes sometimes no (various methods).
I play for 8-9 years, most guys in the group have been playing longer.
I started with nWoD, then a bit oWoD, then some 3.5, then Exalted 2ed, and not PF.

At this point i will say that i hate rolling for stats, i don't care if we use point buy, elite array or a custom made array, anything as long as it isn't rolling, it creates too much player difference and might shut down concepts.


Elthbert wrote:
Do you roll your characters?

Yes, 4d6 drop lowest. *

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

Yes.

Elthbert wrote:
How long have you been gaming?

August '81 (school trip to Clausthal-Zellerfeld... "See this? This is a twenty-sided die.")

Elthbert wrote:
What system did you first game in?

AD&D, closely followed by Midgard and Traveller.

Elthbert wrote:
Thank you.

You're welcome.

*I'm about to start a Kingmaker campaign, and I tried to implement the point buy system (20 pts). I never expected so much resistance. The main argument against it was that all characters would be off the shelf, all the same numbers, and named fighter_1, fighter_2, fighter_3... They really didn't care for the method, as long as it was random. So I proposed the Grid method, and they accepted it.

Edit: Wait, there was another question...

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

AD&D, Midgard, Traveller, Boot Hill, Gamma World, Top Secret, Shadowrun, Earthdawn, GURPS, D&D 3rd, Pathfinder.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Quote:
Do you roll your characters?

No… and yes. The players first buy their characteristics. Then, in front of me, they roll 1d6 six times. Each dice is a random extra point to one stat, determined by the outcome of the roll (1: str, 2: dex, 3: con, 4: int, 5:wis, 6: cha) They can not exceed 18 in a stat (re-roll in this case)

For example, the player buy this set: 16 14 14 12 14 12. Then, he rolls 6d6, and the results are: 3,3,6,5,4,6. This is +2 con (because two 3), +2 cha (because two 6), +1 int (because one 4) +1 wis (because one 5)

No major differences between characters, players have competent characters but there is some randomness and more fun.

Quote:
How long have you been gaming?

17 years

Quote:
What system did you first game in?

AD&D


Iridal wrote:
The players first buy their characteristics. Then, in front of me, they roll 1d6 six times. Each dice is a random extra point to one stat, determined by the outcome of the roll (1: str, 2: dex, 3: con, 4: int, 5:wis, 6: cha) They can not exceed 18 in a stat (re-roll in this case)

I like that. I think I'm going to steal that...


Elthbert wrote:


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?

No.

Yes.

Since 1992 or so.

Shadowrun (actually it was DSA, but most non-Germans will not know it).

Liberty's Edge

Kirth Gersen wrote:

1. Yes, 4d6 drop lowest, six times.

2. Yes.
3. Since ca. 1980.
4. AD&D, or maybe Basic.

Ditto

Except I allow players to re-roll 1's and I started plaing in 1978...

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