15 point buy is the standard for which all APs are theoretically designed. 4d6 drop the lowest and 20 point buy seem to be common options. 10 point buy or 3d6 would be quite challenging, to the point that I would fear that first time players would be slaughtered. I would not recommend them.
I believe that Pathfinder APs are balanced under the assumption of 15 point buy. If you want to roll stats (my current group rolls stats for APs and it doesn't pose too many problems), I'd recommend 4d6 drop lowest. That being said, giving 20 points or a 2d6+6 for a less experienced group shouldn't pose many problems either.
Edit: Ninja'd by Mort while thinking and typing.
You'll see far more disparity between party members with rolls than with point buy, which is often a strength of using point buy.
This.
If you and your group are unfamiliar with the setting, I'd either run with a 15 point buy (You can find a nice point buy calculator here.) or with the elite array. That is, give each player the stats of 15, 14, 13, 12, 10 and 8 to assign wherever they wish. This is the baseline that powerful (read: PC classed) npcs are usually built off, with the notable exception in this AP of Rosie Cusswell, who uses point buy.
I like to give players this option: Roll 4d6 drop the lowest in order; if you don't like the results, you can do point buy. Sort of the best of both worlds approach: the creativity brought about by randomness, without the cruelty of terrible scores.
I like to give players this option: Roll 4d6 drop the lowest in order; if you don't like the results, you can do point buy. Sort of the best of both worlds approach: the creativity brought about by randomness, without the cruelty of terrible scores.
I wouldn't do that. Either they decide to try their luck and may have to live with bad stats or they use point buy and will have mediocre stats.
Personally I'm all in favor of point buy as a singe player that is lucky while rolling stats has a chance to outperform many other characters for the whole campaign (esp. the early levels).
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I am part of a Serpent's Skull home game that used a 20 point buy and that worked extremely well so I decided to keep it for the Skull and Shackles campaign I am trying to put together. Looking at the stats for the first two players I cannot see it giving them any great advantage over the first book.
~FV~
Thanks guys.
I ran some simulations and 4d6 is roughly as good as 15 point buy (18.8 points, but you do not get to pick at all). I will let each player decide if he takes 4d6 or 15 points (provided the whole party is cool with that).
18.8 is closer to 20 than 15.
And with dice rolls; Unlucky players might end with the equivalent of a negative point buy while the lucky ones get the equivalent of 50-60 PB.
For my S&S game: My players are all using a 'modified 4d6' method. Basically each character has a pool of 24 dice they get to arrange into each stat, taking the top 3 dice for each. It randomizes but allows players to skew in favor of their primary stats.
eg: a Cleric definately wants a higher wisdom, but doesn't care so much for int. So, he rolls 4d6(pick3) for STR, DEX, CON, CHA, 5d6(pick3) for WIS and 3d6 (straight) for INT. The fighter and rogue both did 6d6 for STR and DEX/CON with 3d6 for the other 4 stats.
Some players just roll 4d6 for everything. I even had one character roll stats before even picking what class he was going to play (which I loved this idea for flavor/randomness!).
I did set a floor of a total +2 bonuses minimum, which with any racial bonus comes out to a +3. I haven't decided how 'strict' to be with the casters if they get a low primary stat (as that will be debilitating when it starts limiting their spell level). It hasn't come up yet (all have rolled 14+, so 16+ after most appropriate racials)
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If given the choice, I'd prefer to roll stats every time (I really dislike point-by because of the cookie cutter mentality it creates). I have a level 9 druid in another campaign that has: 10 str, 7 dex, 12 con, 13 int, 19 wis, 9 cha. Pair it down like this: my wisdom has 2 stat/level increases and a racial bonus to get that high. My rolled stats were horrible - but I ran with it (net bonuses of +1). The character is loads of fun and it forced me to REALLY go deep into the spell-based druid stuff for combat (though... riding my wolf-pet is fun :p). It forced me to think differently and presented unique challenges. The GM offered me a chance to reroll stats and I declined. Currently the druid is the most indispensable part of the party on the utility and damage front.
I like to give players this option: Roll 4d6 drop the lowest in order; if you don't like the results, you can do point buy. Sort of the best of both worlds approach: the creativity brought about by randomness, without the cruelty of terrible scores.I wouldn't do that. Either they decide to try their luck and may have to live with bad stats or they use point buy and will have mediocre stats.
You've misread my system. Players never have to live with a bad roll; they can choose to for flavor reasons, though.
I like to give players this option: Roll 4d6 drop the lowest in order; if you don't like the results, you can do point buy. Sort of the best of both worlds approach: the creativity brought about by randomness, without the cruelty of terrible scores.
I like this. It will work well for our group, I think. (nobody will bother equating their rolls with a point buy array. They'll either be inspired by chance or do what we've got used to).
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My guys seem to either prefer point buy, or not care very much. Mege said that he doesn't like the cookie cutter mentality of point buy (and I am on the same page there), but I think my players firmly in that ball court after playing 4th for so long.
Also with rolls, I get players to reroll outlining results as well. If the score they end up with is below 10 points with point buy or above 25 points with point buy I would get them to start again. I think they alleviates the problem of disparity between scores.
I have not asked everyone yet, but I get the feeling everyone will take the point buy...
Might I make a recommendation?
Pirate dice:
4 players: Each player rolls 4d6, selects any 3 dice and puts it in the array. The last dice is kept for the last stats. The GM chooses any three of the remainder dice for the 5th stat and rolls 2d6 adding it to the remaining dice for the last stat. Allows for random chance without creating disparity within the party.
5 players: As above but everyone (including the GM) rolls 3d6.
6 players: Each player rolls 3d6, GM can roll and replace any one roll with his own.