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I was wondering the best way to have the pc's roll up characters. I'm sick of seeing over powered players pull an entire party curve because of questionable stats, and I dont want to have to keep buffing encounters because of one or two players. I've been considering doing the point system, but what do you think?
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I started my first group as GM last year and highly recommend point buy (I used 20). Of course, I'm always the one guy that rolls horribly low stats just within what the GM views as acceptable. If you do roll for stats, have them do it in front of you and have contingencies for abnormally low (and high) total stats.
We don't use point buy at all - it often results in power gamed characters with 1 or 2 stats below 10 and 1 or 2 stats at 16 or higher. But the problem with rolling is that you can end up with too much variation at the table.
What our group has done as a solid compromise is that everyone at the table at the start of the first session rolls 4d6 drop the lowest a single time. These 6 stats are then assembled as a standard array, and that's the array everyone gets. This has netted us the following stats so far:
15, 14, 13, 13, 12, 10 (20 point equivalent)
16, 14, 13, 12 ,12, 11 (23 point equivalent)
16, 14, 13, 11, 10, 9 (18 point equivalent)
This method has worked very well for us, and I would highly recommend it.
If you use the Pathfinder Adventure Paths or Modules, they are designed for a 4 person party with a 15 point buy. This is the method my group usually uses, although I know of many who prefer 20 point buy, which is by no means "overpowered." Even 25 point buy can be reasonable, albeit powerful. Once you start getting above that, then you're into territory you are worried about.
Thats what i was considering myself. It would put them at a point where they should be able to handle anything in any of the adventure paths without me having to compensate
You may still have to compensate a bit here and there. I am finding that as my party's level increases, I am having to add more and more hit points to the monster to keep some encounters from ending with a single critical hit too often.
Remember - Adventure Paths are based on a party of 4 characters with a point buy of 15. Now, the arrays I've given are a bit higher than 15 points, but since you can't min-max them like you can a point buy system, it's roughly equivalent (if not maybe a bit weaker, actually.) However, do remember that it's based on 4 people, so if you have a party of 5, you have to treat them as if their a party of 4 characters at a level higher than they actually are in order to balance out the encounters. If you have 6 characters (like I do), then you have to treat them as a party of four players who are two levels higher than they actually are.
What I do is have the players create a set of six number by rolling 4d6 and dropping the lowest. They all record their set on the same sheet of paper. Then when they create their character, they can choose any of the sets on the sheet regardless of who actually rolled it up. Why do I use this method? It's fair and it has a nice organic feel to it. But other than that there is no reason to use it any more than any other method.
That said, no matter what stats you have, a player with experience can make a powerful character regardless.
My biggest suggestion would be not to run a campaign at all.
Run a series of modules. Work yourself into it slowly. Then perhaps you could run an AP. The one thing you DON'T want to do is immediately jump into a longterm campaign in a custom world
If you are a beginner GM in general (not just for Pathfinder), I recommend purchasing the Game Master's Guide. It's full of advice on how to run a game effectively.
For my own games (and a lot of people disagree with me on this), I think of the game as the entire group's game. While you run it, you are not the be all end all decision maker for everything. Talk out ideas with your group. If you don't like the way they are doing something (like metagaming or in party fighting), talk to them about it. As a social game, we would be socially communicating with each other to solve our problems calmly and maturely.
Ask your players what they did and didn't like, so you can adjust your GM style to best fit your group. Don't change the rules or house rule anything unless everyone in the group wants to make the change. Remember, you are just another player in the game - you just have a different role than the rest. :)
And I'm seconding what Mystically Inclined said. Start with modules, or even PFS scenarios (each one lasts about 4 hours, so they're good for a single gaming session).
That might be a great way to enter into the GMing world.
Also, Galorian is huge and already has a lot of detail. Don't make up your own world when others already have! If you must have your own world, steal heavily from others. :)
I hope to find good players
If you don't mind, I'm going to throw out some advice about ways to get & keep good players.
First, nothing ruins a game quicker than player absenteeism and game sessions being cancelled as a result of it. Be very clear with your players up front that you would like a fairly solid commitment from people on making at least 80% of game sessions or more. (Keeping in mind that 80% should be a minimum acceptable rate, because at 80%, if you have a party of 5, you can expect to only ever actually have 4 players at a session.) You obviously don't want to be a total jerk about it, but just let them know that you value your time & the time of all the other players and have seen far too many gaming groups fall apart to this (or heard that this happens, in your case.)
Second, fighting & arguing within a gaming group can also destroy a gaming group quickly. At least until you get to know your players, try to nip this in the bud as soon as it starts and don't be afraid to say "I'm not exactly sure what the rule is on this, but instead of arguing about it, we're going to use *this ruling* for this session and I'll look into the rules tomorrow and send everyone an e-mail so we are all clear on the ruling for future sessions.
Third, getting good players can often be a matter of luck. I think many of us on these boards have been a part of groups that have kicked players out for poor attitudes & argumentative natures. You only want to do this as a last resort, however, you never want to let one rotten apple spoil the whole bushel!
Finally, be straight with your players - "I'm new at DMing, but I want us all to have fun. Feel free to give me advice and if I make inaccurate rulings, let me know. Write them down on a piece of paper while we're going and I'd be more than happy to address them after the session. I'd rather not interrupt a gaming session for these sorts of things unless I'm making a vital error with the rules."
Just a few cp worth of ideas thrown out there. Best of luck!