Simulating a Deterministic "Point Buy" System in AD&D/Infinity Engine Chargen

[Chuftie]

I prefer point buy for both CRPG and PNP games.

Mainly because I like to play around with mechanics, and honestly what's the point of rolling randomly in the game? As someone said before, combat is that main focus in games so all it does is affect how easy or hard it will be to kill things.And honestly there plenty of fun and arbitrary ways to makes things trickier than gimping my rolls. And in PnP I can afford not be so combat oriented unless otherwise so I like full customization.

Anyway rolled stats is best for either really short or not so serious games where having numbers in either extreme won't be an issue

 

[Excidium]

Rolling can be fun, though.

The problem is that in CRPGs rolling is kinda pointless because you can just re-roll over and over. Most people actually reroll until they get the best scores. And then they come here and complain the game is too easy. That's why point buy is superior because it allows a more balanced approach, all characters generated will be around the same power level.

 

[felipepepe]

It becames extra retarded when there are tons of stats requirements in-game... Wizardry classes are like that, you could get stuff like Lords at lv 1 by rolling like a retard, so the game is actually giving you an incentive for that stupidity.

 

[Lord Andre]

Physical stats should not share the same point pool with mental stats. Roleplaying should mean fleshing out a character's personality by the actions he takes or the reactions he gives. Choosing a dumbfuck strong fighter or a a weakling mage at character design does not roleplaying make.

So, I would go with point-buy as long as it doesn't railroad me into the stereotypes stated above.

 

[DraQ]

combat is that main focus in games

That's the first problem - RPGs are still typically just shitty crawlers or H&S games.

You'd think that genre centred around the concept of flexibility would fail less at actually implementing it.

Physical stats should not share the same point pool with mental stats. Roleplaying should mean fleshing out a character's personality by the actions he takes or the reactions he gives. Choosing a dumbfuck strong fighter or a a weakling mage at character design does not roleplaying make.

So, I would go with point-buy as long as it doesn't railroad me into the stereotypes stated above.

First and foremost it would require a fairly large array of broadly applicable mental stats.
And if you had those, I'm not sure separate pools would even be needed - what good is a fighter that panics at the first sight of the enemy, even if he's freakishly strong, fast and agile, with shitload of endurance?

 

[SlowTurns]

The randomality is kinda interesting... But my personal strategy is to reroll until I get 18 in my main stat, ie: str for a fighter. At that point I go into the game and modify stats. Say for example my fighter really doesn't need an 18 Int, I'll subtract points from the stat I don't need and add them to another. Still pretty unbalanced but a little bit of a moral point buy that makes me feel good

I like the way DDO handles stats with a point buy system. Admittedly DDO is a whole other set of bastardized D&D rules...

 

[waywardOne]

Come up with a system where all stats have value and this all goes away. A fighter that can convince a few town guards to help him take down the local gang can get by with his slightly above-average STR.

I've always felt that stats were just behind gear in the category of Things Heroes Tend To Have But Shouldn't Need To Still Be Heroes. I doubt many real world heroes have ever had more than one 18, and if they did, it was probably CHA.