Quote from: dragoner;766583I don't like the 3d6 straight down because then what class you are is random, pretty much.

Not really. All you need is 9+ in 2 or more of Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence or Wisdom, and not 5 or less in some other stat, and you'll be able to choose from at least 2 of fighter, magic-user, cleric or thief. You have to get pretty shitty dice rolls to not manage that. If you want to be a paladin or something it's a different matter, but this is a roleplaying game, you can always play your fighter like a paladin, you just won't get the k3w1 pw0rz.

The great virtue of the dice is that they come without boxed text. Nothing is predetermined, you roll and find out, and then react to it as you think best.

Our DM chose AD&D2e, we had to choose classes first, fighters were like 7d6 take best 3 for strength, etc. I ended up with Str 12, Int 6, Wis 17 and Cha 18.  The gnome illusionist has Str 13. Basically the guy should be a country priest - academically not bright, can barely read his own holy books, but lots of common sense and peasant cunning, and a really charming motherfucker, gets along with everyone and people heed his advice.

But I'd chosen to be a fighter, so I had him become Fabio, the Most Beautiful Fighter in the Cosmos. No Str/Con bonus, a small Dex bonus, I rolled badly for hit points, he won't be a very effective fighter, so what does he do? Hires men-at-arms. He's charismatic, and generous - any silver or copper coins the party finds goes to them. Recently 2 of them died in a dungeon, one was consumed whole by a bullette and the other one got munched on by trolls. Nothing he could do for Bullette Dinner but Troll Bait got resurrected, 3,000GP gone, now the man-at-arms is a henchman.

If I were doing point-buy I would never have thought of Fabio the Most Beautiful Fighter in the Cosmos, and even if I did I would never have had enough points for my "character concept" as I wouldn't be able to bear buying down Str for the sake of Cha and Wis.

In the randomness of the dice lies the seed for the great oak of creativity and fun. The great virtue of the dice is that they come without boxed text.

Quote from: Kyle Aaron;766997Not really. All you need is 9+ in 2 or more of Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence or Wisdom, and not 5 or less in some other stat, and you'll be able to choose from at least 2 of fighter, magic-user, cleric or thief. You have to get pretty shitty dice rolls to not manage that. If you want to be a paladin or something it's a different matter, but this is a roleplaying game, you can always play your fighter like a paladin, you just won't get the k3w1 pw0rz.

The great virtue of the dice is that they come without boxed text. Nothing is predetermined, you roll and find out, and then react to it as you think best.

Our DM chose AD&D2e, we had to choose classes first, fighters were like 7d6 take best 3 for strength, etc. I ended up with Str 12, Int 6, Wis 17 and Cha 18.  The gnome illusionist has Str 13. Basically the guy should be a country priest - academically not bright, can barely read his own holy books, but lots of common sense and peasant cunning, and a really charming motherfucker, gets along with everyone and people heed his advice.

But I'd chosen to be a fighter, so I had him become Fabio, the Most Beautiful Fighter in the Cosmos. No Str/Con bonus, a small Dex bonus, I rolled badly for hit points, he won't be a very effective fighter, so what does he do? Hires men-at-arms. He's charismatic, and generous - any silver or copper coins the party finds goes to them. Recently 2 of them died in a dungeon, one was consumed whole by a bullette and the other one got munched on by trolls. Nothing he could do for Bullette Dinner but Troll Bait got resurrected, 3,000GP gone, now the man-at-arms is a henchman.

If I were doing point-buy I would never have thought of Fabio the Most Beautiful Fighter in the Cosmos, and even if I did I would never have had enough points for my "character concept" as I wouldn't be able to bear buying down Str for the sake of Cha and Wis.

In the randomness of the dice lies the seed for the great oak of creativity and fun. The great virtue of the dice is that they come without boxed text.

In playing AD&D, it str-fighter, dex-thief, int-mu, etc.; for us. We had started with the straight down, but eventual evolved towards the 3d6, place them where you want them, then just to 4d6, drop lowest, place them. This came from the experience in that while your character might have been some stronger than the straight down, it only really mattered in the lower levels. As levels rise, after about fifth, you had accumulated enough magic items to offset any disadvantages in stats.

That way you got to play what you wanted, and the lower levels survived more, so that the game wouldn't be interrupted with chargen. It just came down to streamlined play, things being more time limited and what you wanted to do. Some people love chargen, others love combat, both good minigames, and both can be done solo; I liked interacting with the group and exploring. We often played fairly sandbox style, first using Greyhawk, then the Middle Earth using MERP converted to AD&D.

We even wargamed Greyhawk at one point, somewhere I have a bunch of counters we made for all the different countries, with high powered characters as commanders.

Quote from: jibbajibba;766992But then you may as well take a pool of points and assign them to your stats as you wish.
You roll 18 d6 (6 x 3d6) total them all up and you are pretty much guarenteed a score in the 58 - 70 range. So if you are goign to take from peter to pay paul you may as well just take 58+2d6 and distribute as you see fit.

Seen that in an RPG.

I prefer the little moves within defined limits as it makes you stop and think about what you are trying to accomplish. I like the random. But I want a little controll over the random. Controlled chaos as I termed it in my own book way back.

BX provided that. And in BX it was often not even necessary as there wasnt the class stat requirements. Just there if you wanted.

And in BX shuffling points actually lost you points as it was 1 point for 2 moved. So bumping up your STR by 1 cost 2 INT for example.

Quote from: Opaopajr;766972It's due to my NERF feet and angel wings. It helps us spaceships work our advantages.

Still got some more stat lines to go! Back to the Fantazy Zone! :cheerleader: :cool:

Can't wait to see what is next. I can do 3d6 if you really want me to?

Quote from: Marleycat;767049Can't wait to see what is next. I can do 3d6 if you really want me to?

Please do! I feel disappointed that I was working with a 4d6 d-1 crutch for all those stat lines. One must truly suffer for their art.

Quote from: Kyle Aaron;766997The great virtue of the dice is that they come without boxed text.

Nice quote!! I hope I remember it's from you when I eventually steal it!

Quote from: Opaopajr;767078Please do! I feel disappointed that I was working with a 4d6 d-1 crutch for all those stat lines. One must truly suffer for their art.

I'll have a set for you tomorrow then.

Quote from: Kyle Aaron;766997If I were doing point-buy I would never have thought of Fabio the Most Beautiful Fighter in the Cosmos, and even if I did I would never have had enough points for my "character concept" as I wouldn't be able to bear buying down Str for the sake of Cha and Wis.

In the randomness of the dice lies the seed for the great oak of creativity and fun. The great virtue of the dice is that they come without boxed text.

Yeah that's the beauty of random CharGen, you take a look at what you have and say "who is this"?

Quote from: CRKrueger;767102Yeah that's the beauty of random CharGen, you take a look at what you have and say "who is this"?

Actually I usually say, "who the fuck is this, and how quickly can I get him killed so I can roll up a proper character?" Yet... somehow the more useless they are on paper, the more likely they are to survive, and then you become fond of them, like a retarded ugly puppy.

Quote from: CRKrueger;767102Yeah that's the beauty of random CharGen, you take a look at what you have and say "who is this"?

But if you create a charcter that way, how do you get the dual magic scimitars, 19 dexterity, and uber dual wielding build, essential to enjoying an rpg?

Quote from: Kyle Aaron;766997In the randomness of the dice lies the seed for the great oak of creativity and fun. The great virtue of the dice is that they come without boxed text.

:cool:

I have always loved the box of chocolates method of chargen. It is true that some memorable characters would have never seen play if they had been designed to preconceived specifications.


.....and sigged.

Here you go Opa 3d6....
7,7,15,11,13,14....11,13,8,12,7,12.....15,17,13,15,12,8.....10,12,11,10,8,10.

Quote from: Kyle Aaron;767118Actually I usually say, "who the fuck is this, and how quickly can I get him killed so I can roll up a proper character?" Yet... somehow the more useless they are on paper, the more likely they are to survive, and then you become fond of them, like a retarded ugly puppy.

we talk about that as well.  For real players, the most epic characters are often the most broken, the ones that should come with instructions..."Fragile, do not shake or let talk to orcs".  
yet these are the ones they remember the most fondly.

Okay here's mine (3d6, in order):

STR 13  - a little strong due to lots of menial work
DEX 10  - no good with a bow but doesn't trip over his laces
CON 7  - never fully recovered from a serious illness in his youth
INT 8  - has to count slowly and doesn't always get jokes
WIS 6  - completely oblivious to his surroundings, always day dreaming
CHA 10  - face in the crowd: doesn't stand out but doesn't have lots of friends

I'm sure others could think of more interesting personalities for these stats, but I can't help of thinking of a dull secondary character in a gritty medieval series who's pretty much just there to die horribly and meaninglessly.

EDIT: I'd try again, but only after I try to come up with at least one personality to match the stats.

Quote from: Necrozius;767262Okay here's mine (3d6, in order):

STR 13  - a little strong due to lots of menial work
DEX 10  - no good with a bow but doesn't trip over his laces
CON 7  - never fully recovered from a serious illness in his youth
INT 8  - has to count slowly and doesn't always get jokes
WIS 6  - completely oblivious to his surroundings, always day dreaming
CHA 10  - face in the crowd: doesn't stand out but doesn't have lots of friends

I'm sure others could think of more interesting personalities for these stats, but I can't help of thinking of a dull secondary character in a gritty medieval series who's pretty much just there to die horribly and meaninglessly.

EDIT: I'd try again, but only after I try to come up with at least one personality to match the stats.

This sounds like an npc from my OD&D game. A torch bearer with aspirations of becoming a fighting man.

The PCs liked his spirit and started training him as a man at arms. When they were ambushed by goblins and the guy got caught in the sleep spell the PCs impaled a sleeping goblin with his spear and put it back in his hands before he woke up. Then they told him how he took out that goblin like a total badass.

It really boosted his confidence, so much that went with them into the ruined tower dungeon not as a linkboy, but paid fully as a mercenary. He was living his dream.........

Shortly thereafter the party bit off more than they could chew and suffered nearly total losses.  Poor Marmar (the new merc) was captured alive along with a couple other hirelings. The adventurers who got him into this mess are dead and now he faces torture and death at the hands of hungry hobgoblins....

The players have rolled up new PCs who are unaware of the poor fellow's fate.
Such is the life of an adventurer.