I prefer Random.

 

Point buy, from my observations, results in "Clone-Characters". Meaning, in any point buy system, the majority of characters in a given class will have identical or near identical stats. A Fighter is always going to have an 18 strength and high Dex/Con. A Mage is always going to have a 18 Int. The Cleric will always have an 18 Wisdom. Because in any point buy system, to do anything less than a perfect score in your prime stat(s) is just unthinkable. No one is going to willingly make a fighter with all 15's.

 

Nonsense. People who exercise temperance or don't care about playing the optimal warrior or mage will play characters without maxed stats or skills all the time, because it's fun and interesting to do so. A low strength warrior can be both funny and tragic.

Actually, there are some people, not many but some, who will play with suboptimal stats just for the challeng and/or bragging rights.

Point Buy like PS:T and Fallout.

 

The catch is making the game use the often neglected stats like personality/charisma in a meaningful way and having some occasional consequences for min/max builds.

I hate point buy I am with the OP and love rolling randomized dice like an over-caffeinated monkey whilst listening to the game theme music. But that's just me (no, me and the OP).

 

Point buy is too scientific and precise. And boring. We munchkins and twinks need to be considered too.

 

ToEE got it right: there was a little number on your sheet that displayed how many re-rolls you'd done. Your shame dogged you for the entire game.

I'd have to go with randomized roll too.

 

There is something really interesting to me about playing a character who has imperfections, which unlike some of you I always end up with no matter how many times I press reroll . Anyway, I think the stats can provide a great jumping off point for your characters personality. You know a kind of 'right, I've got a strong, pretty healthy, maybe a little accident prone fighter with the charm of a dustbin, how do I work with this?' moment.

 

All I know is that imperfections help me come up with a concept for a character ... and with point buy, since there will always be weaknesses, it makes it that much easier to tailor the character to a concept.

Wow, I'm honestly surprised by the amount of support for point buying. For me, half the fun in role playing is the challenge of playing the character and so random stats work really well and tend to be quite exciting. After all, no one chooses how they're born!

Point Buy like PS:T and Fallout.

 

The catch is making the game use the often neglected stats like personality/charisma in a meaningful way and having some occasional consequences for min/max builds.

You neglect charisma and personality to your own detriment.

 

EDIT: Sorry, I mean in PS:T.

Edited September 21, 201213 yr by Cantousent

Straight points buy. I want to make the character however I feel like making him, not rely on chance to decide what character I'm going to roleplay as. If it's random, it almost feels like I have to roleplay according to how the stats happened to come up and build my character based on that, rather than build my character how I want to.

Random roll with rerolls, and you then choose which number goes to which stat. Like in ToEE.

 

Doesn't matter much, as long as there's a console for us cheaters.

random just makes you reroll - I have yet to see players going with their first roll

Stupidest part about BG was rerolling until you got a perfect stat roll. It was just silly. Voted regular point-buy.

Random with adjustment, like in the BG series. But, in a spirit of compromise, perhaps have BOTH options: random and point buy. I don't think it would be too hard to implement.

I am a bit unsure about this. I know that I also roll until I get a pretty nice statline in BG1 and 2 and IWD1, but then I use more time on character creation than is healthy .

Point buy makes me stress less about that I could have gotten a better statline if I just had used more time on rolling, so that can be nice too.