Balancing stats.
Malbortus
Member Posts: 106
Rolling for PC stats is fun and addictive, but all too often it either leads to a gimped character (single roll) or an overpowered one (unlimited rolls).
In BG, I ended up balancing PC stats myself, so as to:
- be in line with the character concept
- be powerful
- not remove all challenge
For example, I'd give an elf Fighter/Mage PC this set:
STR 15 (17+ makes me think of weightlifter types)
DEX 19 (elves... they're agile)
CON 16 (combat requires stamina)
INT 14 (ToB would call for 18 plus the Tome of Clear Thought)
WIS 12 (one would think elves draw some wisdom from their long lives)
CHA 12 (attractive and persuasive, if not a prophet or preacher)
The sum of that is 88, which is still a lot: only Ajantis equals it.
In p&p, my group handles it as follows: all 6 players roll 4d6 (discard lowest) for each of STR, DEX, etc. This gives us 6 stat sets, from which we can select one for our PC. This approach adds a random element while also getting us fairly nice stats. In fact, the resulting stats are often comparable with 4e's point buy system, and just as often we have to make a choice between a set with 2-3 good stats (as a paladin would take) vs. one with a single maximized one (which a spellcaster would want).
Did/does anyone else do something similar?
In BG, I ended up balancing PC stats myself, so as to:
- be in line with the character concept
- be powerful
- not remove all challenge
For example, I'd give an elf Fighter/Mage PC this set:
STR 15 (17+ makes me think of weightlifter types)
DEX 19 (elves... they're agile)
CON 16 (combat requires stamina)
INT 14 (ToB would call for 18 plus the Tome of Clear Thought)
WIS 12 (one would think elves draw some wisdom from their long lives)
CHA 12 (attractive and persuasive, if not a prophet or preacher)
The sum of that is 88, which is still a lot: only Ajantis equals it.
In p&p, my group handles it as follows: all 6 players roll 4d6 (discard lowest) for each of STR, DEX, etc. This gives us 6 stat sets, from which we can select one for our PC. This approach adds a random element while also getting us fairly nice stats. In fact, the resulting stats are often comparable with 4e's point buy system, and just as often we have to make a choice between a set with 2-3 good stats (as a paladin would take) vs. one with a single maximized one (which a spellcaster would want).
Did/does anyone else do something similar?
1
Comments
8 - 0 points.
9 - 1 point.
10 - 2 points.
11 - 3 points.
12 - 4 points.
13 - 5 points.
14 - 6 points.
15 - 8 points.
16 - 10 points.
17 - 13 points.
18 - 16 points.
You could also assign 22 or even 18 points for low-powered campaigns, or 28 or 32 points for high-powered campaigns.
(Note, this works best for 3rd edition, where 8/9 gives a -1 modifier to everything, 10/11 gives a +0 modifier to everything, 12/13 gives a +1 modifier to everything, etc... Unlike 2nd edition where everything had it's own list of modifiers, and 7-14 were usually pretty much the same.)