Stats Total on Character Creation Screen

moody_mage

So not an entirely serious request which I'm sure the RP elite crew will dislike.

It would save many people so much time if on the stat allocation screen on character creation if a box which shows the total sum of your combined stats could be added. That way you could easily see which is a good roll and which is a slightly better roll without having to adjust the stats manually (or add up really quickly).

Quartz

decado said:

So not an entirely serious request which I'm sure the RP elite crew will dislike.

It would save many people so much time if on the stat allocation screen on character creation if a box which shows the total sum of your combined stats could be added. That way you could easily see which is a good roll and which is a slightly better roll without having to adjust the stats manually (or add up really quickly).

Pffhahaha, would get rid of all of the challenge of rolling up a good character. By that I mean, the challenge is in that it tries your patience. Don't get me wrong, I go crazy getting stuff like the other day's 18/00 - 18 - 18 - 10 - 18 - 10, so I can relate.

moody_mage

Just for fun I was rolling stats in BG2 for my proposed Cleric/Mage and after a while realised I was hoping for around 93-96 stats points (the best I got was 87). I would need to roll an equivalent of 16 in every slot to get the minimum stats I want.

My system to calculate rolls is to set all stats to 15 and count from there (as 6x15 = 90) or as near as damn it. If there was a total box it would be so much easier

Bercon

I'm a bit shamed of this... But this gets my vote too.

Cheesebelly

There is no challenge in rerolling attributes if you can do it an infinite amount of time with a recall option, it is by all definitions a waste of time and energy XD (and before you hate, I LOVE to waste my time and energy in rerolling 5 hours)

It would be a plus actually. Much more newbie friendly too truth be said. Maybe an option to have it enabled and disabled would make all parties be happy

moody_mage

The perfect solution.

It'll make getting started just a bit easier - as you say you can reroll as many times as you like and this won't in any way change the rolls you get. It will just present an extra piece of info which will allow you to determine if it is a good roll (or at least a better roll than the one you have stored) or not within a split second.

Awong124

It would be more convenient.

Silverstar

But then people probably count roll totals differently; I know I and my brothers do. I set all stats to a minimum of 10 (seems like the "average" value in my head) and then count the points left over. 24 is a nice minimum, then you can max three stats to 18, anything above that is great. Other people might only care for the stats they need for their class and possibly dual-class and some doubtlessly want everything as maxed as possible. Regardless of how you roll though, you quickly learn how to count the totals with a mere glance. So an info box with the stat total is a bit unneccessary but also leaves the question of how the total is counted; all points, how many points to distribute on class attributes, points compared to average.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not opposed to the idea, I just don't see the merit in it. Not going to say something stupid like "waste of developers' time!" or how it shouldn't be in cause I wouldn't use it

Cheesebelly said:

Maybe an option to have it enabled and disabled would make all parties be happy

Very reasonable suggestion.

AurenRavidel

This would be more convenient, admittedly. I wish there was a sensible way to overhaul the stat rolls so that it didn't heavily favor classes like paladins and rangers so much. It's a helluvalot easier to roll a cumulative 90+ stat points for those classes than it is to do so with a fighter, mage, or cleric.

moody_mage

I was thinking it would be the grand total of all stats combined. As I explained I calculate mine slightly differently and whilst this method works well it's a timesink at times when you have very similar rolls which when combined are very nearly equal.

If you were presented with your total roll I suspect you would change your method to suit as the info would be readily available to you. For example you would know without having to do any clicking or calculating that if you got a total of 90 that this equates to 15 in each stat.

Totally appreciate that some folks would hate this though as it would interfere with their RP concept or self-imposed character creation rules.

Moira

Part of me thinks that creating a character with a set amount of points to divide into the stats would be better than the painful rerolling-until-you're-close-to-munchkin. And then I reroll (and count the total), reroll (and count the total), reroll (count the total and save), reroll (and count the total)...

Silverstar

Moira said:

Part of me thinks that creating a character with a set amount of points to divide into the stats would be better than the painful rerolling-until-you're-close-to-munchkin. And then I reroll (and count the total), reroll (and count the total), reroll (count the total and save), reroll (and count the total)...

Heh. The fixed stat allocation is one of the things people really hate about the newer rulesets :P Not me though, I enjoy character creation pretty much either way.

Moira

Silverstar said:

Heh. The fixed stat allocation is one of the things people really hate about the newer rulesets :P Not me though, I enjoy character creation pretty much either way.

Yeah, I know. It's by no means a perfect solution.

I've played awesome pen&paper AD&D with an honestly rolled character of seriously flawed stats. Pains and humiliations in that campaign, but also brilliant moments of success and enjoyment. In BG there's no GM to tailor a suitable campaign for the party, and the combat can be rather challenging, so the temptation to optimize the stats is huge (for me at least). On the other hand I'd prefer to keep metagaming to minimum because it easily starts to distract me from the actual gaming and ends up diminishing the fun instead of increasing it.

moody_mage

Munchkins will be munchkins (and I include myself in that grouping at times). A munchkin will roll and roll until they get the stats they want, there is no point dragging the process out or making it more time-consuming or tedious than it needs to be.

Make stat allocation slightly easier and let them get into the game!

Silence

I've played some terrible characters in PnP, and in BG, and loved it. But to keep BG fresh, I've played it using many approaches: soloing, RP-ing and power-gaming [not to say the three are mutually exclusive ]

For any playstyle, having the stat sum can be handy. My opinion is that any player, munchkin or no, is going to roll till they get a character they want...whether it's terrible character or a great one. So I see no problems with making the process easier.

Kaksi

-sarcasm-

I think the option should be there for stat total, and there should be an option to just "spin" each or all stats like a slot machine, you then have to press stop at the right time to get a good score and you can only save one stat this way before you have to reroll all. If you are wicked enough you can get 19 or 20 in extreme cases.
This could be a mini-game in itself and people could upload their scores to an online website with lists of topscores etc. The person with the highest total stat score rolled should get a decent bonus to a chosen stat of a playable character ingame. There should also be bonusses for the guy/gal that has spent the most time in the stat rolling menu and small random bonuses for everyone else who lingers in the menu to keep them on their toes.
There should also be an option not to have the option and separate released editions of BG:EE available to reflect this so people can choose the version they want and avoid seeing the option at all.

-/sarcasm-

Ok, I admit I also spend hours each time I start a game in the stat rolling menu ;-)

sarevok57

or we could all do it this way: Debug Mode=1 (under game options i believe) then on character creation hold Crtl+8 and whamo, all 18s, (unfortunately str will be 18/00 regardless of your class) and then just subtract the scores you dont want to have 18s in, might as well do that, if everyone else is like me and takes 2 hours to make one character to score 90 or higher, might as well just use the cheats to set 'em all to 18 and subtract what you dont need

bill_zagoudis

sitting in front of your screen and pressing reroll like you're addicted to it is now a challenge? no-it's just a bad design...and yes even the D&D rules can be wrong sometimes...

moody_mage

No it's not a challenge - however the end result could be reached with a lot less tedious clicking and calculating which is all this request is for. If you want amazing rolls you'll still have to spend the time rerolling to get them. This would simply make it easier to decide what is a good roll and what is a slightly better roll in less than a second.

Worg

If you want it, you gotta work for it.

Mortianna

I never liked the fixed stat allocation, like in IWD2. It operates on the assumption that every character has the same total sum of ability points (not accounting for racial bonuses/penalties). It's naively egalitarian. As in real life, not everyone is equal in ability or potential.

_Q_

I definitely support this idea.

Silence

I hate to say it, but re-rolling is part of the fun for me.

That's me though. I like the idea of creating a character more exceptional than the last. I don't mind the waiting, and if fact it makes the munchkin character more fun to have. And more unique.

Mortianna

Silence said:

I hate to say it, but re-rolling is part of the fun for me.

That's me though. I like the idea of creating a character more exceptional than the last. I don't mind the waiting, and if fact it makes the munchkin character more fun to have. And more unique.

And the background music during the character creation process adds to the anticipation of getting that 90+ skill point roll. ;-)

moody_mage

@Silence
I enjoy the rolling too. What I'm suggesting would in no way influence the roll you get, so you could still be waiting a hour to get a 90+ roll. It would just present the fact you have a 90+ roll in an easier to read fashion.

Aliteri

@decado

I can soo picture the player rolling faster and faster because of this, to the point he completely tramples over that mythical 108 roll.

And that point, he won't roll ever again.

sarevok57

@decado except you could get it much faster, because if it doesnt show as 90+ you would just skip it, normally it takes a few seconds at the least to see what you have, but with a thiny ma bober telling you what you have you could do 3000 rolls in an hour, nutty jam

Aliteri

sarevok57 said:

@decado except you could get it much faster, because if it doesnt show as 90+ you would just skip it, normally it takes a few seconds at the least to see what you have, but with a thiny ma bober telling you what you have you could do 3000 rolls in an hour, nutty jam

People just reroll until half or over their stats are 18, you don't have to stop and count the units.

sarevok57

@Aliteri i remember when i played this old ass dnd computer game made in the early 80s, where your character was just an "X" your ability scores where in muliplies of 3 and every once in a solar eclipse you could roll all 18s, ah good times

Aliteri

@sarevok57 said:

@Aliteri i remember when i played this old ass dnd computer game made in the early 80s, where your character was just an "X" your ability scores where in muliplies of 3 and every once in a solar eclipse you could roll all 18s, ah good times

Well, I myself don't have patience for all 18s anymore so I won't roll all that much. Still, even then high rolls are strangely easy in BG.

Then again, unless there's a ironman option (*roll* yes, one of your stats is going to be 7 and there, the game's started and if you die its game over), I simply don't see much value in stat rolling - point-buying makes more sense in a CRPG. I just roll because that's the only way to make my character creation feel legitimate (there's something hollow about editing a protagonist).

Do you remember what game you're talking about?

sarevok57

it was called Dungeons and Dragons, and it was on a 5.5 inch floppy ( B drive i believe is what it ran on) it was made in 1980 or so and it ran on this oooooooooooooooooold computer i had that was only 33 Mhz and had 640 KB of ram, ah good times