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Any D&D/D20

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World of Darkness

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[Arx]

I just always prefer to roll for stats. As soon as point buy comes in it's a huge turn-off for me.

I dissuaded one of my gaming groups from that near-instantaneously by deploying a 4 CON 20 CHA warlock. Apparently playing with that didn't appeal.

Personally, I optimise in a kind of minor way. I make the best choices I can see, but I don't really go looking too hard.

[scriver]

Dissuaded them from rollstats or point buy?

[Yoink]

I'm... kinda wondering that myself.
I'm guessing point buy but it can't hurt to be sure.

[Arx]

Dissuaded them from rollstats or point buy?

Rolls.

[NullForceOmega]

I would like to point out (as an addendum to what I said about minmaxing), that when players roll up a character for my games, I'm not a leave them as they lie (rolled in order and set in stone) DM, I let my players apply their rolled stats as they see fit, and I will allow them to roll multiple sets of stats (sets must be used cohesively), it tends to lead to characters who are good at their jobs as well as something (or things) other than that job.

I don't take issue with a player who sets themselves up to be a good ____, I take exception to players who abuse the system, a player who just sets themselves up to be effective is not a minmaxer, a minmaxer is abusing the rules to 'win' or 'be the best' by doing everything they can to have their chosen field at maximum possible (or impossible, but munchkins are a different story) values.

And as an aside, point buy is evil, and should never be allowed due to the hideous things players create with it (yes, I've done it too.)

[Jimmy]

Eh, I've played 4 Con characters before. It's exciting!

I had all my players roll their 4d6b3x6 dice for our current game. Two got at least one 18, two got at least one 17, and one guy got royally screwed. They're all fine with it, because at the end of the day it's not about winning the numbers game, it's about having fun with other people at the table.

I'm also fine with my players optimizing, because that means I can afford to throw harder challenges at them as a DM. Why not see how much they can handle? It's fun as a player to know you've built a character that can deal with a threat designed for someone of an arbitrarily higher level than you.

[Criptfeind]

I think point buy is perfectly fine. I mean, it's also fine if you wanta play randy random or whatever, but in my game the players characters are their part of the story, to be told (within limits) however they want. Which I think point buy works best for.

As for optimization and minmaxing, I think it all depending on A: Making sure everyone is on the same page. and B: what story you want to tell. I don't mind certain levels of minmaxery in my game, because my story is a highly heroic one. If I wanted to tell a less heroic story I'd require less minmaxing and optimizing probably (Although I'd also probably use a system other then D&D). So long as everyone is you know, if not on the same page, at least stay within a chapter of each other.

[Gentlefish]

There's putting the stats to make a character make sense, and then there's optimization, and then there's min-maxing. Because of course, in my gestalt campaign my wizard/druid is going to be intelligent and wise but bad with people, and a little on the weak side.

[Arx]

So we spent most of this week's PF session killing zombies, which was actually quite a bit more fun than it sounds. We are now poised on the brink of a semi-climactic showdown with a demon and a demonologist who have been abducting the homeless to make more zombies, which may or may not go horribly for us.

The current game plan is for the paladin to charge in from one side with Shield from the wizard, drawing the skeletal guards and the demon's attention. The rogue/sorcerer and I (fighter) will then take the element of surprise (the rogue is invisible) to inflict as much damage as we can on the demon, by sneak shocking grasp and filling it with silver arrows.

After that, we really really hope the inconveniently nearby giant skeleton doesn't get animated. That would suuuck.

[Cthulhu]

D&D can be hard enough that you need to have some game knowledge and some optimization to survive the combat, at least in 3.5e.  A lot of serious monsters are designed to kill you in a couple rounds if you're not ready with their counters.  I usually just do point buy or standard spread and let that stand.  Rolling's no fun when you've got an average character and the other guy rolled 20 strength and 17 con and 18 dex.

[i2amroy]

Yeah, we don't roll either since we've got one of those guys who is renowned for getting extremely lucky when he needs to; I literally watched him roll two sets of stats in a row, with my dice and right in front of me, where his lowest attribute both times was at a 16. After which his character went on to make half the party relatively worthless because even with their skill proficiency he still had an even or better chance of success than they did. The takeaway for us was that while rolling can be fun for a wider character spread, it's something that you might want to avoid when playing with the guy who is the type to regularly cross out other columns on his score sheets because he rolled "too many Yahtzee's" or goes to jail two turns in a row by rolling three sets of doubles... successively.

[TheBiggerFish]

Yeah, we don't roll either since we've got one of those guys who is renowned for getting extremely lucky when he needs to; I literally watched him roll two sets of stats in a row, with my dice and right in front of me, where his lowest attribute both times was at a 16. After which his character went on to make half the party relatively worthless because even with their skill proficiency he still had an even or better chance of success than they did. The takeaway for us was that while rolling can be fun for a wider character spread, it's something that you might want to avoid when playing with the guy who is the type to regularly cross out other columns on his score sheets because he rolled "too many Yahtzee's" or goes to jail two turns in a row by rolling three sets of doubles... successively.

HOW?!

That's just insane!

[Arcvasti]

I prefer rolling, personally. Although that's because I like above-average characters, in general. Partly so everyone can feel heroic and powerful and partly so I don't accidentally kill off too many people because I actually don't understand how CR/EL works[Although I've been getting better at that lately]. Looking back, its a small miracle that only one PC has actually died due to my ineptitude[And this was at a level where they got better pretty quickly]. Plus, I kind of like the idea of characters with unusually assigned stats. Like a fighter with high Dex but low Con or somesuch.

[Criptfeind]

I prefer rolling, personally. Although that's because I like above-average characters, in general.

I'd almost say that's a reason not to roll, you can have a high point buy to produce strong characters, but a roll, especially a roll where you keep the stats in the order rolled like you seem to be saying, is a great way to produce very weak characters. Not to say it's not a perfectly legitimate way of playing the game, just that your stated reason for liking it seems to be largely the opposite of reality.

[Jimmy]

First game of my new Pathfinder campaign went well!

Level 1 players went into a swamp to find some orcs and kill their leader for the bounty on his head. First fight is vs. two grindylows. Deep bog terrain all around, meaning 4 squares movement penalty per 5 ft. moved, and grindylows have a swim speed that lets them move through it normally. Didn't go well for the party, with one character brought to zero hit points and another badly wounded before they killed the beasts.

They retreated, rested at the conveniently placed NPC trapper's hut they found earlier, went back the next day and proceeded to demolish an encounter with two stirges, then a lizardfolk, then a goblin dog. We ended with them finding the ruined castle where the orcs have set up camp.

Overall a good session! Also, our telekineticist seems to enjoy picking up turtles and hurling them at enemies, which is a good running joke.