Dice rolls verses point buy - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Dice rolls verses point buy

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
lschuster
Jul 26, 2009 21:21:18 Most of the games I have played have offered either a roll or a point buy at the players choice. The roll is almost always the standard 4d6 drop the lowest six times, but the point buys obviously vary depending on the campaign. Has anyone run the numbers to determine at what point it is more beneficial to buy rather than roll? Also note that most of the time, the DM will include an extra rule about rolling, such as if you are +3 or worse, or your highest stat is 13, you can either reroll, or go to point buy, or pick which one you want to do. This obviously creates a slight statistical rub in that the poorer of the possible combinations from rolling are essentially null. Even worse, sometimes the rolling rules are a bit odd, such that it's 4d6 and reroll the lowest instead of dropping it.

Are there general guidelines for choosing the method with regards to how many stats are important to you? For example, if you only need one good score, then you just buy and be done with it most of the time. What if you need two? What if you need three? What if you need 5 decent scores and only have 1 dump stat?

I'm asking this question more from a standpoint of "has anyone already created a sheet for this?" and "Hey, math is fun!" more than the obvious logical arguments. Thoughts?
#2
lotusblossom
Jul 26, 2009 23:18:00 Take a stat class. Just in your post there are many time sinks to be had.
#3
lschuster
Jul 27, 2009 0:08:39 I have a B.S. in Physics which includes way too many time sinks in stat areas. I'm more interested if someone has developed a foundation for me to work on, or better yet has already worked out something that involves multiple parameters of input and outputs a detailed analysis, rather than working from ground zero. I suppose I'd also like to debate the risk versus reward aspect of the math, but I had originally planned for that to come later.
#4
emy
Jul 27, 2009 0:21:37 Not all of your questions have been done before, but rolls vs point-buy certainly has.

How many points for a true 4d6 stat generation?
#5
deoxhydroxinate
Jul 27, 2009 0:34:36 Thanks for finding and posting that Emy, that's actually a pretty nifty tool to have on hand.
#6
acereraklives
Jul 27, 2009 2:43:49 Indeed!

Personally, my instinct is to go for the rolls if it's 32 PB or less - most games I've been in will allow rerolls if your luck is poor, as has been mentioned. Also, the stats are more uneven, which I like since the character looks a little more natural.

As most of us already know, in general it tends to mean no truly low scores, but slightly lower high scores. For an orc barbarian, PB would get me 22/08/18/06/06/06, while 4d6-1 would probably get me 21/12/16/09/12/10, for example - which in my opinion is a fair trade.

The main exceptions would be if the PB and rolling are quite out of whack (40 PB vs. 4d6-1, for example), or if I were playing a truly single-stat dependent character like a dragonfire adept.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 lschuster Jul 26, 2009 21:21:18	Most of the games I have played have offered either a roll or a point buy at the players choice. The roll is almost always the standard 4d6 drop the lowest six times, but the point buys obviously vary depending on the campaign. Has anyone run the numbers to determine at what point it is more beneficial to buy rather than roll? Also note that most of the time, the DM will include an extra rule about rolling, such as if you are +3 or worse, or your highest stat is 13, you can either reroll, or go to point buy, or pick which one you want to do. This obviously creates a slight statistical rub in that the poorer of the possible combinations from rolling are essentially null. Even worse, sometimes the rolling rules are a bit odd, such that it's 4d6 and reroll the lowest instead of dropping it. Are there general guidelines for choosing the method with regards to how many stats are important to you? For example, if you only need one good score, then you just buy and be done with it most of the time. What if you need two? What if you need three? What if you need 5 decent scores and only have 1 dump stat? I'm asking this question more from a standpoint of "has anyone already created a sheet for this?" and "Hey, math is fun!" more than the obvious logical arguments. Thoughts?
#2 lotusblossom Jul 26, 2009 23:18:00	Take a stat class. Just in your post there are many time sinks to be had.
#3 lschuster Jul 27, 2009 0:08:39	I have a B.S. in Physics which includes way too many time sinks in stat areas. I'm more interested if someone has developed a foundation for me to work on, or better yet has already worked out something that involves multiple parameters of input and outputs a detailed analysis, rather than working from ground zero. I suppose I'd also like to debate the risk versus reward aspect of the math, but I had originally planned for that to come later.
#4 emy Jul 27, 2009 0:21:37	Not all of your questions have been done before, but rolls vs point-buy certainly has. How many points for a true 4d6 stat generation?
#5 deoxhydroxinate Jul 27, 2009 0:34:36	Thanks for finding and posting that Emy, that's actually a pretty nifty tool to have on hand.
#6 acereraklives Jul 27, 2009 2:43:49	Indeed! Personally, my instinct is to go for the rolls if it's 32 PB or less - most games I've been in will allow rerolls if your luck is poor, as has been mentioned. Also, the stats are more uneven, which I like since the character looks a little more natural. As most of us already know, in general it tends to mean no truly low scores, but slightly lower high scores. For an orc barbarian, PB would get me 22/08/18/06/06/06, while 4d6-1 would probably get me 21/12/16/09/12/10, for example - which in my opinion is a fair trade. The main exceptions would be if the PB and rolling are quite out of whack (40 PB vs. 4d6-1, for example), or if I were playing a truly single-stat dependent character like a dragonfire adept.