In the Beginning, or Character Creation

Ok, I've flipped through some of the past topics and I didn't see this come up, so it's time to seek some imput. I've noticed several different methods of character generation mentioned in the main book. The standard dice rolling method, the Living Force campaign method, etc etc etc.
My question is, what do you GMs prefer? Personally, I'm more inclined to be nice to players. Our Darwins World GM allowed rolling as 4d6 re-roll ones, and you drop the lowest. His logic was that unlike D&D (where stats can be boosted via Wish, magic item, or through normal means), there is no set way to boost a character other than every four levels. And since that world is so God aweful dangerous, players need all the help they can muster.
So I compared some of the basics. StarWars can have some temporary stat boosts with Jedi powers, but other than that, it's all through character progression. Plus there is no magic to boost abilities, and this is a game where you're supposed to be heroes. So basically allowed the same in my group. What about everyone else? What goes for new characters?

 

I personally love the, roll 4d6, drop the lowest, do this 6 times, during on fo these six you may re-roll, rather than drop, the low die, and then drop the new low die, and assign as you will.

Whew, hope that made sense. I like the point buy system when i NEED characters to be balanced or have certian levels of stats, and i also like the 4d6, drop the lowest, do this 6 times, during on fo these six you may re-roll, rather than drop, the low die, and then drop the new low die, and assign in order method. It foirces Characters to deal with stats they wish they didn't have, such as a Soldier with a high Dex but low Con and Strength, ect.

 

For most normal campaigns, I'm a big advocate of:

4d6, drop lowest. Roll TWO complete sets -- you may use EITHER set, but must use the complete set (i.e. no "mixing and matching").

However, having said that, I'd love to play in a hard-core, "realistic" 3d6 straight up campaign at some point for a challenge...

 

Round hereabouts, we roll 4d6 and drop the low (but no rerolling on ones). If the score is less than eight, roll 'em all again. Tends to prevent crummy scores (but my level 7 Wookiee still has two 9's... blasted -1 penalties!).

Only 3d6? Man, you just KNOW that's when all of the ones will come up.

 

I'm a big fan of:

Roll 4D20, drop the lowest, add them up, max score for any ability is 20

Actually, I prefer the D&D 4D20, reroll the lowest.

 

In our group we tend to just do 4d6 and drop the lowest, however a friend and myself tend to argue with the GM until at least decent stats are produced

 

I follow a simple method of letting the players roll 4d6, drop the lowest, repeat till you have six scores. If any of the scores are below 12, reroll that score. Then, they can take scores from one stat and add to another (which makes the whole group a strong, agile and endurant group, but albeit a rather dumb, foolish and ugly one, since most players are soldiers after I banned the Jedi classes).

 

Throw it out if it's below 12? I'm sure you realize that 10-11 is "average"... (i.e. How realistic is it that everybody starts out above average? But whatever works for you.)

 

Two possibilities:

-Lighthearted adventures: 4d6, reroll the lowest

-Complex campaigns: our roleplaying creation system, "Level Zero", a system that lets you build your character by roleplaying crucial events of his/her childhood and teen age (soon to be published as Open Game Content) [face_shameless_plug]

 

Well, in theory 10-11 is average. Heroes, by thier very nature, should be at least above average. Of course, I don't think every stat has to be abover average, after all, chance has to factor in somewhere.

 

One of my favorites--at least when I'm GM--is the "b!tch" rollup:

3d6, keep them no matter what, in the order you got them in (i.e. first roll would be Str, second would be Dex, third would be Con, etc.), roll your first HD.

 

See, while I can appreciate the immense amount of chance and roleplaying that would need to be involved with that type of character, that option severely limits certain options for characters. After all, a Str of 6 and a Dex of 5 will make you the Gomer Pyle of Soldier-dom. Ditto for the Int 7 Wis 8 Jedi. Odds are your stats would be so screwy that no RPG writer would ever consider using those stats in a book. Which is a reward unto itself I guess.

 

Tremaniac -- remember... the GM has to play with those rules too...

 

In my group we roll 4d6 drop the lowest die, 7 times and drop the lowest total.

 

I'm starting to favor what amounts to a 33 point buy. Arrange the following stats: 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 10.

That works well too -- but then you get into not being able to see the look of decision on a player's face when debating to take the "15, 15, 14, 14, 12, 10" set or the "18, 17, 12, 11, 10, 8" set...

 

d20 rules, point buy with 28 points, each attribute starts out at 8 points, you add to that. That puts you roughly in the league of Lando Calrissian, which works well to keep balance with published d20 stats from sourcebooks.

 

Ugh.

If there's ONE THING I hate most about d20 it's that stupid RPGA point-buy system.

 

I've never liked point buy systems anyway. There is something about the randomness of rolling for stats, that I find satisfying.

 

DP, I thought the point of GMing was to abuse people in true sadist manor and somehow convince them to come back for more? Kinda like a dominatrix, except no one wants to see me in leather.
Actually, using the same rules I set forth for my players I created a Jedi Master to oversee the Jedi Guardian. My God! Why couldn't I roll that good in Darwins World!!!!

 

I and my co-GM decided to give point buy a shot after we in one campaign, we had players who liked to Min/Max, and that combined with great creation rolls made for characters that were a bit overpowered (at level 3) in certain stats compared to epic heroes or villains from the source books. So we do point buy, along with a couple of other things to keep things in balance.

It has worked for us to keep a balanced game in our current campaign (which has many newbies).

 

In our campaign, we use the roll 4d6, reroll any score under 10 if the player chooses (a hero shouldn't be below average in any respect, IMO) and then we start out at 3rd Level.

 

My GM started a campaign at 3rd lvl once...just didnt seem quite right. I kinda like the suckyness of a lvl 1 anything. Hack and slash a bit and you quickly grow out of it, but its nice to not be able to "move object" a land speeder when you first start...

 

Heh, try starting out a Forgotten Realms campaign at level 10 and see if that feels natural!

 

My God! 10th level? That's crazy! The gear alone for a character of that level is nuts.
Although, our last D&D group found ourselves in an unfortunate low magic campaign. So literally the only magic we got was picked off the bodies of dead comrades who started off with stuff. You know it's bad when you make up secondary characters who's sole purpose is to die in battle so someone else can loot thier +3 breastplate.