Topic: Character creation - point buy system

So, my party likes LotFP - but they don't like rolling for stats (at character generation).

Does any of You made some point-buy-system that You can share?

Re: Character creation - point buy system

Haha, it seems so against LotFP, so no. But 5E has a system for that, right? I don't see any issue with using that system only for generating stats, and then the rest of the LotFP rules as-is. (Or just using whatever point buy system they are used to.)

https://chicken-dinner.com/5e/5e-point-buy.html

That said, are you running an OSR style game? Or are you running a more "heroic" style game where the characters will live long, are expected to min/max, and such?

Re: Character creation - point buy system

I'm running an OSR game - and as one of my players said "it is brutal".

I'm still thinking, should I allow them to buy stats or not though...

Re: Character creation - point buy system

So right off, high stats will not save these characters. If you’re running Lotfp modules or other OSR modules, there are save or die instances and in some cases no save, just die.

This makes spending time on point buying kind of pointless. It also leads to increased character investment, which is misleading.

Ultimately if it makes your players happy, it’s not a big deal, but it does show they’re maybe missing the point by asking for it.

Have they read the old school primer yet?

https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/matthew … m8y7m.html

If their goal is to be able to play a particular class, they do get to swap two scores. You could also let them bring any “failed” characters (those that aren’t suitable for play per the rules) as 0 level retainers, which may make rolling up characters more appealing to them.

Re: Character creation - point buy system

I agree with everything You wrote above. Also, rolling for stats often creates NOT perfectly balanced characters - which is interesting in my opinion :-)

So after thinking this through I will NOT let them use a point-buy system.

Crunk Posby wrote:

You could also let them bring any “failed” characters (those that aren’t suitable for play per the rules) as 0 level retainers, which may make rolling up characters more appealing to them.

This is a great idea - I will definitely try it out!

Re: Character creation - point buy system

voyager156 wrote:

Also, rolling for stats often creates NOT perfectly balanced characters - which is interesting in my opinion :-)

I agree! When I play, I love rolling right down the line and seeing what I get - a super low stat is just as much fun as a super high one. It honestly baffles me that someone wouldn't want to do this! XD

Re: Character creation - point buy system

If you use point buy, let them distribute so that the sum of all their ability modifiers combined don't exceed +2 or something, but rolling is more fun

Last edited by hertzrat (2020-09-13 08:02:01)

Re: Character creation - point buy system

I tell them to try the 2d6 +7 System