How much randomness do you like?

[danzibr]

When playing good ol' D&D, how much randomness do you like?

For example, when I make a character (or level up), I like 0 randomness. 32 point-buy, average hp.

When playing, I'm in a campaign where we almost never take 10 or take 20, and we're not very optimized at all... and combat is pretty wild. So for me, I like randomness in the playing, but just not in my character.

How about you playgrounders?

[Medic!]

I'm all about lettin the dice do the talkin...they don't lie!

[Loki_42]

I like randomness with a safety net, for character building. Rolled 4d6b3 or thereabouts, but you can fall back on a 28 or 32 point buy, if you'd like. Roll HP, but average for you hit die is the hard minimum. In playing, assuming everyone agrees on it, I like the opportunity for their to be randomness. I'm in the minority in the playground, it seems, in that I actually play with critical hits and fumbles, and in fact use the paizo decks, which have some pretty nasty results. But I try to keep any randomness fair and benefit the PC's more than the enemies.

[Kelb_Panthera]

like you danzibr, I like a bit of chance in-play, but if I wanted to deal with what fortune gave me for character building, I'd probably buy a self-help book, instead of another D&D splat. :smallamused:

[Kuulvheysoon]

I like randomness with a safety net, for character building. Rolled 4d6b3 or thereabouts, but you can fall back on a 28 or 32 point buy, if you'd like. Roll HP, but average for you hit die is the hard minimum. In playing, assuming everyone agrees on it, I like the opportunity for their to be randomness. I'm in the minority in the playground, it seems, in that I actually play with critical hits and fumbles, and in fact use the paizo decks, which have some pretty nasty results. But I try to keep any randomness fair and benefit the PC's more than the enemies.

That's not random. Statistically, a purely random Dungeons and Dragons game with crit fumbles/successes would favour the DM more than the players (unless they built for it), simply for the larger number of rolls that the DM will make on behalf of the monsters.

[Eldariel]

Never run random stats myself though I've played in games with random stats and as always, I'm fairly tolerant for other DMs' preferences. Stats are too important to make them random IMHO though so I always run some kind of a point buy. I prefer high point buys (36+) as they allow pretty much what you want outside "all high stats"; that way it's less of a "Guess I can afford good Int, Dex & Con if I dump Str & Cha." and more or a "Does having 8 Cha and Str make sense for this character?"

I allow rolling HP as a DM but I prefer Full L1 into Average/Lvl and use that for all my characters if allowed. If a player chooses to roll, he'll live with his rolls and if he rolls all 1s, that's just as valid as rolling all 12s.


In game, well, as per rules; take 10 when allowed, roll when required. And no fudging dice as DM - if the PCs are to die, so be it. That said, I don't use stupid rules like Massive Damage or 20/20/20 Auto Kill so PCs generally won't die unless they're insanely unlucky or do something stupid.

[Slipperychicken]

I like point-buy and average hp, Take 10 whenever reasonable, Take 20 whenever there's time. Makes the game feel a lot more consistent, in my opinion.

I dislike critical fumbles, critical successes, massive damage, rolled stats/hp, and save-or-die (fine with save-or-lose).

Rolled stats can cripple your character before you name him, and save-or-die provides really cheap, unfulfilling deaths. Critical Fumbles, as they're often implemented, make master swordsmen lose grip and toss their weapons all the way across a room while eviscerating themselves (which is just plain stupid. I shouldn't have to tell you why).

[robertbevan]

i like random generation. i even like going as far as rolling my ability scores 'down the line', because it forces me to try new things and get creative.

my favorite character ever was a gnome wizard, and the only reason i ever made him was because my intelligence and constitution scores happened to be really high. for the first few levels, he had the most hit points of anyone in the party. the other guys called him "meatball".

and i like randomness in the game as well.

[Krazzman]

For me I would say safe-netted random.

In the Campaign I'm DMing I gave the guys(or beter said the guy and the girls) 2 rows of 4d6b3 (write all 4 numbers up, adjust one number in the entire block with 1d6 [example you rolled 5 5 3 1 as your worst row but then you change that 1 with 1d6 and roll a 6, bam 16 instead of 13]) and one Point Buy 25 (Pathfinder).

In the campaign I'm currently playing the DM said 3 rows or 4d6b3 + bonus roll.

Rolled up a warblade with 18 STR, 15 Con, 15 Int, 14 Dex and Wis and 11 cha.
after I could legally reroll the first row...^^ (nothing above 13) and having a 3 in there...

For HP I use at least dn/2+1 (for a d12 it is 7).

Everything else is... pure random...except UMD that's never random with my Warlock^^

[eggs]

Character-building for actual games, always random. Stats, HP, whatever. The pregame minigame is boring without unexpected complications; it just feels too sterile for me to get into it.

For speculative builds, I usually assume an Elite Array. It doubles as a worst-case scenario for point buy and a prioritization list for rolled stats.

In play, I take 10 constantly. Because rolling slows things down and, on a big flat distribution like the d20, very quickly disintegrates any sort of sanity in the game fiction.

[Cespenar]

In play, I take 10 constantly. Because rolling slows things down and, on a big flat distribution like the d20, very quickly disintegrates any sort of sanity in the game fiction.

This, so much.

[Malimar]

My policy basically involves taking all the randomness out of character creation (point buy for ability scores, average+1 HP every level after first, same preset starting gold for every class) and putting it back in everywhere else (random encounter tables, decks of many things, rods of wonder, random treasure generators, paizo critical hit/fumble decks, random NPC generators, random magic item shop inventory generators, but mostly random encounter tables).

[Keneth]

We've been doing it the same since forever; 15 or 20 point buy (PF, 25 in 3.5) with the option of rolling the standard 4d6b3 (but no falling back if the rolls are bad) except for the Appearance score which is either 10 + starting Cha modifier or 3d6, no average HP (I don't care if you rolled a 1), no starting wealth or equipment (it's set by the DM). Random height, weight, length, girth, circumference, three sizes, etc.

While playing, we do almost everything by the core rules, although we've adopted the Pathfinder's hero point system and use the critical hit/miss decks. Most of us are of the opinion that absolutes should not exist and we houserule existing mechanics towards that end (for instance the Intimidate DCs were raised considerably to avoid autosuccesses).

[panaikhan]

in character creation, our group uses point buy and max HP at L1 (as suggested in the books).
We take 10/20 on anything that we have the time for and are allowed to by RAW.
We also sometimes take shortcuts on numbers of dice, to speed things up.
For example, if a Fireball would deal 10D6, we simplify. We use (1D4+1)x10, giving us a quick 20-50 instead of a lengthy 10-60.

Most of OUR randomness doesn't come from dice lol.

[LadyLexi]

Randomness is okay for some things, like stats, or treasure or whatever, but I usually just pick my race, class, height, weight, eye color, hair color ect.

I like a little less randomness in my combats, I tend to roll in streaks anyway. I've rolled an entire session where the highest roll was a 4. I've also played sessions where my lowest roll was a 14. Somewhere out there, there is a balance.

When I DM, I tend to carefully arrange encounters, rarely are they random and I usually roll but then adjust treasure. I never seem to roll crits as a DM, maybe 1/100 odds of scoring a crit, I don't know why, my dice don't like killing players.

[Loki_42]

That's not random. Statistically, a purely random Dungeons and Dragons game with crit fumbles/successes would favour the DM more than the players (unless they built for it), simply for the larger number of rolls that the DM will make on behalf of the monsters.

Well, yeah, that's why I don't run purely random games of Dungeons and Dragons. I run games with the opportunity for a bit of randomness, but with me fully in control of just how much there actually is. For instance, I usually only have important antagonists draw from the critical hit deck I use. Or when a fight is getting kind of boring, I'll fudge a mooks roll so that he fumbles, and draw a result. And if a character gets a serious result as the victim of a critical hit(there's cards in there for decapitation and losing limbs), I usually talk with them and give them the option of backing out with a lesser penalty.

[Curmudgeon]

I feel that no part of character creation or level advancement should be up to chance. If you're going to roll dice for ability scores and hit points, why not pick your classes and feats randomly as well? If you know what's going to be available to you, you can plan your character's intended progression. If that progress is dependent on having certain dice rolls work out for you, it can take the fun out of a character you had been happy with.

[Varil]

...If you're going to roll dice for ability scores and hit points, why not pick your classes and feats randomly as well?...


That's something of a strawman argument. Just because one thing is random doesn't you may as well randomize everything. Randomized stats aren't necessary to enjoy the game - but neither are they detrimental. My own group has used random stats repeatedly, and nobody has ever ended up feeling like rolling stats destroyed their character concept. Indeed, I'm considering using a more controlled method because the power curve tends to end higher than I'd like, not because anybody is feeling left out.

That said, personally, I feel point buy is too mechanical. You end up with an array of perfect even numbers, with sets that tend to look very familiar after awhile.

[ima donkey]

My group used to roll but we stopped that after everyone had 3+ 18s and nothing below 16, a combination of cheating and rerolling for three hours. So now we just do like 50+ point buy, if it was my way we would do 32 but you have to keep everyone happy.