Point buy versus Levels

[Thinker]

There are virtues to both point buy and leveling character progression systems, but everyone develops a preference for one or the other.

I used to strictly prefer point-buy, since those systems seemed more fair and better matches what I experience in real life - incremental improvement in everyday life. On the other hand, I've been liking the benefits of leveling systems lately - easy to progress without a lot of planning or thought, feeling of increased power at specific intervals, and it captures aspects of characters that might not be training related, for example an increase in HP or better resilience against poisons.

So, which do you prefer?

[Tinkerer]

I tend to prefer point-buy for low ceiling, high floor games and leveling for when there is more of a spread. And then there is the question of how it flavours the character growth which is a little harder to define. But honestly I'm not firmly on one side or the other, both systems have some definite advantages and disadvantages. Telling me that one system is so much superior to the other tends to get under my skin.

[Thinker]

I tend to prefer point-buy for low ceiling, high floor games and leveling for when there is more of a spread. And then there is the question of how it flavours the character growth which is a little harder to define. But honestly I'm not firmly on one side or the other, both systems have some definite advantages and disadvantages. Telling me that one system is so much superior to the other tends to get under my skin.

Which one do you find yourself playing more often?

[Tinkerer]

Which one do you find yourself playing more often?

I play in leveling games more often however I GM point buy more often. And ten years ago that was flipped.

[Airk]

Don't care; honestly, as you say, both have their own merits, and neither has sufficient merits to really make a serious difference to my gaming experience. To me, this is one of those bizarre cult wars you get on internet gaming sites, right up there with "Roll high is more intuitive!" that just kinda makes me wonder if people have nothing better to do...

[Jay R]

Like any rule, this affects how the game works. Since I enjoy figuring out how games work, I can enjoy both types. [I used game theory to solve a scheduling problem for my dissertation.]

I'm far more concerned with whether the GM is competent and has an interesting world than in what rules we're using.

When I want to run a superhero game, I use Champions, which is point buy. When I run a fantasy game, it's usually D&D, which is levels. For a musketeers game, I use Flashing Blades, which is a combination of skill point buy and rolled stats.

It's just not true that there is a single way that I "prefer" to play.

[Mastikator]

I prefer the graduality of point buy. Levels also tend to lock you in to a role more strictly which I also don't like. Point buy feels more natural to me.