Character creation

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I'm just curious as to how people go about creating their characters. I know that I choose which class I want to be, and then proceed to 'roll' the dice for the next 10 minutes until my prerequisites are how I want them. I have to admit that this seems a bit unfair. I know we would all like to be the ultimate character with god like traits, but this just seems unrealistic.

In my good old PnP days, (I haven't played for awhile) I would sit down with the DM, roll up a character, then see which class best suited my 'random' abilities.

Of course there would have to be moderation used here, because who wants to role play 'Brian the Brainless' or 'Claude the Clumsy'

 

In general, all those who adventure already have above average attributes over the regular folks who run taverns or inns or work in the city, so really any roll should do.

BUT that's not the case with anyone of us on this message board, including myself

Now I can't stand rolling for 3hrs to get a perfect match, but when I do roll characters, I do have a calculator handy to add up the total.

Anything under 90 I usually won't take, although Grub's final total stats came to 86, it was only due to the fact I was getting tired of rolling stats and just went with it.

98 is the highest I've ever rolled total wise and that was in BG1 with my tard Paladin Lance.

Syl...

 

Though it makes the game tougher; I choose a class (always pure cleric), roll the dice, set my wisdom to 18 and start the game.I roll again if the total is under 75;but if it is higher then I start the game.I know this is a stupid way but I think it makes the game both more challenging and more realistic.

 

I exactly have the same strategy as Syl, an average value of 15 on all stats. Usually, I roll dices for 15 mn for each character.

On P&P games, I think it depends a LOT of what kind of game (roleplay) you play and in what kind of world you are. I mean, if the world is particularly Heroic with a lot of heroes, your character can be a heroe too, then you can roll some nice dices before accepting them. Few years ago, I mastered a long campaign where each character was a true heroe, with a huuuuuge background (long hours of discussion with each player before creating a character). So, average value were quite high for stats, and sometimes at race max (like 21 for elves' dex).

But, if you play in a more standard world, your character can be more... normal . I played a lot too with these rules, and it's really funny sometimes too .

IMHO.

And btw, why did you choose 'Claude the clumsy' it is my first name in RL, rofl .

 

No offense intended Rasalgethi It was the first name I thought of that made an alliteration with 'clumsy'

I guess my point about the dice roll is that it is meant to make your character unique. Why even roll the dice if we're all going to put 18's down anyway!

Although I can agree with the above mentioned tactics.

 

Or was that above mentioned strategies?

 

No problem MiLord .

Average value of 15 doesn't mean 15 on all stats, I usually give to my characters 1 or 2 low stats (in PP games), like Wisdom... really fun to play a character with High Intelligence and Low Wisdom, . As for example, my current Sorcerer got a Strengh of 8 (quite annoying to carry heavy items, she doesn't use the nice strength belts), but she IS cleaver with a 19 in Intelligence.

 

*looks confused* .

In this thread the topic is about character creation strategy, isn't it ?? And in the other one, it is about battle tactics, right ?? .

Well, I'm going to play for a while, be back later, see you.

 

Well, not that I feel a need to justify myself, but in most p&p games, the characters are allowed to have some bonus to their rolling method:
Some roll 4d6 and drop the lowest die.
Some re-roll 1's.
Some roll 3d6 and assign stats as wanted.

And then there are some who insist upon rolling 3d6 for every stat, rendering characters of an average stat of 10.5, nothing greater than a commoner.

So I feel that under even p&p, some allowances are made to ensure that the characters have a means and a justification for their greatness. BGII allows extremes highs, but then again in p&p some of the greatest characters are similar to my friends half-orc: "Dah."

Amon-Ra

 

I really do like creating a generally high stat main character. It's not a great thing to do, but it's roleplaying, so if I'm going to be roleplaying a character for a few months, I would like a really nice one. I still try to handicap him where I can, but it's just so tempting not to. If I create more than one character in a game, that's different. For other characters, I make them nice, rounded characters, but not super high stats. I'll hanidicap them so their stats(as in BGs) are in line with the other NPC's.

 

"It's not a great thing to do, but it's roleplaying, so if I'm going to be roleplaying a character for a few months, I would like a really nice one."

I think a not so nice character is more role play than a perfect one. I think most of us are not perfect in our class. The point why we keep on rolling is that we want a "game" afterall.

 

I didn't relise you could keep rolling the dice until I was in the 3rd Chapter. I just kept the first roll and took the Intelligence and Wisdom down, I consider it cheating anyway, It's nearly the same as reloading to get the finger of death to work.

 

Did you play with the marvellous Unearthed Arcana, in PP games ??? You remember rolls, ah ah, I mean that there was special stat rolls according to your class, i.e. constitution for barbarian is 9D6 rolls, and you keep the best 3 dices... so 18 is quite easy to obtain for Barbarians. Though I think these rolls are a bit exagerated, I assume that Barbarians have a better constitution than the common people. As for Mages, you roll 8D6 for Intelligence, I guess that a common young guy/girl wanting to enter in a School of Magic with an average Intelligence (poor one) will be refused, isn't it ?? Remember the Test of the Towers, in the DragonLance serie... only the best Mages survive .

 

Ah, but that's you Lym, not me. I played the whole way through Baldur's Gate with a poorly created fighter/mage, so please don't preach to me about playing with a flawed character. Like I said, I try to handicap my characters where I feel I can get away with it, and not just in the throw away areas that every class has. If I want to live out my role playing fantasies for the later half of the year with a well created charater that I can be proud of, then so be it. I spent the first eight months(actually more because I started BG with a similar multi character and eventually started over) of the year paying my dues.

 

Your character stats are more important than anything else in the game. Everything else in the game that your character can use merely compliment... your character's original stats.

Taking your time while generating a character is a good method. I personally don't go to the measure of *all 15's* but I do insist on certain numbers for certain classes. I then rob one stat to increase the stats' that I'll need. Generally speaking I always insist on an 18(Percentile if possible) strength regardless of the class. Just for encumberance reasons, not to mention THAC0 & damage. I insist on a 16 or Higher Constitution. I occasionally insist on a high Dexterity. Only because I know that Guantlets of Dex and potions of Mind Focusing (+3 Int/Dex) are available in the game IF needed. I always dog my charisma. Henchmen dont' exist in CRPG's. Reactions adjustments? No big deal with Reputations being a factor. I then rob points from my Charisma to add to any other stat that needs a boost. Depending on the class Wisdom, Intelligence, or Dexterity.

[This message has been edited by Draco Vlasavius (edited December 21, 2000).]

 

No Crawl, I mean no preaching to you. Actually, I keep rolling myself. Being a new entry to the RPG area, I simply do not feel secure to accept bad rolls. I really hope that I will soon become proficient enough to shake off this habit and try some games in the way you do.

 

In BGI my first character was a wiz with str 6 and total of about 50 and had trouble getting through the intro, I thought stats would be raised later (I allways read the manuals afterwards). I restarted after the mines.

I now play only characters with a minimum of about 80, though I couldn't resist playing a 99 as monk.

I hope future games will benefit low stat chars with more exp/kill to reduce stat doping.
I also hope future games will put more emphasys on balanced characters (e.g. computer taking over you character during fights if int is below 6, chars not listening to orders if your chr is low or wizards with low const generating 10 inch diameter fireballs).