Random Babbling Thread CXVIII

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I care. As a game designer, such blatantly poor design direction is like someone poking me in the eye every time I see it.

Far be it from to tell anyone how to have fun, but it does irk me when people try to justify it poorly.

The simple fact is, there is no actual benefit to the system, other than the supposed "organic stats".

 

The good part about rolling for stats in BG is that it allows for more freedom to chose stats. The way they do it in NWN and IWD2 with fixed amounts seems more restrictive.

Not that I reroll nowadays, I prefer to just SK my stats. Put excess points for a half-orc fighter in INT and WIS just because it doesn't feel right to have someone dumb as an ox being highly eloquent regularly in the predetermined responses.

Fallout, BG is not.

There was a time, though... It's a sort of minigame to try to discover a way to guestimate the overall number as quickly as possible.

 

I rolled a 103!

 

... and hit the button again accidentally.

 

Which was my point exactly. You even have a save option for the roll. That's just ridiculous.

And yeah, point buy can be restrictive, which is not necessarily a good thing. Most DMs are afraid to give out a lot of points out of fear that it will imbalance the game (ironically they're generally okay with it if someone rolls absurdly high stats), but they fail to understand that smaller amounts force players to invest their point optimally, especially for MAD classes. That's when you get Cha 5 barbarians and Int 7 paladins. A larger amount allows players to comfortably invest into stats that are not essential, making the characters more organic (there's that word again).

Of course, computer games don't have the privilege of a DM. They balance it out with plenty of ways to increase your stats after character creation. Tomes, stat boost items, quest rewards, Torment even gives you a stat point at every level.

 

Well, telling people why what they're doing shouldn't be fun is kinda the same thing...

 

But-But it's wrong!

 

@Kenneth
Why Wrong? Atari and other games set it up so clerics have to be stupid as hell, magic users must trip over their own feet and so weak they cant hardly lift their wands. Why? Fighter types are even worse. Dumb, clumsy, the wisdom of the below average 2 year old as well as the personality of a mad badger. Using 3 six sided dice gives more spread to what you can use for stats. Remember, the min roll is a 3, Not some 8 or higher. I just don't like some game company telling me unbalanced stats are great and that I have to use what they think I MUST use! I bought the game(s) They are mine not the property of some programmer or company.

 

actually kept the 103 but missed the 105

 

*sigh* three days of random babbling about roll-playing stats. Yes I know I'm hanging out at the BOM forums with a bunch of a adorable RPG dudes. I like the games too but there are other forums for that Can't we please talk about something else random now?

How about inexplicable phenomena or deja vu or pizza or women with beards or something ....

 

Bah, don't get me started on women.

How's that different from what I was saying?

Point buy stats range from 5 to 20 (with racial modifiers). Anything below that is pointless anyway, so what's the benefit of the roll?

 

What I don't like about the systems in IWD2 and NWN is that it promotes min/maxing. Especially IWD2 which is rather combat heavy to begin with. Fine from a powergamer's point of view, but I agree with Old One about clerics being so dumb they couldn't tie their own shoe laces. In Fallout you'll feel the backlash to these kind of stats, in IWD2 you still get the same number of skill points and pretty much no conversation is influenced. In NWN there are some minor differences in conversations.

Dice rolls are pretty random, though.

Dwarves?

 

That's really just an issue with the conversation system.

But yes, we all agree that if you restrict point buy too much, you end up with poor results. I said as much above.

 

It's most noticeable in the conversation system, but in Fallout you get skill points per level based on INT. In IWD2, you get skill points based on INT, but below 11 INT there's no difference. And the lack of skill points in Fallout hurts more, I feel.

 

Ok, Bought pizza last night and ate 2 mediums. Made a pig of myself but they were good. Hi Dice.

 

What do you mean there's no difference? Is it incorrectly implemented? I haven't played IWD2 in a decade, but low Int should give you a penalty on skill points, just like high Int gives you a bonus.

Still, skills being based on Int is stupid anyway. It's something I've houseruled away in my PnP games ages ago. The relation between intelligence and a person's skills is marginal at best, mostly related to information retention.

 

I caught myself watching "Table Top" again on youtube. It seems I have just as much fun watching other people game.

 

I quite enjoy tormenting my players personally. One of them actually got so frustrated today that he teleported without all of his gear just to get away from the monster. Good times.

 

INT 11 or lower is 1 skill point per level. 12 gives +1 skill point extra, and then another one extra for every 2 levels. Before race and class modifiers, of course. In NWN it's implemented the same way, if I recall correctly.

 

played on a hockeyfield with too much sand on it. A little shove is enough to scrape some skin off.

Praise Water hockey fields.