Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Ability Scores

Aside for the not negligible detail that in a pen & paper session the process is usually SUPERVISED by the DM, both systems "being debated" doesn't mean that both are equally fair or valid.
For the most part the debate is between factions that want different things. The fairness of putting everyone on a leveled field on one side ("Here's your bunch of points everyone, feel free to make the best use of them you can") and on the other side the thrill to "break the system rolling numbers out of the ordinary.


Well, that's not a bold prediction to make, since that's precisely what already happens.

The inconvenience in this case would be the fair price to pay.
People will always find ways to break systems if they try hard enough, even at the price of "modding the game" (aka "cheating", in this case). it doesn't mean that breaking things should be made convenient and painless for their benefit.
Also, I'd be "fine" with that compromise in the sense that having to deal with the annoyance you are describing would give me a fully legitimate reason to NOT bother with it, instead of leaving me with the short end of the stick, aka "the sucker's option".

Since we are on topic, I wasn't a fan of the option even in Solasta. For the same exact reasons.
Anyway, in Solasta I chose to go with dice rolling (and I DID roll a bunch of times, indeed) because "setting stats manually at will" was a bit too much convenience even for me.
I'm still not particularly happy that it was even an option, because it's an open invitation to cheat INSIDE the rules of the system.

Anyway, as I said, the whole debate is entirely academic, since we already know dice rolling *is* coming to the game, no matter what I think of it.

I wanted to option to do dice rolls, because I know that not everyone wants dice rolls.

Honestly I was more frustrated about not being able to take my Tiefling below 10 CHA, I wanted to RP a character who wasn't good with people but I am forced to play one who is mediocre at worst. Sure I could say that my otherworldly beauty makes up for my lake of social graces, but again, thats telling me how to play my character.


One, if it is part of the game intentionally it is not an exploit, and two, who cares how other people play a non competitive game.


Oh, I have not seen any mention of that, that is good to know, thanks.

Yeah, it's an old trite argument and the answer is always the same: I honestly don't give a shit about how they play their games, I care about how their design suggestions affect MY gameplay experience.

If I'm offered a better option in a game I'll take it, especially when "maximizing your potential" is a big part of your gameplay loop. Which doesn't mean I can't have a poor opinion of how a given choice affects the balance.

If half of the weapons dropped in game would insta-kill anything with a single hit and the other half would turn out to be useless, I'd be justified to think it's shitty design even if "I'm not forced to use any of them".

Even with D&D beyond I've seen people fudge their stats. Same person, literally four characters in a row with 18 (on the rolls) in two or more stats. I just offer a homebrewed standard array at this point.

Solasta is a good example. It allows you to choose the method yourself. I end up rerolling and can no longer use point buy because rolling gives you better stats. But I don't feel good about rolling until I get what I want either because it feels a little cheaty. At the same time I can't go back to point buy because it now feels too restrictive having tasted the freedom of rolling as much as you want.

It's like the DM can't decide how stats are generated in their campaign. And it feels vague and confusing as a player when you have to decide, not knowing how the game has been balanced or what kind of stats NPCs tend to have. So don't leave the rules up to the player. Be the DM and set the rules for your campaign.

In BG1 I don't feel weird about rolling for 20 minutes. It's HARD to roll good stats, and it's the ONLY way. It's not cheating. (And the music is fantastic.)

In NWN the point buy feels right. Not least because of the multiplayer focus which BG3 also has.

In both of these games the DM decides how ability scores are generated, not the player. That's what makes it feel right.

Yeah, that's more or less my whole angle as well.
Despise having a theoretical preference I'm mostly fine with whatever is decided from whoever is "in charge of the game", as long as the system is fair.
On the other hand, I'm not particularly fond of "Here's a bunch of options, now choose 'freely' what's your preference... While knowing that one system is clearly more beneficial to you than the other!".

Issues that do not apply much in single player games...

Yes there is multiplayer, but the heart of the game is single player, my personal solution is to make ability rolling an optional rule and you cant play with other people unless they have the same optional rules enabled.

Maybe the host determines which rule is to be used if you are starting with character creation?

you don't always get what you want

It's a sin for a Baldur's Gate game to not allow you to roll stats for an hour before you settle on what you want. I'm assuming they will add it in later, because it would be serious head scratcher if they didn't put rolling in at all.

The issue is this.

Point Buy allows you to purchase from 8 to 15. But it does not consider racial bonuses.

So, an Elf gets a +2 Dex and then you buy 15 and the racial pushes it to 17.

This has been a subject of concern for many in the TTRPG for literal decades though it's been more heated in the last 2-5 years. The release of Tasha's Cauldron of Everything allows you to instead choose a +2 to anywhere and a +1 to anywhere so that capabilities are no longer tied to species. It also allows you to switch out racial proficiencies for other equivalent proficiencies. (Like trading a Weapon Proficiency for a Tool Proficiency).

This means that the difference in races with Tasha's now comes down to things like Darkvision, Fleet of Foot, racial spells, and the like... or just have +1 to everything like humans do.

I much enjoy it, but do not expect to see it in BG3 as this is a thing that came out after Larian started work on the game and... well... companies like this tend to be slow to adapt such things and afraid of rocking the boat.