I'm of two minds about rolling for stats, because IN PRINCIPLE I think that as a design mechanic it's absolutely garbage and a point buy system is far more fair for everyone involved and more balanced.
On the other hand, it's also true that RAW D&D may very well have the WORST point buy system I've seen in multiple rulesets. It seems almost purposefully designed to make every other alternative look more desirable.
There are several issues with it:
- it's too tight with the amount of points it offers to begin with (or at least with the way they scale at higher values, which is functionally the same thing in the end).
- there are senseless restrictions on how the points can be distributed compared to "rolling for stats" (i.e. why can I roll a 18 in a main stat but I can't put more than 15 points in an "Ability" with point buy before the racial modifiers are applied?)
- the entire subsystem pairs AWFULLY with the already incredibly-stingy distribution of Feats in the game. The fact that more flavorful Feats have to compete with ASI (aka "ability score improvements") on top of it really doesn't help.
In short, I'd be in favor of having rolling for stats as an option in this game more because the default Point Buy system is discouragingly punishing and depressingly restrictive than because I think rolling for stats is a good design principle in general (it isn't).
Last edited by Tuco; 24/12/23 12:58 PM.
