I'm a somewhat new DM currently setting up a new campaign with a bunch of my friends. One of my best friends has just come back from collage and I'm hyped to play with her. Unfortunately, she created her level 1 character with manually imputed scores while the rest of the party used the Point-Buy method. This wouldn't be an issue if she hadn't gotten extremely lucky on her rolls with a score of 20 in Charisma, a score of 19 in Wisdom, and multiple 16s across her other scores. She's really doesn't want to change these, but I feel like abilities that high will invalidate any and all of our opponents, as well as the entire rest of the party. I don't know quite what to do. Do I force her to lower the scores and make her frustrated from the get go, or do I let her keep them and try to beef up her opponents? Any advice?
I mean.... you're using Point Buy, not Roll-for-stats. You're the DM. It would be unfair to your other players to let her use a (generally) superior stat generation method, when everyone else is using another. And frankly, there's no way to "beef up her opponents" without also doing it for everyone else.
You seem concerned that this will make her not want to play. Is there some reason for this? Because if it was me, yea I'd be a little annoyed having lost a great set of rolls. But that's the rule of the table.
I'm a somewhat new DM currently setting up a new campaign with a bunch of my friends. One of my best friends has just come back from collage and I'm hyped to play with her. Unfortunately, she created her level 1 character with manually imputed scores while the rest of the party used the Point-Buy method. This wouldn't be an issue if she hadn't gotten extremely lucky on her rolls with a score of 20 in Charisma, a score of 19 in Wisdom, and multiple 16s across her other scores. She's really doesn't want to change these, but I feel like abilities that high will invalidate any and all of our opponents, as well as the entire rest of the party. I don't know quite what to do. Do I force her to lower the scores and make her frustrated from the get go, or do I let her keep them and try to beef up her opponents? Any advice?
One of the things I thought of as a DM for rolling of stats was for a new campaign, we all rolled stats(DM included). 4d6 method. Then we all agreed on one pool of rolls for everyone to use. That way everyone had the same "numbers" and could shuffle them around as needed. The person who rolled really well wins and the group itself doesn't feel like they are screwed out of a strong character comparatively.
From a DM perspective it does make things a bit difficult as monster stats are assumed under point buy and a level 4 character shouldn't be able to buy feats normally so for each encounter I'd buff up the enemies a bit to compensate.
6 kobolds for 4 point buy PCs can be a bad time, but if everyone is rocking 16 dex 16 con, I'm probably gonna throw 7 or 8 instead. More so since assuming level 1 with an attack stat of 20(meaning a +5), your level 1 PCs are attacking things at a +7, kobolds have 12 AC, needing only a 5 or higher. Kobolds attack at a +4, your characters have a minimum 13 AC, meaning as the DM I need a 9. Probably much higher for fighters or clerics at level 1.
Point buy would make 8 kobolds a very serious affair. The numbers you mentioned? It becomes manageable. Any big evil human NPC would also get the stats they rolled too, but they didn't know that. :)
To answer your question, at your exact second it's about what is fair for the table. Have a conversation with her and see where she wants to meet in the middle. Maybe give the entire party her rolls too, that way it's fair. Maybe explain to her she can keep her stats but when looking towards loot for the group you're going to gravitate toward things that will help the others catch up to her. If she isn't amenable to any of these things, she is the new player of your group. Part of the DM's job is to make sure you are facilitating something fun for everyone and not a ticking time bomb.
I Don’t think it’s that big a deal. Her character will be a bit better than the others, She’ll hit more reliably, but that’s not too big a deal. She and the other players are on the same team, it’s not like she’s going to win D&D.
Is she just home for break and then she’ll go back? Even less reason to worry if she’s a short timer. If she is going to be around a while, and you think it’s going to be a problem, then, as spidey pointed out, you’re the DM, and your party does point buy for this campaign. Ask her to make the adjustment.
Xalthu has good points. If she’s just sitting in for a session or two, it’s not too different than having a high level NPC as a companion. You shouldn’t need to do any more adjustment to encounters than just accounting for an extra PC. If she’s going to be there permanently, or at least for several levels of character advancement, I think she needs to respect the culture of the game she’s joining and point buy like the rest of the table.
You said it’s a level 1 PC. Is this a new campaign for every PC, no one’s played any yet? Or is it an existing campaign where maybe they will be a level ahead of her for a while. Maybe that’s your balance. If no one’s played yet, have you considered letting the other players roll stats for their characters? Maybe level the playing field that direction? You could guarantee one stat at 17 as a safeguard against terrible rolls. True, it might make for a cast of PCs that average too much success to be really fun, but maybe you just raise the DC of most checks if a correction is needed, which really just “inflates the economy” of the check system of the game, which I can understand not wanting to get into. But it could also just end up being fun and not game breaking.
If everyone else used point buy then perhaps just mention to her that the character creation for this campaign was supposed to use point buy and not rolled stats so that its a level playing field for everyone. Apologize for not mentioning that in the first place if she didn't know everyone else was using point buy.
Its possible to create any character you like with point buy ... and if you want more powerful characters you can always allow a higher number of points though I would recommend capping scores at 17 before racial adjustments if you make changes so that no one starts with a 20.
The only way her character isn't going to outshine everyone else with those stats is if she plays a support role and attempts to minimize the effect of the stats. However, with a 20 charisma at level 1 her social skills and spell DC as a bard or sorcerer or warlock are going to be very effective. However, with the number of high stats she has she will be extremely effective in any role and could choose any number of unusual multiclasses that are usually considered too MAD to be effective.
I'm facing a similar issue with adding a friend to a game I run with for 10 year old son. He showed up with a Paladin with rolled stats that were far above average and has 3 +4s (total +17). I'm not going to do anything since he's only 10 and I'm not going to ruin his fun. I figure it will even itself out as they level up as he's going to hit the 20 stat cap quickly and I'm not allowing feats. The other two players are fighters so they're going to catch up around mid-tier by boosting their ability scores every other level.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I'm a somewhat new DM currently setting up a new campaign with a bunch of my friends. One of my best friends has just come back from collage and I'm hyped to play with her. Unfortunately, she created her level 1 character with manually imputed scores while the rest of the party used the Point-Buy method. This wouldn't be an issue if she hadn't gotten extremely lucky on her rolls with a score of 20 in Charisma, a score of 19 in Wisdom, and multiple 16s across her other scores. She's really doesn't want to change these, but I feel like abilities that high will invalidate any and all of our opponents, as well as the entire rest of the party. I don't know quite what to do. Do I force her to lower the scores and make her frustrated from the get go, or do I let her keep them and try to beef up her opponents? Any advice?
I mean.... you're using Point Buy, not Roll-for-stats. You're the DM. It would be unfair to your other players to let her use a (generally) superior stat generation method, when everyone else is using another. And frankly, there's no way to "beef up her opponents" without also doing it for everyone else.
You seem concerned that this will make her not want to play. Is there some reason for this? Because if it was me, yea I'd be a little annoyed having lost a great set of rolls. But that's the rule of the table.
One of the things I thought of as a DM for rolling of stats was for a new campaign, we all rolled stats(DM included). 4d6 method. Then we all agreed on one pool of rolls for everyone to use. That way everyone had the same "numbers" and could shuffle them around as needed. The person who rolled really well wins and the group itself doesn't feel like they are screwed out of a strong character comparatively.
From a DM perspective it does make things a bit difficult as monster stats are assumed under point buy and a level 4 character shouldn't be able to buy feats normally so for each encounter I'd buff up the enemies a bit to compensate.
6 kobolds for 4 point buy PCs can be a bad time, but if everyone is rocking 16 dex 16 con, I'm probably gonna throw 7 or 8 instead. More so since assuming level 1 with an attack stat of 20(meaning a +5), your level 1 PCs are attacking things at a +7, kobolds have 12 AC, needing only a 5 or higher. Kobolds attack at a +4, your characters have a minimum 13 AC, meaning as the DM I need a 9. Probably much higher for fighters or clerics at level 1.
Point buy would make 8 kobolds a very serious affair. The numbers you mentioned? It becomes manageable. Any big evil human NPC would also get the stats they rolled too, but they didn't know that. :)
To answer your question, at your exact second it's about what is fair for the table. Have a conversation with her and see where she wants to meet in the middle. Maybe give the entire party her rolls too, that way it's fair. Maybe explain to her she can keep her stats but when looking towards loot for the group you're going to gravitate toward things that will help the others catch up to her. If she isn't amenable to any of these things, she is the new player of your group. Part of the DM's job is to make sure you are facilitating something fun for everyone and not a ticking time bomb.
I Don’t think it’s that big a deal. Her character will be a bit better than the others, She’ll hit more reliably, but that’s not too big a deal. She and the other players are on the same team, it’s not like she’s going to win D&D.
Is she just home for break and then she’ll go back? Even less reason to worry if she’s a short timer. If she is going to be around a while, and you think it’s going to be a problem, then, as spidey pointed out, you’re the DM, and your party does point buy for this campaign. Ask her to make the adjustment.
Xalthu has good points. If she’s just sitting in for a session or two, it’s not too different than having a high level NPC as a companion. You shouldn’t need to do any more adjustment to encounters than just accounting for an extra PC. If she’s going to be there permanently, or at least for several levels of character advancement, I think she needs to respect the culture of the game she’s joining and point buy like the rest of the table.
You said it’s a level 1 PC. Is this a new campaign for every PC, no one’s played any yet? Or is it an existing campaign where maybe they will be a level ahead of her for a while. Maybe that’s your balance. If no one’s played yet, have you considered letting the other players roll stats for their characters? Maybe level the playing field that direction? You could guarantee one stat at 17 as a safeguard against terrible rolls. True, it might make for a cast of PCs that average too much success to be really fun, but maybe you just raise the DC of most checks if a correction is needed, which really just “inflates the economy” of the check system of the game, which I can understand not wanting to get into. But it could also just end up being fun and not game breaking.
If everyone else used point buy then perhaps just mention to her that the character creation for this campaign was supposed to use point buy and not rolled stats so that its a level playing field for everyone. Apologize for not mentioning that in the first place if she didn't know everyone else was using point buy.
Its possible to create any character you like with point buy ... and if you want more powerful characters you can always allow a higher number of points though I would recommend capping scores at 17 before racial adjustments if you make changes so that no one starts with a 20.
The only way her character isn't going to outshine everyone else with those stats is if she plays a support role and attempts to minimize the effect of the stats. However, with a 20 charisma at level 1 her social skills and spell DC as a bard or sorcerer or warlock are going to be very effective. However, with the number of high stats she has she will be extremely effective in any role and could choose any number of unusual multiclasses that are usually considered too MAD to be effective.
I'm facing a similar issue with adding a friend to a game I run with for 10 year old son. He showed up with a Paladin with rolled stats that were far above average and has 3 +4s (total +17). I'm not going to do anything since he's only 10 and I'm not going to ruin his fun. I figure it will even itself out as they level up as he's going to hit the 20 stat cap quickly and I'm not allowing feats. The other two players are fighters so they're going to catch up around mid-tier by boosting their ability scores every other level.