Stat generation

[Grey Paladin]

I've been working on my homebrewed system for about three years now, and have nearly finished it (monsters and task difficulty remain), one of the few crucial parts I haven't thought of is how to generate the basic statistics of characters.

The curve looks like this:
Abysmal(-2)
Horrific(-1)
Below Average(0)
Average(+1)
Above Average(+2)
Exceptional(+3)
Prodigy(+4)
Superhuman (+5)
Mythical (+6)

Notice Horrific or Abysmal in any stat often make unplayable or very in-humane characters, while Superhuman and Mythical are supposed to be only achievable by using Magic/drugs/technology. Mythical is as high as a mortal/nature-born human can reach, no matter what.

Should I use point buy? if so, should higher scores cost more then lower ones, even with such a low range of numbers? should I randomly generate them? if so in what range? with what cap/floor values? do you have an entirely different, better, idea?

Thanks in advance

[Rowan Intheback]

I think point buy might not be a bad idea if you want to keep those relative power levels a standard. For a game that you'd be willing to accept a higher collection of power levels you can use die rolls but really point buy will work best with your system.

[Thane of Fife]

I'd recommend, say, a d100 roll, weighted towards Average, flooring with Horrific, and topping out at Prodigy.

Then let people raise one of their stats by one - if you make Horrific and Prodigy sufficiently rare, nobody should have to worry about Horrific unless they're extremely unlucky, and Superhuman will be rare.

Then require people to explain the adjustment in terms of their character ("To make up for his physical weakness, Ike spends much of his time weight-training." or "Already brilliant as a lass, Muerella invented the Thinking Cap at the age of 12, increasing her ample intelligence to superhuman heights.")

Personally, I dislike Point Buy, so I am, of course, recommending against it.

[Talic]

All stats start at 0. Player gets X points. You may gain 1 point per stat you drop below 0, for each rank below 0 (so, -1 would be worth 1 point, -2 would be worth 2).

To get a stat, you must have the stat below it. To get a 3, you must first purchase a 2. Costs are as Follows:

Rank 1: 1 point
Rank 2: 2 points
Rank 3: 3 points
Rank 4: 4 points
Rank 5: 5 points
Rank 6: 6 points

Thus, to buy a 1 costs a total of 1 point.
A 2? 3 points.
A 3? 6 points.
A 4? 10 points.
A 5? 15 points.
A 6? 21 points.

Impose maximum starting stats by race. For example, a human may be limited to a Max of 4 starting, whereas a crocodile may have a max of 5 in the physical strength like stat, and a whale may have a max of 6.

If you had 6 stats, 30 points would be a reasonable starting amount, for a high power campaign.

[Kioran]

That relies very much upon the extent to which these stats influence play, and the extent of other characteristics besides basic stats. If the stats are very important, Point buy is a nice way of assuring balance between players, even moreso if the Points come from a common pool from which skills or such are bought as well.
If you use Point buy, you might want to weigh it against high scores, first to make extraordinary results just that, and secondly to, perhaps, discourage high marks in few select stats at the price of all others, creating huge imbalances in the character.

[Grey Paladin]

While point-buy does indeed provides a more balanced game, it is highly difficult to prevent min-maxing with such low values, and if you grant the ability to use too many points(to avoid Horrific everywhere) most of the scores will be at extremely high ranks.

On the other hand, Random rolls are far from balanced, but produce more 'realistic' characters and cannot be min-maxed, but with such a low range of values doesn't luck has too much of a hand in the character's fate?

The low range of values is an integral part of the system and it is, as a whole, finely tuned to them, the problem is generating these stats in a systematical, consistent, way. fair to all players.

Thane of Fife: That's a good idea(and fits the system as it is based on a D100) and I may end up using it, if I do the problem becomes assigning the values . . .

Talic: That's a pretty good/easy to use system, though Horrific scores are the equivalents of about 6-4 in D&D and are discouraged.

Kioran:

Spoiler

Show

There are 5 stats in the system, each governing a number of Capabilities (for example, Dexterity governs Perception, Motorics, Speed, etc)
and each of them has its own set of EXP (there are 7 types of EXP all in all, one for each stat, Practical, and Theoretical)

Improving a Capability represents the character learning to better use his talent in a specific area, improving Might (which is governed by Strength) does not means the character grows stronger, he is already at the peak of his potential, it means that the character has learned, through experience, how to better use his body weight/muscles/etc.

Practical Experience is gained mainly in combat/encounters, and is used to obtain combat maneuvers and skills.

Theoretical experience is mainly gained at down-time, as long as the character performs the required actions, and is used to obtain abilities that no actual experience is required to learn, such as math or baking.

Abilities and Capabilities also range from 0 to 6, with 0 being untrained.

Each and every single(/task has a Rank) conflict is resolved like this:
Rank= Governing Stat + relevant Ability + Synergy(in the extremely rare case there is more then one relevant ability, each additional trained (above 0) relevant ability adds a +1 Synergy bonus)

Every single task, from attacking to pottery, is resolved like this:

(([Aggressor's Rank]-[Defender's/Task's Rank])*(10+/-misc)) +50 is the chance, in %, for the action to succeed, with the maximum of 99%, and the minimum of 1% (as long as the action is logically possible, even by dumb luck), miscellaneous modifications being highly rare.

is that enough detail?