Point Build System: Difference between revisions

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* ''[[Puzzle Quest]]'' uses this, primarily to keep your character leveling up after it's hit the [[Level Cap]].

== [[Role Playing Game]] ==

== [[Role-Playing Game]] ==

* ''[[Might and Magic]]''

** Only the later ones (6 and up), and with a twist in 6 and 7: the pool of points was shared among all 4 characters. The early games (1-5) used random dice rolls.

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== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

* ''[[Champions]]'' with its ''[[Hero System]]'' was the first [[RPG]] to use a Point Build system; all other RPGs at the time used predefined characters or dice rolls, being directly inspired by ''[[Dungeons ~~and~~ Dragons]]''.

* ''[[Champions]]'' with its ''[[Hero System]]'' was the first [[RPG]] to use a Point Build system; all other RPGs at the time used predefined characters or dice rolls, being directly inspired by ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]''.

* ''[[GURPS]]'', probably the most well-supported point buy system to date (in terms of supplemental material).

** ''[[Fallout]]'', originally planned to be an adaptation of the above, but latter turned into the [[Fun with Acronyms|SPECIAL]] system.

* ''[[Mutants and Masterminds|Mutants & Masterminds]]''

* ''[[~~Seventh Sea|~~7th Sea]]''

* ''[[7th Sea]]''

* ''[[Car Wars]]''

* The ''[[Tri-Stat]]'' system, used for ''[[Big Eyes, Small Mouth]]'', ''[[Silver Age Sentinels]]'', and various other games.

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* Most newer [[Class and Level System]] games tend to compensate for their weaknesses by adopting a point buy method for various parts.

** One option in ''[[Pathfinder]]'' at the GM's discretion.

* ''[[Dungeons ~~and~~ Dragons]]'', originally the [[Trope Codifier]] of dice-based character creation, adopted a Point Buy system as an alternative (and frequently preferred) method.

* ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'', originally the [[Trope Codifier]] of dice-based character creation, adopted a Point Buy system as an alternative (and frequently preferred) method.

** Even in AD&D2, they added player chosen 'proficiencies' that allowed PCs to obtain and raise skills, and another point pool for weapon proficiencies and combat styles. DMG has class-building system (which "as is" cannot replicate a core class, because it makes custom classes weaker).

*** ''Players Option'' ("2.5" rules upgrade) has a full Character Point based system with optional abilities from race and class tied in. Unfortunately, it wasn't clearly separated between subrace/subclass/kit generation and character generation layers, even if obviously intended to be used this way in most cases, and even examples not all used the unified system as is (e.g. in subraces pick racial special abilities from those dumped in a list, but not penalties, so you'd have to reverse-engineer it if you want the same method applied to something in your campaign that isn't on the list).

** D&D3 uses point-buy skill system (for some reason it lacks diminishing returns, and thus leads to insane level of skill minmaxing, which is then supported by difficulty numbers raised accordingly - which in turn enforces it and makes it harder to patch).

** 4th edition finally went fully point-buy with that method becoming the default for attributes and the skill system pared down to a simpler version ("trained" or "untrained" vs. counting ranks, paid for with initial class skill choices and optionally feats rather than from a dedicated "skill point" pool).

* ''[[Warhammer ~~40000~~]]'', being a [[PVP-Balanced]] wargame, uses it to balance opponents and regulate battle size (and thus length). Each unit in an army costs a certain number of points, and before the game the players agree on the number of points available per side. The armies must also fit a designated minimum and maximum number of units in each category and models in each unit. The more points, the more numerous and/or powerful the units in each army will be. Also, the more units in each army, the longer the game tends to go on, because they take longer to move and determine attack. 500 points is probably the lowest playable total (that's maybe a squad or two, depending on the race), 1,000 is the average game and 4,000 is usually as high as most players will go outside of a multi-player "megabattle"; much more than that and the game would take all day. Also, [[Crack is Cheaper]] than ''[[Warhammer ~~40000~~]]'', so it's hard to get past that even when if you want to.

* ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'', being a [[PVP-Balanced]] wargame, uses it to balance opponents and regulate battle size (and thus length). Each unit in an army costs a certain number of points, and before the game the players agree on the number of points available per side. The armies must also fit a designated minimum and maximum number of units in each category and models in each unit. The more points, the more numerous and/or powerful the units in each army will be. Also, the more units in each army, the longer the game tends to go on, because they take longer to move and determine attack. 500 points is probably the lowest playable total (that's maybe a squad or two, depending on the race), 1,000 is the average game and 4,000 is usually as high as most players will go outside of a multi-player "megabattle"; much more than that and the game would take all day. Also, [[Crack is Cheaper]] than ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'', so it's hard to get past that even when if you want to.

** Ditto for its spin-offs, such as ''[[Battlefleet Gothic]]''.

* ''[[Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay]]'' uses character build/advance system using XP - essentially, this removes the middleman.

** ''[[Rogue Trader]]'' uses point-build system for ships, which is for some crazy reason ''more crude'' than that of ''[[Battlefleet Gothic]]'', despite the RPG being more detail oriented and usually on a much smaller scale.

** ''[[Only War]]'' has custom regiment building system. Not very compatible with ''[[Warhammer ~~40000~~]]''. Again, it keeps to very small numbers, to the point that this seems to made it harder to expand.

** ''[[Only War]]'' has custom regiment building system. Not very compatible with ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]''. Again, it keeps to very small numbers, to the point that this seems to made it harder to expand.

* ''[[Cartoon Action Hour]]'' does this in both editions. The first season points are called "Character Points", while the second season points are called "Proof of Purchase Points".

* In ''[[Old World of Darkness]]'', every game has characters built with a slightly different set of rules, right down what skills are available. In ''[[New World of Darkness]]'' all characters are built first as though they were normal mortals. Then, if they are ''not'' normal humans, they have a character template attached from the specific system.

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[[Category:Video Game Tropes]]

[[Category:Tabletop Game Tropes]]

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[[Category:~~Point Build System~~]]

[[Category:CRPG Tropes]]

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