That has nothing to do with what I asked. Since there are systems where there is no wrong way to build a concept, why would you play one where that isn't the case?

Quote from: JoannaGeist on February 24, 2025, 04:52:23 PMThat has nothing to do with what I asked. Since there are systems where there is no wrong way to build a concept, why would you play one where that isn't the case?

Name one and I'm sure I've had at least one player over the years whose built an utterly craptastic useless PC in it... because that's what you have to allow to happen in a freeform creation system to also allow you to build practically anything with it.

ETA: Example... PL10 superhero in MM2e with gravity based alien power armor. Thought he'd built an utterly invincible guy who could utterly immobilize anyone who got near him as a reaction and forewent all defense and toughness for instant full regeneration from death every round... all built into his armor to save on points.

Only because of how he built it, the "gravity field" wouldn't actually stop anything fired into it from outside its range. He got taken out by three PL3 thugs with handguns who shot him to death (remember defense +0, toughness +0, because he thought his gravity field would keep anyone from being able to actually hit him with anything) then kept shooting him every round so he stayed incapacitated until they stripped his armor off him and then he was just dead.

That's the sort of stupid you get with freeform point buy and people who think they know how the rules work and that they're gaming the system with their antics (I allowed it in despite the obvious flaws because the player was a jerk and seeing him humbled before he quit entertained the rest of the table).

There are DEFINITELY wrong ways to build in point-buy systems like M&M, Champions, Savage Worlds, etc. and believe me, I've seen them all.

Quote from: JoannaGeist on February 24, 2025, 04:18:33 PMWhy would you play a system so poorly designed that there's only one right way to build a concept, and any other method results in an unplayable mess?

This has nothing to do with anything that anyone actually said.

Quote from: Chris24601 on February 24, 2025, 06:04:01 PM

Quote from: JoannaGeist on February 24, 2025, 04:52:23 PMThat has nothing to do with what I asked. Since there are systems where there is no wrong way to build a concept, why would you play one where that isn't the case?

ETA: Example... PL10 superhero in MM2e with gravity based alien power armor. Thought he'd built an utterly invincible guy who could utterly immobilize anyone who got near him as a reaction and forewent all defense and toughness for instant full regeneration from death every round... all built into his armor to save on points.
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There are DEFINITELY wrong ways to build in point-buy systems like M&M, Champions, Savage Worlds, etc. and believe me, I've seen them all.

JoannaGeist - I think you might be trying to express that there's no single right way to buy a concept in point-buy systems like Mutants & Masterminds (M&M), Hero/Champions, Savage Worlds, or GURPS. Would that be fair?

I'd agree with "no single right way" to build a concept rather than "no wrong way" to build a concept.

In Hero/Champions, I could easily see multiple valid ways to build gravity-based alien power armor, say. But there might also be some ways that are unworkable or flawed to build gravity-based alien power armor.

I've never played Mutants & Masterminds, but for Hero and GURPS and Savage Worlds, I would generally agree with Chris24601 that there are pitfalls where the player thinks they are getting one thing, but because they don't understand the rules, the result isn't what they really wanted.