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G.A.W.
Has anyone ever let players roll their 7 ability ( faserip ) scores randomly as per usual - then let them choose where they go? Instead of Straight down the line?

Similar to 5e D&D . Still rolling scores but maybe preventing a player getting stuck with a feeble agility and Amazing fighting or that old man kung fu example from an earlier post : the feeble strength Amazing fighting etc ?

Would any of you let players do that? -

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barna10
Check out the With Great Power system

The problem with points systems is powers are not all equal. GD Flying is much better than GD Hyper-Leaping and infinitely better than GD Extra Attacks. Even with 2-slot powers costing more, TY Reality Alteration can wreck a game.

There's no good way to balance EVERY thing.

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G.A.W.
Superhero RPG's and the Genre itself may be unbalanced generally speaking.

Look at early super Teams , like the Avengers.

A lineup could or did have at one time HULK, IRONMAN, THOR , ant man, wasp ( see what i did there with the capital letters ? )
DC comics - SUPERMAN - or BOY with Karate KId etc etc

-- In which the literary story may have the weaker characters save the day, be the right hero for the job, etc etc -- and the game adventure could be written to do the same but it's Very Noticeably Premeditated .

I get point buy-- and yet maybe have the group roll up many characters randomly and let them pick and form the team that works together or makes sense. the rest of the rolled up characters would be good NPC's and back-up characters.

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Madmaxneo

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nijineko

Our group offers a "powered-by (insert-that-player's-name)" service to newcomers, where they will either help them build the character or roll the stats for them, so as to put everyone on the same level for those that desire such. Personally, I prefer a more storybook/comic style where everyone is NOT balanced, or artificially leveled to be roughly the same capability.

Awesome, I am glad that works for you and your groups! Unfortunately anything with random rolls for stats and what not has never really worked out for me and the groups I have been in/ran. I've run into to many issues with people not being happy with the character they rolled up and not even enjoying the game any. Note that I also run a variety of other systems with different genres with stuff from fantasy to sci fi and everything in between and in many of those a comic book style would never work.

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nijineko

Our group offers a "powered-by (insert-that-player's-name)" service to newcomers, where they will either help them build the character or roll the stats for them, so as to put everyone on the same level for those that desire such. Personally, I prefer a more storybook/comic style where everyone is NOT balanced, or artificially leveled to be roughly the same capability.

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Madmaxneo

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nijineko
Point buy or random roll makes no difference in my group... because one guy in my group has (proven not cheating) insane dice luck. He rolls high 95% of the time, which has obvious side effects on the character generation tables, more so on the UPB tables.

Not in my groups. I see more low rolls and fumbles than anything else in the myriad of systems I have run.
I see players get discouraged all the time and start to loose interest because of this, I have also seen players cheat due to constant poor dice rolls. With the lack of people willing to playing anything else but 5e or PF in the area I live now I prefer to keep the players I do have interested so they will continue to play. So a point system is the best way to go for these people.

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Madmaxneo
Not in my groups. I see more low rolls and fumbles than anything else in the myriad of systems I have run.
I see players get discouraged all the time and start to loose interest because of this, I have also seen players cheat due to constant poor dice rolls. With the lack of people willing to playing anything else but 5e or PF in the area I live now I prefer to keep the players I do have interested so they will continue to play. So a point system is the best way to go for these people.

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nijineko
Point buy or random roll makes no difference in my group... because one guy in my group has (proven not cheating) insane dice luck. He rolls high 95% of the time, which has obvious side effects on the character generation tables, more so on the UPB tables.

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barna10
Balance is an illusion. Everyone having the same chance to have fun is the only balance.

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barna10
I don't see the need to have higher abilities cost more. A hero with more powers is arguably more powerful than one with one very powerful power.

Yes, the system is not balanced, buts neither are the comics. It's not about balance and shouldn't be.

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barna10
It can still be unbalanced as in one player can get an UN Strength, another might have MN Teleportation, and another could just take a bunch of Talents.

Their points totals will be equal, but their capabilities will not.

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Thrudjelmer
Perceived flaws are the idea that point buy creates balanced characters.

This is incorrect. You can create incredibly unbalanced characters... but if everyone has the same resources, you can unbalance them within the same limits as everyone else using the system.

Personally, I like to put soft limits on my players. Anything over AM (50) rank costs double points... so you can go over it, but it will hurt your point total.