So, yeah, which one do you like the most, use the most, or like to defend most ?

I use the points system almost exclusively, but on the rare occasion we play a high powered magical campaign I use Becks so Karma can be used on Foci, Spirits, Initiation, etc. at chargen.

Points, baby. Every time.

Points, rulez. Crap I agree with critias!! Thats hardly normal

I voted other - build your character how you envision it, and get GM approval.

I voted for points.

Priority lacks flexibility, especially when you consider how character generation options have grown due to all the available supplements. On the downside, point buy makes it easier to twink and min-max, but I think it's worth the trade off.

Yeah, flexibility = opportunity for abuse

GM approval is always required.

Points. Variable and in the "core" books. Meaning I own it, of course.

There are some builds that come out better using Sum-to-10 than they do Points. The real mini-maxer makes the same character using all possible methods and keeps the one that comes out with the best stats.

I prefer BECKS, but then I also have the time to sit at work and crunch out a character. It allows for even more min maxing than points, but it also lets you put together more of a generalist.

I prefer the point-based system as it is very flexible.

Hell, I just use whatever system will give me the most bang for my buck for the character idea I have.

I likes the Becks i have to say. Versatile, pretty well balanced, just takes some time.

My favorite aspects of Becks are:

Resource allocation. I love how you have a whole lot of resource options.


Seems to generate more well rounded characters. By making those general 6's really cost you(30 karma if your attribute was equal, usually ended up a little more), I found more folks going for a well rounded 3-4 skillset, saving the big numbers for those one or two defining skills.

Probably offered the most in flexibility.

I don't outright hate the other methods...I started and was weaned on Priority, so i felt that worked well...my main problem there were the huge resource differences(from the million, to 400 g's, to 90gs...). BP helped that a little bit at least. BP is my second favorite, under Becks, due to flexibility.

Sum to 10 i wasn't really into. You could crunch out a disgusting mundane human cyberbeast with that one, and that's all it seemed people did(occationaly playing a 'mundane metahuman.)

I havn't played that low/high thing...what does that do, exactly?

Heh, one 'other' one ive heard of some people doing....with HIGHLY trusted groups...is 'put down what you think your character has'. That's it. With a trusted group, no one munchkins their characters out suprisingly. This method is NOT recommended for munches to say the least.

Actually, on certain kinds of munchkins it can be enormously effective. There seem to be two kinds: those who enjoy exploiting a particular ruleset, and those who enjoy being as powerful as possible. A subtle distinction, but munchkins from the first group, if they grasp the concept, can create thoughtful and interesting characters in a freeform system.

I picked the priority system, but they're good for making different kinds of characters.

What is 'MJlBB low/high', anyway?

My Shadowrun group uses BeCKs. It's got fexibility, but discourages mix-maxing with the increasing costs of skills and attributes. And using Karma means that things cost the same whether you get them at chargen, post-chargen or in game. None of that "Why get Unarmed Combat 4 and Ettiquette 2 when I can get Unarmed Combat 6 (a thirty Karma value) and buy Ettiquette for cheap?" stuff.

It's handy to have the NSRCG if you're using Becks, tho. Having a computer keep track of karma costs saves on the hassle of number crunching.

For pure flexibility, I think the Point Build system is the best. The beauty of it is that you can tailor it to meet the power level of your campaign, and adjust the costs if you want to encourage or discourage certain choices. MJlBB might make the point system even better, but I don't have that book, so I can't say.

BeCKS is fun to use, and personally I think that parts of the SR4 character generation system were very strongly influenced by it. I like being able to buy incremental resources, or start out with a guy who is low in resources but has, say, 10 contacts and 50 spell points. However, it is not quite as flexible as the point build system for certain types of characters such as shapeshifters or otaku, so it gets edged out.

Build Points, usually using Blackjack's (?) modified money system. (Each BP netting you so much nuyen at each 5 points.)

Priority doesn't allow enough customization, and BeCKs takes far too long.

I'll be the lone dissenter, here. I liked priority, because it was the fastest and easiest chargen method. Points is good if you want to spend hours and hours pouring over a character, and BeCKs even more so; but you can't beat the MCCT for pure speed. And personally, I like blazing through chargen and getting into the game faster.

With the NSRCG, the differences don't matter as much; I can create a points character in about ten minutes or so. But if I'm without a computer, it's priority all the way, baby.

I like Priority unless I do not want a bunch of flaws just for the sake of gaining a couple edges. Then BP just lets you buy the edges without taking flaws.

If they amended the edges and flaws section to allow players to substitute skill points under Priority for edge points, I would always go Priority.

Haven't really had a good look at BeCKS, but we use points. You can tweak it how you want to start the campaign at whatever level you want, or if someone's character dies when everyone else is up there at 10 Karma Pool their new character can maybe start with a few more points just to even things up a little. Some people don't agree with that, but we do. We've got a system that works for us, anyway. Anyway, we use points for flexibility in campaign rather than flexibility of min maxing. WHich is not to say minmaxing does not go on, because of course it does, but like others have said, it can for any system, and usually does.

Other. Any canon system(within the edition) is fine with me and my fav would be any system that makes it fun for the players to create their characters for the campaign I am running.

I chose other as it totally depends on what type of character I'm creating. If a non-magic character, Point system. If it's a magic character it's Priority all the way, as the point system favors mundanes and screws magicians.
I've always wanted to try sum-to-10 but none of my GM's either liked it or knew of it. I took one look at Becks and my disnumeric/dyslexic brain automatically declared it pure evil and never wanted look at it again.

I prefer the BeCKS, but it's slightly more complex and I often have a hard time getting my group to use any set of rules that make things more difficult. So we typical use the point system.

Huh. Looks like BeCKS is a lot more marginalized than I thought. It seemed a larger percentage of people used it a year ago than today. How very odd.

BPs. I like the versatility.

Me ,I prefer the Point system, it allows for more versitile characters.