By the book it's 28 PB. By general census of games it's 32 PB. Pretty much everyone is right, except in different contexts.
By the book Fighters fill a variety of character concepts. And Toughness is a good feat. We all know how well that worked out.
Wrong on all counts. It has nothing to do with any aspect of my own games, and everything to do with the fact that low PB = play a SAD character = play a caster. Everyone knows this by now, which means that people know better, and therefore 32 is the standard, because it makes for a more diverse meta.
You say this as though 28 PB requires being SAD.
With a 28 you can still get 2 16s, a 14, and a 10, with 2 8s leftover. Or 1 16, 2 14s, and either 3 10s, or a 12/10/8, or 14/8/8 depending on how willing you are to have dump stats. In either case it's hardly a stat array that requires a SAD class, you could conceivably play just about anything, you just don't get to take an 18 in your primary unless you're SAD. Really even on a 32pb if you need more than 2 stats you don't want to put anything up to an 18 either, so the benefit of the 18 is an extra +1 modifier on either 1 or 2 secondary stats.
A 16? In your primary stat? You're joking right? You might as well play the Not Really Elite Array if you're going to go with that.
But please do continue to call anyone who uses something other than 32pb idiots who just want everyone to play casters.
They don't know what they're doing. That makes them idiots, and the correct response to them is to play a caster, because it is the only option you have. I don't think they actually want that though, they just have no idea what the things they are saying actually mean.
I think it certainly sucks to have PBs that low, especially for non-casters, although I don't think that's how the word "standard" works. I'm pretty sure the DMG sets standard PB at 25 points. 28 is listed under high power and I think is standard for Eberron.
I see 32 a lot on the boards, but this is a CO community, so it's likely a biased sample.
better =/= standard.
If better did mean standard, it would be a higher number than 32 for sure. Likely 96, because that's as good as it's going to get. It doesn't though. It means standard. The number that most agree makes for the best meta. It isn't just here either, but in gaming communities all over the place, ranging from hardcore optimizers to people that have a wholly inappropriate interest in baskets that goes beyond merely weaving them.
But really. You're going to put an 18 in your primary stat. And by you I mean everyone. To do otherwise is to gimp yourself at character creation, something you have no business doing and that has no business being advocated as a serious option on any CO board. A SAD character can do this and get their other stats in the right place on lower PBs, but are the only things that can be competitive in such a meta. To do the same for an MAD character, 32 is required. Otherwise, you're stuck with a one dimensional meta.