PC Zombie Apocolypse tomorrow, how many perk/skill/stat points do you have?

[Pernicious]

 There are some weird things like being able to construct pipe weapons but not knowing how to cook bacon and eggs but it is clear we start the game with pretty decent survival skills already in place and then develop more specialist skills and improve what we can already do as we play. 

Really frank admission - Probably get me scoffed at by Texans and other Americans that take pride in smoking meats. I have no idea how to make bacon and I have basic knowledge of how to smoke meats. I suspect it has to do with the cut of meat to start off with - pork belly? Then thinly slice, salt, and very low heat for a day or so? I could google now, but not in the apocalypse. {Reminder to self, download Wikipedia onto multiple flash drives to leave in bug out bag)

Making bacon out of anything other than a pig? I've seen turkey bacon and facon, but even further removed.

 

[Crater Creator]

Even though zero is the starting point it obviously doesn’t reflect zero skills. Our characters have quite a few abilities without spending any points at all. I often don’t spend any points for the first 7 days until after the first blood moon and survive just fine (probably better than I personally would in rl). Once I’ve found some schematics and a few books, I feel like I can choose where to start putting points into the areas RNG dictated. 
 

Point is that your poll doesn’t accurately reflect the game state on Day 1 and you are grossly understating the inherent abilities of our Day 1 characters.  There are some weird things like being able to construct pipe weapons but not knowing how to cook bacon and eggs but it is clear we start the game with pretty decent survival skills already in place and then develop more specialist skills and improve what we can already do as we play. 
 

Personally, I like the current method of creating your character as you play much better than creating a character as part of a point spending menu before you play. 

I'm not sure at this point whether I'd prefer spending skill points up front instead of as I go.  I know I've played RPGs where you do it up front, and it's made me anxious because I don't know how the game plays yet or how often a given skill will actually be useful.

On the other hand, in 7DtD I tend to save skill points until the point where I could greatly benefit from them.  E.g., I'm stranded with multiple injuries and not the right meds, so it's time to unlock/rank up in Healing Factor.  Or I'm about to cut down the forest I planted, so it's time to unlock/rank up in Mother Lode.

I find that when I do this, I tend to mostly rely on the same skills every time.  And I consider myself relatively omnivorous by nature: I try not to have one playstyle, and there are few parts of the game I'll outright reject and ignore.  Then when it's time to consciously choose where to specialize, only a few attributes/tracks make sense, based on where I've already invested.

If my character had more, well, character from the start, it would perhaps tilt me towards sticking with the character build that matches my character's 'destiny' (which in this scenario, to be clear, I chose for them up front).  I wouldn't try to turn my mage into a warrior, because his day-zero stats make him inherently suited to be a mage and inherently unsuited to being a warrior.

 

[PoppaSmirk]

Oh,  this is an interesting topic.   I have had years as a tabletop rpg gamer,  and about 14-15 years ago We did a home brew roleplay of a mixed/zombie/alien/mutated animal/fall of civilsation/apocalypse,  you know,  just your average run-of-the-mill large meteor strikes earth,  shockwave causes enough dust and debris to go into the atmosphere  to give a short term nuclear winter effect,  meteor held some strange alien form of life that was scattered into a zillion tiny pieces by the crash,  causing strange mutations and zombie-like infections in humans,  but the hook of the Roleplay was that each of the players,  was going to play....themselves.  The Game master gave us two weeks to write up ourselves as a roleplay character,  and the week before play started,  we all met,  and each had to describe what and why they gave themselves certain stats and skills,  the Player got to keep those if the rest of the group agreed that the person did possess such skills in real life.  I grew up in a military family so I did have skills in gun use,  and as a member of the SCA,  blade skills and armor-making.   Back then I was pretty agile,  ran cross country track and had an interest in Doomsday Prepping,  so I know how to can food,  dress and cure animal meat and hide, so I felt competent.   Right out of school My first job was as a Medical Tech, so I had/have basic medical skills *grin*  Oh how 15 years changes us.   LOL   I still have skills with guns and blades, the running would be greatly impaired after a knee surgery 4 years ago, which also has resulted in some pounds around the waist.  I really prefer to not kill cute animals but I do join in with friends every few years and take down a deer using a bow, to augment the freezer with food  (and I do enjoy venison,  just not all the time).  Not a member of the SCA anymore so its probably been 8 years since I engaged in melee combat, and I gave up boxing shortly after finishing school,  but those basics remain.  I still keep a bugout bag here in My home,  with survival essentials, crank radio, crank flashlight, lifestraw, 3 collapsible containers to store 5 gallons of water each, swiss army knife, 3 other small blades,  a machete, firestarter kit. bandages, antiseptic,  and several bottles of hand sanitiser and much more.  Soooooooooooooo...umm...I might be 'slightly' ready for a zombie apocalypse.  *chuckles*