Changing Ability Score Creation

[cougent]

I am curious if anyone has ever changed the standard 3d6 ability score creation and if so what type of results you had.

Specifically, I am considering letting players use 3d8 for ONE ability score while also having to use 3d4 for another. The other four would remain 3d6. Also they would have to declare which abilities they are using the new format for before actually rolling. I know this could produce exceedingly high results, but could also create mediocre or even downright bad results as well. This is just an option also that would not be forced on any player. However like any good wager, if they take it... they live with it good or bad.

 

[tauaru]

We once used 1d20, ignoring and rerolling any 19, 20, 1, or 2 roll. If I remember correctly this led to ridiculously overpowered characters. Since then, we have com up with a +12 rule. No character can have initial ability bonuses that add up to more than 12. This is done with the standard 4d6 drop lowest, reroll if the rolls suck. It usually means that no character is good at everything an every one has their part to play in and out of combat.

 

[Asmor]

Ignoring the fact that 3d6 isn't standard...

One of the DMs in my group uses 4d6 drop lowest with the twist that you re-roll 1s and 2s... and keep re-rolling them until you get something 3 or higher. It's actually identical to 4d4+6 drop lowest. Leads to very powerful characters. 15 is the most common stat, 9 is the minimum, and 18s aren't uncommon at all.

In my current game, I've gone with the standard rules (4d6 drop lowest, re-rolls only if you have no score 14 or higher or if the total of your ability modifiers doesn't add up to at least +3), with the caveat that players may raise their highest stat to an 18 while dropping their lowest stat to an 8. I like this because I think every character deserves an 18, and I also like that it makes people have a penalty in some score.

I'm also a big fan of point buy, which I'm using in a Star Wars game I'll be running at some point. I do 25 point buy in SW, but in D&D I usually go with 32 point buy.

I recently heard on these boards about an alternate LA system using point buy. Basically, instead of increasing your character level if you take a race with LA, you reduce your points. I think it's something like this (reconstructing from memory):

+0 LA: 32 point buy
+1 LA: 25 point buy
+2 LA: 18 point buy
+3 LA: 10 point buy
+4 LA: 0 point buy

There's another one that I like which uses a 6x6 grid of ability scores rolled using 4d6 drop lowest. You then take one row, column or diagonal, and those are your scores, in that order. I like this because it's a bit more organic in that you don't have complete control over all your scores, but it does give you a lot of choice. Unfortunately it's also really time consuming.

Last, but certainly not least, I'm a huge fan of the Three-Dragon Ante character generation which was in an issue of Dragon. Basically, you take a deck of TDA, make a tarot-like spread, and then put a bunch of tokens on certain cards. Then you move the tokens around the spread, based on a set of rules and depending on what cards are where, and eventually they all end up on 6 different cards corresponding to the ability scores. From there, you use the tokens as points and buy your scores using point buy.

 

[jeffh]

For a Dark Sun game, I would, in the spirit of the higher scores everyone got in the original setting, use 3d6 & 1d8, drop the lowest instead of 4d6, drop the lowest.

For more standard games, I offer a choice of standard, organic or point buy (28 points). I also let everyone make two sets of stats, using any of these methods, and pick the one they like better. So, nothing that changes the range, but a way to offer something for everyone.

Contrary to what many here might expect, point buy is by far the least popular of the three, even after taking into account that there's no point in using it for both of your attempts. I think of the nineteen characters (across three games) that have been made since I adopted this system, only one was generated by point-buy.

 

[DogBackward]

I've used two non-standard methods, both of which seemed pretty well-regarded.

The first is a combination of rolling and point-buy. First, you roll 3d6 six times, as normal. Then, you place your scores and add or subtract your racial modifiers. Then, you get 10 points using the standard point-buy costs, using your rolled stats as the starting point. This way, if you roll low, you can spend points to shore up bad scores or improve good ones even more. But if you've already rolled high, each point is worth less since the costs increase, and it usually evens out alright. Ending up with mostly even sets of stats while still allowing those who like to roll to roll, and those who like control over their character to spread points.

The second one is also a sort of mix, in that you roll 24d6 and drop the lowest 6. Then, you take the 18 individual rolls and place three of them in each score. This way, you still roll your stats, but get more control over the exact numbers. I've also done 30d4 with 5 dice per stat and 12d10 with two in each stat. Because, really, a 20 isn't that big an increase over an 18. And I don't see why your penalites can go to -5, but you can't get a +5 in anything without being a wierd race.

I also once tried using 24d4, placing 4 dice in each score, then using 10 points via point-buy, but only for one game. It seemed to work alright.

 

[cougent]

Ignoring the fact that 3d6 isn't standard...

I was focusing on outcome results (3-18), not mechanics of creation.

As for those mechanics, I had also considered 3d6 + 1d8 and drop the lowest for a 3-20 range and then a 3d6 + 1d4 as an offset. Less volatile but less chance of reward also.

 

[Crothian]

I let players pick their attributes. This time we had one guy start with a 20 charisma. It has been no problem.