Help a gamer friend of mine with bad stat rolls.

[KenM]

i'd create some pregen rolls and have them set aside i'd offer him the rolls he got or to choose one of the pregens.

if he was still unhappy, i'd ask him what he expected from the game when he was told he would be rolling 3d6 in order.

Well, groups where I am (Cape Cod MA) are hard to find. He is getting together with some of his friends and his brother to play. When the meet to talk abiout the game to make characters, the guy that is the DM told them how he wanted to make the characters.

 

[diaglo]

Well, groups where I am (Cape Cod MA) are hard to find. He is getting together with some of his friends and his brother to play. When the meet to talk abiout the game to make characters, the guy that is the DM told them how he wanted to make the characters.

well the DM is building the world around those expectations obviously.

if your friend wants higher stats or expects them. then the DM is gonna have to adjust the world to accommodate.

edit: it boils down to how much the DM is willing to do. in this case, i guess the DM is saying he has done the work already and wants the players to make do.

 

[diaglo]

28, I think, is the suggested, but don't quote me on that.

25 is standard point buy. which is equal to the default 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8

 

[Glyfair]

25 is standard point buy. which is equal to the default 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8

25 is standard point buy. 28 is about average when rolling 4d6 drop the lowest.

 

[Herobizkit]

Wasn't Tika(?), the original DL Fellowship's barmaid-come-fighter, pretty much a "bum" like those scores might represent?

One of the most amusing things about the old DL was the fact that they had "commoner" as a playable character class. Now that the NPC class of commoner exists in 3.x, here's what *I* might do...

Ask your DM to play an Aristocrat. They're great skill monkeys, PLUS you'd get decent attack bonuses and a decent weapon proficiency. I might play this character like a typical lazy, worthless Aristocrat's son who doesn't get along with anyone because of his annoying demeanour, but STILL manages to make himself useful. What's more, my character would treat everyone as inferior but come sniveling to them when things got rough... Kind of like the cavalier fellow on the old D&D cartoon.

A decent Dex can still give you an OK combat score, especially if you take Weapon Finesse. Add a Skill Focus here and here, or one of those lovely "+2 to two skiils " feats, and you offset your low-stat penalties.

 

[howandwhy99]

One of my freinds is starting a 3.5 Dragonlance game. The DM is being very strict with stats: 3D6, you get what you get, placed in the order of the rolls. This is what my friend ended up with:
STR 11
DEX 13
CON 8
INT 13
WIS 6
CHA 8

If you were the DM, would you let him reroll like it says in the PH, or force him to live with it? If you got stuck with those stats, what would you do?

I like 3d6 in order, but I'm no fool. It doesn't work in D20. I think this will be rough on the other player. At least until he's higher level. Not to mention that's an 11-point buy with a 6 in the hole. Why not let him "buy up" to 25bp with the extra 14 points? (it's what I allow)

My suggestion: 1/2 Orc Barbarian aPAatt (all power attack all the time)
STR 13
DEX 13
CON 8
INT 11
WIS 6
CHA 6

This way the character will be fun until he rolls up the next one shortly

 

[Kafkonia]

25 is standard point buy. which is equal to the default 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8

Oops, my mistake. Guess I should have just done the arithmetic, eh?

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

One of my freinds is starting a 3.5 Dragonlance game. The DM is being very strict with stats: 3D6, you get what you get, placed in the order of the rolls.

That is TRUE Ironman D&D. No published version of D&D has ever been that restrictive. Even if you couldn't arrange scores as you like you at least got to modify them in at least a minimal fashion. I have never played such a game but have always found it perversely appealing.

This is what my friend ended up with:
STR 11
DEX 13
CON 8
INT 13
WIS 6
CHA 8

If you were the DM, would you let him reroll like it says in the PH, or force him to live with it?

If I were the DM, then yes, even playing Ironman I'd have a threshold for re-rolling characters that are below average and this would be low enough to warrant a re-roll. HOWEVER, your friend agreed to these limitations going in - unless he was quite vocally insistent about the downsides of playing Ironman before he picked up the dice then he doesn't have a lot to complain about now. Still, he might try pointing out to the DM that Ironman is a highly particular method of rolling that wasn't introduced officially until 2nd Edition. In that edition it was statistically more likely to have characters with more PENALTIES than bonuses. It is a method that really lends itself to a HIGHLY specific sort of campaign that actually doesn't emphasize stats and bonuses so much as skill trees and roleplaying. If that's the sort of campaign that is intended he might let it ride for the time being.

If you got stuck with those stats, what would you do?

I'd push for a re-rolling threshold of at least a 10 average for stats, if not 11. I'd make sure BEFORE agreeing to play the campaign in the first place that using Ironman generation methods was APPROPRIATE for the kind of campaign that was intended. I'd lobby for using the "Organic" optional method from the 3E DMG which is probably still close to what the DM wants, but gives the players at least a minimal amount of control in character generation to be able to produce stats at least marginally appropriate to the character THEY want to run (rather than what is DICTATED by the dice).

Should the DM refuse to budge I'd say you'd have a couple of options. First, playing a rogue would be a good choice. Dex is a high stat and high Int applies to your # of skill points. Your choice of race would be where you min-max your stats depending on what you want. I think that wizard would also be an excellent choice since they are not dependant on stats as much as other classes that are going to be in combat a lot more. At 4th level put your stat increase into Int to top out your spellcasting at 4th level spells and then at 5th multiclass into rogue. This allows you an excuse to stay out of combat as much as possible until 5th level.

The last option would be to pick whatever class and race you like. It won't really matter because you're only going to do your damndest to get yourself killed as soon as possible so you can roll up something better. Go with a finesse fighter just because fighters are fast to generate.

 

[FickleGM]

As a DM, I would reiterate that there are no rerolls.

As a DM, I would encourage him to play it his best and see how it turns out.

As a DM, if he wasn't enjoying himself, I'd bring it to a vote on whether or not it would be okay to reroll in this instance.

As to what I would encourage - Wizard (Intelligence is good and magic can make up for bad ability scores). Which race doesn't matter to me. Be a dwarf and break the mold. Go with elf or gnome. They all could work.

 

[Kalendraf]

Obviously, with such poor rolls, the player is going to end up with something they are not happy with. I recommend the following...

Elven Wizard

- With the con penalty, you'll get 2 hit points max per level.
- Don't take any defensive spells.
- Do take touch delivered spells (Chill Touch, Shocking Grasp, etc)

After dying in very first combat, roll up new character.