TheCosmicKid
Hero
How did you value scores below 8 or higher than 15? Did you extrapolate from the 8-15 values or use some other method? (When I did this I used the 3E values because they go up to 18, and extrapolated backwards from 10.5 for values below 8.)My observation, taking into account that point buy doesn't allow numbers outside of 8-15 if you translate the resulting numbers into point buy cost:
- Take the numbers as rolled, no restrictions, no reroll. Average 21 points
- Only allow numbers between 8 and 15. Average: 27 points
- Throw out numbers below 8, allow 18. Average: 34 points.
- Throw out numbers below 8, roll until you get at least 1 18. Average 40 points.
I know a few different methods of rolling but normalizing the results. @TwoSix already described one earlier in the thread. You can also (my preferred method) use a d6 to add or subtract 1 from random scores in the array until you hit a target value. Or, if you're all generating characters together, you can "draft" scores from a rolled pool so that everybody gets the same exposure to high and low scores.But the biggest problem I have with rolling dice for stats (unless you C.H.E.A.T.) is the wide disparity of results. In my test I grouped the results of 6 to represent a typical gaming group and compared the difference in point buy cost for each character. What I found was that in the majority of "tables" there was a significant difference in ability scores. Using point buy as a yard stick, most tables had a difference of 30 points or more. That's a huge variation, if not in outright combat ability, in options for what people can play and how much they can contribute to out of combat skills.
(As an aside, a 30 point difference does seem anomalously large. That would imply somebody consistently has a point-buy value of at least 50, which is supposedly rare.)
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