D&D 5E What is your current way to roll stats

[Mavkatzer]

Awesome. What does BON mean?

Glad you like it!

"BON" is the net bonus granted by all the stats.

For example: 15 (+2) 15 (+2) 15 (+2) 8 (-1) 8 (-1) 8 (-1) gives a net bonus of 3
Whereas: 14 (+2) 12 (+1) 12 (+1) 12 (+1) 12 (+1) 12 (+1) gives a total bonus of 7 (the only one that gives BON 7, incidentaly)

My players seem to like to know the total bonus right away, when looking at the chart, so I added that column.

 

[Miladoon]

Has anybody ever tried generating stats by just rolling a d8+7 six times?

Seems like that would be the most straightforward way to ensure truly random stats without getting outside the recommended 8-15 power band.

This is kinda like the FocusFoible method but without the focus, or the foible.

/scratches noggin

 

[bedir than]

Not sure I understand—how would it create a wider variety of stats if it's impossible to go below 8 or above 15?

When you have more dice you are more likely to get the average number. So 3d6 is more likely to give a 10 or 11 than 1d20 does. When you plot the frequency of each possible result of a 3d6 system the numbers look like a bell curve. When you do the same thing for a single die system the numbers should be evenly possible.

 

[Arial Black]

Does this method of generating ability scores have a name? Is it the Fraidy Cat Method?

Heh. Yep, it's called The Fraidy Cat Method.

It's a cost/benefit thing. Potential gain = a couple of better bonuses. Potential loss = not being able to play that concept at all!

Like I said, if we knew we'd be rolling stats we'd be all for it and psychologically ready to create a concept after rolling and seeing what we got, and that's an enjoyable session in its own right. But we believed it'd be point buy only, so turned up with one or two definite concepts all statted out and ready to go (with a couple of tweaks), and so the threat of rolling so low that your concept is unplayable outweighs the promise of any sleight increase in bonuses from rolling well.

 

[Miladoon]

Bring more concepts to the table!

Two point buy concepts. One high roll concept, and one cleric.

 

[der_kluge]

Interesting thread. My last PBEM campaign had folks just pull from a set of numbers - 15, 13, 12, 11, 10, 8, then add 8 points however you like (on a 1:1 basis), then apply racial modifiers.

So, if you really need two great scores, you can start with something like 18,18,12,11,10,8 - 77 total points, so it tends to be on the high side, though not extravagantly so.

Although, I'm thinking 13,12,11,10,9,8 is probably a more reasonable starting point. That would be 71 points.

 

[Miladoon]

Interesting thread. My last PBEM campaign had folks just pull from a set of numbers - 15, 13, 12, 11, 10, 8, then add 8 points however you like (on a 1:1 basis), then apply racial modifiers.

So, if you really need two great scores, you can start with something like 18,18,12,11,10,8 - 77 total points, so it tends to be on the high side, though not extravagantly so.

Although, I'm thinking 13,12,11,10,9,8 is probably a more reasonable starting point. That would be 71 points.

This seems solid. I am odd when it comes to point buy. I don't let my scores go below ten unless I roll them below ten. Using the second array I come up with 16,14,11,10,10,10, which is doable.

 

[Mercule]

Not sure I understand—how would it create a wider variety of stats if it's impossible to go below 8 or above 15?

The possible results aren't different (OK, they are, but that's not the objection). It's the odds of getting each that changes.

Your method changes the graph of the odds to a flat line that maps to "Y = .125" where X is bounded by 8 and 15.

The graph for 3d6 is a bell curve that peeks at 10.5 IIRC (equal odds of 10 and 11). I don't have the f(x), at the moment, but it's not trivial. The mean for 4d6 (again, IIRC) is around 12 or 12.5, with an even more complex function.

The point buy doesn't have probability, obviously, but the costs serve to keep the distribution normalize.

 

[Megalith]

Our method is roll 4D6, drop the lowest die. Place in order you want. Our group allows point buy, but no one's ever done it. My last rolled character stats, witnessed by my DM, are 18, 17, 17, 14, 13, 11. Using the human variant rule, this gives me -
Human Fighter
Str 18
Dex 18
Con 18
Wis 14
Int 11
Cha 13

Not bad for an off the cuff quick character role up.

 

[thalmin]

25 point-buy, +1 to one stat that is class-dependent