It is looking promising. Am I right in supposing that there won't be other racial ability modifiers, i.e. the elf character gained extra dice for race and class, but will not also get the +2 DEX in the existing rules? That would rule out a 19 or 20 score at character generation... by no means a bad thing.
Correct, the dice replace the flat racial bonuses. Whether a race normally gets a +2 or +1, they get one die. In the table are our house-ruled variants, but you could go with the RAW racial modifiers if you wanted.
Perforce the rolls benefiting from extra dice are not relocatable: are the vanilla rolls relocatable?
I am not sure what you are trying to get at here. You can't relocate any rolls. When you roll, you are rolling for a particular ability. Each ability is a base 4d6k3, with one die added for class (for one ability), two dice added for race (in two separate abilities), and losing one die for race in one ability--reducing that ability to 3d6 only.
Your table isn't clear on whether MAD classes are getting two class dice. Do they?
No, MAD classes only get one die, just like SAD classes. My table shows my initial idea of which classes get a bonus die in which ability. I kept it balanced so each ability is granted a bonus twice (e.g. INT gets a bonus for Sorcerers and Wizards). Some of these choices, due to keeping the balance, are a bit of a stretch as to
why that ability score gets a bonus die. For instance, I choose Sorcerers to get a bonus INT die because we changed Socerers to CON and INT instead of CON and CHA, with CON as their spellcasting ability score.
I wanted balance because I didn't want several STR, DEX, and WIS bonus, with some CHA and a maybe a CON and INT. I did this to try to keep each ability as important in this regard as the others. So far I am okay with it, but other tables could choose different scores of course.
This, I do not like. It's much less interesting, while also being more easily abused, than your first idea. Also it's super-clunky to drop points.
Under RAW 4d6k3 a player rolls 24 dice of which 18 are placed on scores, and they gain about 1 die worth of bonuses from race. Under "racial ability dice", an elf monk might roll 26 (or is it 27?) dice of which 18 are placed on scores. Is that correct?
First, I am not entirely convinced it
is a good idea. It is a bit clunky and cumbersome...
But to clarify, the dice are 21 with race adding two dice and class one die. The difference compared to normal 4d6k3 is you keep
ALL the dice you roll. Originally I had thought of you only can count three, and any additional dice you allocate to the ability can replace one die. I go back and forth about this, but might not use it at all so who knows?
To give you a concrete example of the original (first) idea: a Dragonborn Cleric
Dragonborn (+1 WIS die, +1 STR die, -1 DEX die), and Cleric (+1 WIS die)
While you don't
have to roll in order, you
do have to choose which ability to are rolling for. In essence, this is the same thing really. Given this will be a Cleric, I am going to roll for WIS first (hey, I want to know how good it will be!).
WIS: base 4d6k3 + 1 die (race) +1 die (class) is 6d6k3. Rolls are 5, 3, 1, 4, 3, 1
Sigh, not very good but I had my chance with
6 dice... Keeping the best three gives me a WIS 12. If you look at the table, that is definitely low for my PRIME ability score, but at least it is a +1 modifier and I can improve it of course.
With a -1 DEX die, I am definitely planning to wear armor, but I need to know how strong my character will be so I am rolling STR next.
STR: base 4d6k3 + 1 die (race) is 5d6k3. Rolls are 2, 6, 5, 5, 6
Wow! I wasn't planning on being THAT strong. Keeping the best three is a STR 17! Well, at least I know I can handle the heavy armors.
Since DEX is my weak spot, I might as well roll it and get it out of the way.
DEX: base 4d6k3 - 1 die (race) is 3d6. Scary... Rolls are 2, 5, 1.
Well, I was worried bad luck would hit me here. My total is 8. Looks like a point-buy dump stat LOL! That will hurt my AC a bit, and I might spend my first ASI to get rid of it. Depends on how the character developes.
Now, all the other scores are unmodified 4d6k3, so I'll roll those "in order".
CON: 4d6k3, rolls are 3, 3, 5, 4. So, I have a CON 12
INT: 4d6k3, rolls are 3, 5, 5, 4. So, I have a INT 14
CHA: 4d6k3, rolls are 4, 5, 4, 2. So, I have a CHA 13
Final ability scores are: STR 17, DEX 8, CON 12, INT 14, WIS 12, CHA 13.
(With RAW, this would be a 28 point-buy build, so 1 point more than normal.)
As you can see, my prime ability score (WIS) ended up as one of my lower scores despite being 6d6k3. But since class dictates where a bonus die goes you are committed. If you wanted to do the extra bookkeeping, it would be possible to roll your scores as 4d6k3 first, and then roll the bonus race/class die to replace some of the dice you rolled. But in order to do this, you would have to keep the original dice results recorded or on the table.
