D&D 5E How do you determine your initial Attributes?

[Joe Pilkus]

I have my players roll 4d6, twelve times, dropping the lowest number from each of the twelve rolls; select the highest six rolls. I don't know what people mean by "none of the above" ~ do they just make up numbers

 

[Scars Unseen]

I don't know what people mean by "none of the above" ~ do they just make up numbers

Plenty of other ways to do it. Draw numbers from a hat (did that once), some people mentioned a random array instead of a standard one. One time when I was really young, we made up real world tests to see what stats we got. Shooting basketball hoops for dexterity, lifting for strength, etc. I can't remember what we did for charisma, to be honest. Probably something dumb. I was 13 at the time.

 

[Swarmkeeper]

Here is another interesting ability score generation method:

House Rule: The Matrix – An Alternative method for starting PC stats – The Rpg Academy

therpgacademy.com

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I expect my players to roleplay their stats. An 8 intelligence should not be roleplayed as average or better. Forest Gump had around an 8 int. Below average reasoning ability.

Ugh no thanks. This would be a flag for me to reconsider playing with a DM. Not a deal breaker by itself, but it’s something that will lead to conflict.

The reasons for that are;

1. no, Forrest Gump did not have an 8 Intelligence. Or, rather, for any argument you can make that he did, someone else could argue just as convincingly that he had a 6.

2. My PC, my call. Period. The DM doesn’t get a vote. As a DM, I would never try to tell a player how they’re going to play thier character, how they have to interpret anything on their character sheet in terms of roleplay, etc.

3. There is no necessity that Intelligence must be defined in the way you are defining it. None of the stats perfectly map to any given single definition of the real world term being used.

4. Even if I did suggest that a PC “roleplay their stats”, the average is 8-12. It would be just as weird for someone to play Int 12 as noticeably above average as it would be to play Int 8 as Grog Strongjaw.

5. There is a lot of offensive stuff that happens when people of typical mental faculty try to pretend to be mentally disabled. As a very intelligent person with a learning disability, who has been called stupid and lazy as often as I’ve been told I’m brilliant by people who don’t know or care what either label can do to someone’s self image, I will not tolerate disrespect to people with mental disabilities.

Telling players how to roleplay thier stats is bunk.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Koko was given IQ tests as an infant which suggested that her IQ was in the 70-90 range, but I agree that these metrics are arbitrary and interspecies comparisons fraught.

Many corvids (crows, ravens, magpies, jackdaws) have demonstrated cognitive abilities comparable with 7-year old humans. I think that, in general, we underappreciate animal intelligence.

Given that consciousness is the only quality of any value in a universe which otherwise consists of colliding atoms, that probably explains why I'm a vegan.

Yeah trying to use how many words apes can learn to determine their intelligence as measured in humans is…wildly ludicrous.

Animal intelligence is not human intelligence. People with 70 IQ aren’t the same as Koko the ape. Obviously.

 

[Arilyn]

I remeber scientists trying to do intelligence tests on dolphins using similar tasks to ape tests (except geared for sonar and underwater). Didn't work at all. The dolphins didn't care and mostly tried to turn everything into playtime.

On second thought, guess it did work. Dolphins have their priorities straight.

 

[el-remmen]

I should do another sample stat draft on these boards. I did one back when I came up with the idea and reposted the results of an actual stat draft I did for my "Second Son of a Second Son" campaign back in 2007 or 08 - but it'd be cool to do another one for people to see how it works now that I have a lot more experience putting one together.

If I get enough interest, I will start a thread for it and get people to sign up.

I have a very full day today, but should have time tomorrow to start a thread for an example stat draft if I get four or five (or six) people interested in playing through it for fun. DM me or reply if you're interested - once I get at least two people I'll assume I can get enough interest and start the thread.

 

[Umbran]

Telling players how to roleplay thier stats is bunk.

Having agreed-upon expectations of how stats will be played, however, seems sensible. This seems very much a Session Zero kind of thing.

 

[Swarmkeeper]

Having agreed-upon expectations of how stats will be played, however, seems sensible. This seems very much a Session Zero kind of thing.

It does seem like a sensible thing on the face of it, like many other Session Zero discussions. But then a DM needs to worry about enforcing roleplaying standards on top of all their other responsibilities - even if it comes up very rarely, it's still there. I know I'd much rather fully focus my limited brainpower resources on creating fun challenges and pivoting in the gameplay moment than having to keep everyone's stats in the back of my mind to make sure they don't "color outside the lines". It's a big reason I've outsourced awarding inspiration to the players, too.

IMO, it's far easier and smoother to let the players individually determine how to roleplay their characters and, when rolls are required during the course of play, let the dice sort out their ability strengths from the weaknesses.

 

[Plaguescarred]

I usually offer rolling, standard array and point buy options