Yeah. It's all perspective. In my group not only do the players not care if one person gets fantastic stats, the group as a whole is happy about it because it helps the party.
Plus, fantastic stats aren't all they're hyped up to be.
You are adding anywhere from a +1 to a +20 to everything, and that die roll is going to absolutely swamp even a maxed-out stat. Sure, you're statistically more likely to succeed given an infinite number of rolls--but you don't get an infinite number of rolls. You get to roll once, and in that moment the odds of you getting a +2 are identical to your odds of getting a +19.
The d20 is the true powerhouse of a character build, not the stats. It's mathematically preferable to find ways to reroll, or to roll more than once. That's why Advantage, Halfling Luck, the Lucky feat, Extra Attack, and even the Eldritch Blast cantrip are so popular (and powerful).
This is going to inevitably colored by people's experience and expectations. If a game is trying to make you play Everymen and you're expecting to play Heroes (and don't view those as being Everymen) there's going to be a disconnect; and once attributes actually mattered, it didn't take too many people in the group to end up with good values for the people who didn't to feel like spear-carriers.
I'm currently considering a system of 3d6 in order, with the option to move each score around as desired.
Any score tha remains in the place it was rolled for gets a +1.
It provides an option to get the highest and lowest scores in whichever abilities benefit your desired class, but there's also a good incentive not to do so and first take a moment to consider if there's something interesting that could be done with the scores as they fell. Especially when the +1 pushes the score over the limit for a higher modifiers.
After doing an in-person stat draft for my last game a few weeks back, it's going to be my default system. It's simultaneously variable and balanced, and no one complains that they didn't get what they wanted.
I’ve used most stat generating systems in D&D up to 4Ed’s methods. Pretty much the last few times I ran a D&D campaign, I did it on an honor system.
Personally, I’ve used some form of 3d6 or 4d6 for creating most (simple majority) of my characters. The randomness has led me down some interesting character journeys.
After doing an in-person stat draft for my last game a few weeks back, it's going to be my default system. It's simultaneously variable and balanced, and no one complains that they didn't get what they wanted.
I like point-buy systems - outside of D&D.
For D&D, the system I use in the games I run is to roll 3d6 for each ability score, in order, to set the minimum scores. Characters can then increase those scores until the total of the six reach a campaign-specific value (85 for my Brotherhood of Rangers game), with 18 being the maximum for any score. Racial adjustments get applied after this.
I'll note that I belong to the old school of "no 18 equals no fun" and so am willing to hand out what many would consider very high ability scores. Although the "Brotherhood of Rangers" game was on the high side even by my standards with average scores of 14-1/6.
What I see as advantages of this system are
Players can get an 18 in a desired ability score if they want, due to the high scores overall. Alternatively, they can (usually) take above-average scores overall, without a very high one.
Players might be able to get a dump stat if they desire one, but it's not either required or guaranteed that they do so. I dislike "Every character has a dump stat" and this allows dump stats sometimes while keeping them from being ubiquitous.
Players will sometimes be "stuck" with an unexpected and possibly undesired high ability score. If the player wants to play a Barbarian, and rolls a 17 for INT, then the character can be a Barbarian with a 17 INT.
I’d say that it depends on which version of D&D, or which other rules set you are using.
B/X and BECMI use 3d6 straight, but include methods for adjusting the result.
These rules aren’t as abilities-dependent as other versions of D&D, so having average or low scores from random rolls isn’t as debilitating to a PC. Even the XP bonus (or penalty) from high (or low) prime requisite scores isn’t as much of a problem, because the bonuses are relatively slight.
The podcast “3d6 Down the Line” includes a player whose fighter rolled a 5 in constitution, and it was sort of a running gag for the DM and other players to keep asking what his CON score was.
Spoilers: the 5 CON fighter survived.
The Rules Cyclopedia has alternate rules for creating higher level characters. The player rolls 5d6 and adds the result to a base score, like 60, then distributes the total points among the different abilities, as desired.
The RC also says to allow a player to switch the character’s highest rolled ability score for the prime requisite of the class that the player wants the character to be. If the player wants a thief, but the highest rolled ability score is strength, say, then allow the player to switch the STR and DEX scores.
I'm assuming that you have a set of ability scores like "Str 17" and "Dex 16" and the players take turns selecting them? If someone could explain how they draft ability scores, please share, it sounds interesting.
I’d say that it depends on which version of D&D, or which other rules set you are using.
B/X and BECMI use 3d6 straight, but include methods for adjusting the result.
These rules aren’t as abilities-dependent as other versions of D&D, so having average or low scores from random rolls isn’t as debilitating to a PC. Even the XP bonus (or penalty) from high (or low) prime requisite scores isn’t as much of a problem, because the bonuses are relatively slight.
I play BXCMI, and so I use 3d6 in order, but I also acknowledge that 3d6 in order is a method that works best when the impact of scores on gameplay is minimal. That's why I don't use ability checks at all, I limit modifiers to no more than ±1 (after the fashion of Swords & Wizardry White Box and its derivatives), and I only have each score impact one thing apart from its function as a prime requisite for a class.
At my table:
• Str adjusts forcing doors; it doesn't affect melee
• Dex adjusts missile fire and Con adjusts hp, as normal; Dex doesn't affect AC
• Cha affects number of henchmen and follower morale; no impact on reaction rolls
• Int adjusts magic saves; Wis adjusts the number of spendable days of downtime a character can accumulate per week
Apart from that, the scores' only function is to be prime requisites for the classes, and even then, I go by the OD&D Vol 1 method of allowing for secondary requisites above 9 to count as bonuses to your prime requisite, 2:1 or 3:1. So while it won't always be the case that you can always play the class you want and also get an XP bonus, you'll very rarely be saddled with an XP penalty for it.
Just by way of an example, let's say I roll some dice hoping to get a magic-user. Magic-users have Int as their prime requisite, and they can use Wis 2-for-1 as prime. I'm gonna roll up some stats here… Str 9 Int 6 Wis 16 Dex 14 Con 9 Cha 11. Yes, I just legit rolled that spread, and it happens to be perfect for my example too: that Wis 16 means that if I play a magic-user with these stats, my Int counts as 9 for the sake of XP earned: ±0%. No bonus, but no penalty either: a perfectly serviceable set of stats for a mage. In fact, just looking at all the basic classes:
A fighter (Str prime, Int 3:1, Wis 2:1) would treat their Str as 12 with this spread, so again, ±0%. One point shy of the 13 needed for a +5% bonus, but them's the breaks.
A cleric would be +10% XP out of the gate from Wis 16; there's not enough Str or Int there to increase it, but it doesn't matter, +10% is the maximum bonus anyway.
A thief (Dex prime, Int 2:1, Wis 1:1) would treat their Dex as 21(!) to determine their XP bonus, so it'd definitely be +10% there.
That said, I do use the ability scores to make nonhuman PCs a bit rarer. Elves, dwarves, and hobbits all have minimum ability score requirements in the red box/black box edition (Int 9+ for Elves, Con 9+ for dwarves, and both Dex 9+ and Con 9+ for hobbits). I kick these requirements up to 11+ to help make my table a tad more human-centric in terms of its player character population.
