D&D General Having your players roll their stats

[Burnside]

I sometimes think part of the divide between random versus point buy/array is the different approach people take to character creation. I hear people saying they want to be "surprised" by their PC. Me? I come up with an idea for a PC that I want to play that will fit in well with the group and then I come up with a backstory. Ability scores are about the last thing I do. Sometimes the stats will be a bit min-maxed, sometimes they'll be more balanced because I don't want to focus on just one aspect of my PC such as combat. But I want to play Mouse the halfling rogue who is intelligent, wise, charismatic and a decent rogue as well. Maybe I want to play Gragnar the Barbarian and min max a bit. I want my ability scores to fit the image I have in my head.

The other aspect I simply don't understand is the thrill some people get from the gamble of rolling for ability scores. Maybe that's because I suck at games of chance. I went to Vegas once and, because everyone else was gambling, I put $50 into my pocket. I figured if I ever got to $60 I'd quit but otherwise I'd just put all my winnings back into my pocket until I ran out. Even though I've been told that it's highly statistically unlikely, I never put any money back in my pocket. I played twice on a $5 machine, everything else was dollars or quarters. I would have killed myself with boredom losing all that money at nickel slots so I didn't bother.

But determining ability scores for my PC takes, what 10-15 minutes? The thrill of rolling is supposed to justify playing with that PC for months on end is supposed to be enough to justify the risk of having crappy ability scores? Nah, not for me.

I would actually be fine with randomly-assigned and generated ability scores as long as they were restricted to fall within the range of what you'd get from point buy (like that site linked above does). It's not the randomness that bothers me, it's the intra-party inequity.

And "life isn't fair" isn't a convincing argument for me. I'm not DMing in order to teach unflinching life lessons.

The part I don't understand is what seem to me like very elaborate, baroque ways people use to arrive at their scores (rolling and sorting through multiple sets, stat drafts, etc). To me that stuff seems like a huge waste of time to arrive at a result that is very, very similar to point buy or standard array. But the answer is clearly that some people just really enjoy doing that, so have at it.

 

[Cordwainer Fish]

I like random stats [1] because a big part of the appeal of my chosen game's life path chargen is "life may not take you where you expected to go but you can handle it" - my own life sure as hell didn't, and the character in my current campaign washed out of three careers in a row, then landed somewhere I never imagined, did very well, and picked up some very useful skills.

[1] With sufficient carve outs that it's unlikely a character will be totally hosed by the dice.

 

[Corinnguard]

I also like rolling up random stats. There is a bit of a thrill when you roll up an above average or exceptional dice roll for some or all of your ability scores.

 

[Oofta]

I would actually be fine with randomly-assigned and generated ability scores as long as they were restricted to fall within the range of what you'd get from point buy (like that site linked above does). It's not the randomness that bothers me, it's the intra-party inequity.

And "life isn't fair" isn't a convincing argument for me. I'm not DMing in order to teach unflinching life lessons.

The part I don't understand is what seem to me like very elaborate, baroque ways people use to arrive at their scores (rolling and sorting through multiple sets, stat drafts, etc). To me that stuff seems like a huge waste of time to arrive at a result that is very, very similar to point buy or standard array. But the answer is clearly that some people just really enjoy doing that, so have at it.

If you want to make a mini-game out of generating stats, go for it. But I agree, I don't see the point.

I understand, even if I will never willingly do it, rolling for ability scores. A lot of DMs (obviously not all) will let you re-roll or commit suicide by goblin if you get poor results so it's really not a huge risk. But the odds of getting significantly better as a lure appeals most to those who fall into the trap of optimism bias. Sure, someone at the table is probably going to have relatively poor ability scores but it's not going to be me.

On average, rolling will give you slightly better average ability scores about 55% of the time*. But it also means that in a standard group of 6, odds are one PC will end up with the intelligence of a chimpanzee or the charisma of an ugly tree stump. For some groups that may not matter because the only use for ability scores is to determine bonuses or penalties. Of course it does mean some PCs will auto-fail certain saving throws.

In any case, do whatever floats your boat. Just don't expect me to jump onto that boat that may sink the first time my PC needs to make an intelligence save with that -4 penalty.

*This statistic, like 72.6% of all statistics is a rough estimate since we don't have point buy outside of 8-15 and I'm not a statistician.

 

[Cordwainer Fish]

A lot of DMs (obviously not all) will let you re-roll or commit suicide by goblin if you get poor results so it's really not a huge risk.

"Should a player consider his (sic) character to be so poor as to be beyond help, he (sic) should consider joining the accident-prone Scout Corps, with a subconscious view to suicide." (Book 1: Characters and Combat, 1977 edition)

 

[Oofta]

"Should a player consider his (sic) character to be so poor as to be beyond help, he (sic) should consider joining the accident-prone Scout Corps, with a subconscious view to suicide." (Book 1: Characters and Combat, 1977 edition)

That's pretty much what we always did when we had bad scores back in the day. Either they died quickly or went to boot camp and flunked out.

 

[ad_hoc]

One good way of doing random stats is to use playing cards.

Make a deck out of 2s-6s and take out a 2 and a 6 (or 2 4s).

Then deal out 3 cards per stat.

I would only do this if I were doing it in order*. If I am arranging the stats it defeats the purpose to me because I'm just making the same character I would have with standard array.

* With a rule to change our 1 card on con so the character doesn't just die with a low con.

 

[RoughCoronet0]

My group rolls for stats, 4d6 drop lowest and reroll ones, then place stats anywhere you wish.

Grant it in the game I DM, there are wild bouts of magic that can reward stat increases or give a +1/-1 to two different stats (among other rewards), so stats can change wildly as the game progresses.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I sometimes think part of the divide between random versus point buy/array is the different approach people take to character creation. I hear people saying they want to be "surprised" by their PC. Me? I come up with an idea for a PC that I want to play that will fit in well with the group and then I come up with a backstory. Ability scores are about the last thing I do. Sometimes the stats will be a bit min-maxed, sometimes they'll be more balanced because I don't want to focus on just one aspect of my PC such as combat. But I want to play Mouse the halfling rogue who is intelligent, wise, charismatic and a decent rogue as well. Maybe I want to play Gragnar the Barbarian and min max a bit. I want my ability scores to fit the image I have in my head.

The other aspect I simply don't understand is the thrill some people get from the gamble of rolling for ability scores. Maybe that's because I suck at games of chance. I went to Vegas once and, because everyone else was gambling, I put $50 into my pocket. I figured if I ever got to $60 I'd quit but otherwise I'd just put all my winnings back into my pocket until I ran out. Even though I've been told that it's highly statistically unlikely, I never put any money back in my pocket. I played twice on a $5 machine, everything else was dollars or quarters. I would have killed myself with boredom losing all that money at nickel slots so I didn't bother.

But determining ability scores for my PC takes, what 10-15 minutes? The thrill of rolling is supposed to justify playing with that PC for months on end is supposed to be enough to justify the risk of having crappy ability scores? Nah, not for me.

See, you don't get to know how long you're going to be playing your PC, and letting the dice decide what your base abilities are is fun, and feels genuine.

 

[Lanefan]

I sometimes think part of the divide between random versus point buy/array is the different approach people take to character creation. I hear people saying they want to be "surprised" by their PC. Me? I come up with an idea for a PC that I want to play that will fit in well with the group and then I come up with a backstory. Ability scores are about the last thing I do.

That's pretty much exactly what I advise players not to do, in that you're only setting yourself up for disappointment if the dice don't co-operate with your ideas.

See what the dice give you to work with first, then build around that.

The other aspect I simply don't understand is the thrill some people get from the gamble of rolling for ability scores.

Some people - of which I'm one - approach D&D in large part as a game of luck as well as skill. At some points it's purely random, at other points the randomness can be mitigated or even avoided by smart or skillful play. Rolling up characters is one area where luck plays a large role.

Maybe that's because I suck at games of chance. I went to Vegas once and, because everyone else was gambling, I put $50 into my pocket. I figured if I ever got to $60 I'd quit but otherwise I'd just put all my winnings back into my pocket until I ran out. Even though I've been told that it's highly statistically unlikely, I never put any money back in my pocket. I played twice on a $5 machine, everything else was dollars or quarters. I would have killed myself with boredom losing all that money at nickel slots so I didn't bother.

Your casino experiences pretty much match my (quite few) own.

But determining ability scores for my PC takes, what 10-15 minutes? The thrill of rolling is supposed to justify playing with that PC for months on end is supposed to be enough to justify the risk of having crappy ability scores? Nah, not for me.

Sometimes, characters with crap ability scores can end up being the best to play while characters with outstanding ability scores just don't work out. My 3e experience really hammered this home, even though 3e is very stat-dependent.