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lowkey13
Guest
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D&D 5E 4d6 Drop the Lowest Etiquette
- Thread starter Zardnaar
- Start date
I'm completely guessing here (woot third year doing year 1 stats at uni), but I'm guessing this is where my logic is wrong?
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lowkey13
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AaronOfBarbaria
Adventurer
An odd thing I have noticed since letting my players have any stats they wanted to is that they have all been trending towards more normal distributions, rather than going for super-high scores that were typical among my players when they were made to roll (and would ask for re-rolls if they didn't get some really high scores), and there has been not one time that one player has experienced "stat envy" of another player since implementing this method, which makes sense given that the players that would lament their scores not being as good as another player's can just choose to have equal (or even superior, though no one has done that) scores.
It has been very strange, but opening up the players' to have whatever they want has removed all of the problems my players have ever expressed about rolling scores, and also avoids my complaints about point buy score generation - and since the system wouldn't break even if every party member had straight 18s before racial modifiers, it really doesn't have any downside.
Azurewraith
Explorer
My last game i ran i rolled a set of stats my self and gave it to the players to use just to see how it went down they seemed to enjoy it as they got random stats that where reasonable with no one overshadowed by anyone. Could of had something to do with the fact i rolled a decent set of stats but food for thought.
I think the main thing is to make sure everyone knows whats happening before hand and stick to it if you say if you roll and your stuck enforce it
I think the main thing is to make sure everyone knows whats happening before hand and stick to it if you say if you roll and your stuck enforce it
I'm of the opinion that players who have an advantage in chargen should use their powers to make the entire party more awesome. That goes whether the advantage is due to hot dice or superior optimization skills. Your choice of paladin/Inspiring Leader is a great way to use the free feat and extra high stat.
El Mahdi
Muad'Dib of the Anauroch
I use choice of standard array or roll.
If you roll, you use what you get - no switching to standard array if you get a bad result. It's a roleplaying opportunity - use it.
If they get a really high set of scores, I have no problem with it. They're not going to break my game.
For rolling, I use 4d6 - reroll all 1's and the first 2 - take the three highest. Assign to ability you want (not assign in order).
If you roll, you use what you get - no switching to standard array if you get a bad result. It's a roleplaying opportunity - use it.
If they get a really high set of scores, I have no problem with it. They're not going to break my game.
For rolling, I use 4d6 - reroll all 1's and the first 2 - take the three highest. Assign to ability you want (not assign in order).
redrick
First Post
We used to roll for abilities, but now we just use point-buy, standard array, and I honestly much prefer it. The standard array kind of hits the sweet spot for a starting PC power level. One weakness, one strength, some space in between. Room to improve. No level 1 super-heroes and no lemons. We still get a diversity of ability score distributions, and we usually allow players to tweak their point buy for the first session or two, which means the less experienced players can show up on day 1 with a standard array, but choose to solicit advice from one of the more experienced players about tweaking things a bit. (I think the main culprit in this is the standard human, because +1 to all stats on the standard array yields a bunch of odd ability scores that are unlikely to ever be touched again.)
Players can create their characters before we start playing, sometimes bringing multiple characters to a game in case of early dismemberment. I don't need to worry about cheating. It just kind of works.
If I were running a high-mortality campaign, I'd probably do 3d6 or 4d6 drop one, straight roll, but you can choose to swap your highest score with one other score.
Players can create their characters before we start playing, sometimes bringing multiple characters to a game in case of early dismemberment. I don't need to worry about cheating. It just kind of works.
If I were running a high-mortality campaign, I'd probably do 3d6 or 4d6 drop one, straight roll, but you can choose to swap your highest score with one other score.
Skyscraper
Adventurer
I dislike is that the game has really become all about getting 18's and 20's early in the game, and having those numbers in your main stat becomes mostly meaningless, its just the basic expectation. And low scores of 7 or less simply do not exist, so they are also meaningless.
I like weird die rolls, 18's that mean something and PCs that stand out for some reason (bad scores being one reason).
Here is what I decided to go for in my upcoming D&D campaign:
1) Roll 3d6 six times, and assign to stats in order.
2) Repeat step (1) once. Then pick the array you prefer among the two.(Background idea: who was/is that other person?)
3) If you wish, assign one score of 14 to one stat in replacement of the rolled stat (represents character development).
4) At this point, must have at least one stat of 7 or less, or two stats of 9 or less. If not, either lower one stat to a 6, or restart from scratch. (Nobody's perfect. And those that are, are punished by life itself
)
5) Apply race mods.
6) No stat augmentations every 4 levels, only bonus feats.
Step (2) helps avoid the super unlucky array. Step (3) helps avoid the fighter PC with 9 STR. Step (4) helps avoid the super-lucky array with 12+ everywhere (which is a possibility due to the existence of step (3)). Step (3) also helps towards the player being able to choose just about any class - except perhaps those that require a few good stats such as paladin. But then again, I like that it's not everyone that can choose to be a paladin. I also like that you might end up choosing something that nature (read: lucky rolls) pushed you towards.
Caveat: we're a veteran bunch of players. Everyone has played whatever class they wanted, several times, in the past. Having random ability scores influencing class selection is OK for us.
In the end, worse case scenario is you have two crappy arrays to choose from, but you get to plug at least one 14 in a stat of your choice and probably augment it to 16 if you wish with race bonuses. So you won't play a fighter who hits very significantly less often, for example. However, 17's, 18's, 19's and 20's are much rarer indeed and that top 20% becomes meaningful, as is having several good stats.
I like weird die rolls, 18's that mean something and PCs that stand out for some reason (bad scores being one reason).
Here is what I decided to go for in my upcoming D&D campaign:
1) Roll 3d6 six times, and assign to stats in order.
2) Repeat step (1) once. Then pick the array you prefer among the two.(Background idea: who was/is that other person?)
3) If you wish, assign one score of 14 to one stat in replacement of the rolled stat (represents character development).
4) At this point, must have at least one stat of 7 or less, or two stats of 9 or less. If not, either lower one stat to a 6, or restart from scratch. (Nobody's perfect. And those that are, are punished by life itself
)5) Apply race mods.
6) No stat augmentations every 4 levels, only bonus feats.
Step (2) helps avoid the super unlucky array. Step (3) helps avoid the fighter PC with 9 STR. Step (4) helps avoid the super-lucky array with 12+ everywhere (which is a possibility due to the existence of step (3)). Step (3) also helps towards the player being able to choose just about any class - except perhaps those that require a few good stats such as paladin. But then again, I like that it's not everyone that can choose to be a paladin. I also like that you might end up choosing something that nature (read: lucky rolls) pushed you towards.
Caveat: we're a veteran bunch of players. Everyone has played whatever class they wanted, several times, in the past. Having random ability scores influencing class selection is OK for us.
In the end, worse case scenario is you have two crappy arrays to choose from, but you get to plug at least one 14 in a stat of your choice and probably augment it to 16 if you wish with race bonuses. So you won't play a fighter who hits very significantly less often, for example. However, 17's, 18's, 19's and 20's are much rarer indeed and that top 20% becomes meaningful, as is having several good stats.
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