Ability Score Generation

[tmaaas]

Some people I know prefer the "4d6 rolled at home before the game giving at least 2 18's" method.

See, that's what happens when you get too greedy. People stop trusting you.

I never go for more than one 18. Two 17's is fine, though

 

[TheAuldGrump]

I have never met a player who said no to high stats. Besides, low stats suck.

I have. I have also been that player. We had a DM who preferred a '5 d6, drop lowest 2, reroll ones method. When your low stat is a 17 there is no point to playing the character. And I feel that every worthwhile character should have a low stat, and that stat should be played. There is nothing like the friendly low charisma character! (You know, the one who you can't get away from? Who keeps talking on and on about something you have no interest in? And bad hygiene?)

I use the 4d6 drop lowest method. For NPCs I use point buy.

The Auld Grump

 

[cdsaint]

32 point buy.

Used to do 40 point buy, but it just made things too extreme.

NPC's come in various flavors, from all 10's for a worthless mook right out of the MM, to 24 point buy for advanced mooks, to 28 points for more challenging NPC's, to 32 for the BBG's. for a real mover-shaker I may even use 36 or 40 points at some point. I'll save those for REALLY important NPC's though.

Chris

 

[ichabod]

I use a pseudo point buy. You get a certain number of points to spread among your abilities. For each point value, for each point value you can either take a set ability score or roll a specified set of dice. For example, 6 points gets you a 12, or you can roll 4d6. 9 points gets you a 14, or 5d6 rerolling all 1's. In general an even stat costs 2 more points, and an odd stat costs one more point. So a 12 costs 6 points, then a 13 costs 7 points, and a 14 costs 9 points. Also, on average you'll do slightly better rolling dice (you lose a little to get certainty in your abilities). The only exception is 15 points, which gets you 18 points or 2d6+1d8. There the average for the roll is lower, but you do have the chance of getting a 19 or 20.

It's complicated, but it solves a lot of problems. Characters are balanced without being cookie cutter; people who like point buy can do point buy and people who like to roll can roll; you pay more to get the even stats where the bonus goes up, but you don't have to pay through the nose to get good stats. Generally players buy a few important stats as set values, and then roll the rest (depending on how comfortable they are with dice).

 

[Morpheus]

For the Dawnforge campaign that we started in February, we used a combination of methods. I gave the players a choice of three:
1) Roll 3d6 3 times and take the best set. Add 1 to each stat.
2) Roll 4d6 1 set
3) 32-point buy

Curiously enough, 2 players chose the point buy and the other 4 did the 3d6 method. The 3d6 gave some crazy scores (even after accounting for the racial modifiers in Dawnforge). Here's Krylor, the Ogre Fighter Str 22(!) Dex 11 Con 15 Int 9 Wis 6 Chr 5
He's actually the philosopher of the group. Not that his observations and musings actually make sense...

 

[Altalazar]

Point buy, all the way. 32 points. Ever since doing the 4d6 method for my first 3E game and having the party so unbalanced due to one character having a 59 point equivalent and another having like a 22 point equivalent. It just makes for a poor game with the party that much out of whack. But there is no way to avoid that for sure unless you do point buy, or some similar method where all players have exactly equal stat-power.

 

[Arbiter of Wyrms]

I'm with Treebore and Neurozombie on this one. 4d6, reroll 1's, drop the low, and assign as desired. Players have not complained about low stats for more than four years; everybody starts off playing over-confidendent super-characters, and the focus is split between "my character's sooo cool." and "I wonder what's coming next. I'm impressed that even WE made it through that last encounter."

 

[Belegbeth]

When I DM, I use the classic 4d6 system, but with three small twists.

4d6 (drop lowest die, of course) for all six stats, in order.

The player can replace one stat -- usually the most important one for the class they want to play -- with a 16.

The sum of stat bonuses and penalties has to be at least 4. If it is less, the player can reroll the entire character.

Players who write a good bio outline get one bonus point, to place where they like (though of course no stat can be raised above 18 this way).

The point-buy system, while fair, seems overly clinical to me. I like the PCs to be subject to fate, to some extent. And an element of randomness can lead to PCs with unusual stats: a fighter with high intelligence, or a wizard with high strength, for example Such characters -- which would rarely be produced with a point system -- can be a lot of (unexpected) fun.

I also think it is important for it to be possible for PCs to have some low stats. Many great heroes had "tragic flaws"!

 

[Gnimish88]

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I also think it is important for it to be possible for PCs to have some low stats. Many great heroes had "tragic flaws"!

True, but most of the flaws they had would be considered role-playing, such as arrogance or pride, not stats. I suppose one could argue that it showed low wisdom on Odysseus's part to taunt the son of Posiden after blinding him, but if you follow that route, then most classic heros seem to use wisdom as their dump stat... ;-)

 

[Khorod]

I use 4d6 drop lowest, out of 7 scores drop lowest.

I also have a special point system on top of that. Humans get 7 points with which to buy stuff, and demihumans get 5. The point is to allow the players that last measure of whatever it is they need to make what they're going for. And I watch powergaming with this like a hawk.


• 1 Point: 1 Hero Point (non-regenerative)
• 2 Points: 4 Skill Points
• 3 Points: +2 bonus to an Ability Score
• 4 Points: Bonus Feat
• 5 Points: 300 XP + 100 XP/Level**