Ability Score Generation

[MonsterMash]

Currently 6*(4d6 discard lowest - no rerolling, you get two ones you'll have to use one) for PC's

Commoner NPC 15 point buy
Standard NPC 25 point buy
Some NPCs rolled as PC's (give me ideas from the mix of no's)

Nearly went with 3d6 in order - who needs 1e feel, give me OD&D feel!

 

[Thanee]

It's a silly way to roll scores, but can be fun...

Heh. Speaking of silly dice rolling methods, I once had this similar and equally silly system for AD&D invented:

4d6 drop lowest.

Before adding up you can reroll some of the dice, as follows:

Any pair, triple of quadruple of either 1, 3 or 4.
Any quadruple of 2.
Any single 5 or 6.

You can keep rerolling as long as you wish or until you can't reroll anything anymore.

One player actually managed to roll six times 18 with this method.

Bye
Thanee

 

[johnsemlak]

Here's a system I just thought of.

1. Player chooses race and class.

2. Player chooses 3 ability scores, from which the character determines via point buy (give him, say, 20 points)

3. Remaining scores are determined randomly, possibly 3d6, possibly 4d6.

Some customization and some randomization.

The point buy amount could be adjusted.

Anyone think this would work?

 

[Ibram]

I use a linear 75 point buy system where players can only have 1 stat at 18 and one stat at 8 (no stats higher then 18 or lower then 8 before racial modifiers). Not only does it keep all the players at the same power level but it helps me in creating their opponents (I tend to use creatures with classes rather then MM monsters).

 

[woodelf]

One of two methods:
--> 4d6, drop whichever die you darn well feel like
--> race-specific rolls. sort of like the optional system in the original Unearthed Arcana that was meant to "guarantee" the class of your choice, by letting you roll various numbers of dice (from 3 to 9) for each stat, and then total the 3 highest. However, in my case i use it not to guarantee a class, but to reflect a race. So dwarves might roll more dice for Con, elves for Dex, etc. You still only total 3 dice. This provides a subtler yet more-predictable shift than straight numerical racial modifiers. You can still have, say, a dwarf with a Con of 3, but the odds are super-slim, and you're much less likely to have a dwarf with a con of 5-7 than with the standard modifiers. Also, i like the way this encourages particular races to favor particular classes a lot better than the favored class rules.

 

[glass]

The group I played a lot of my early 3rd ed games with did 4d6, rerolling 1s. Made for some high powered characters, but it was a high powered game, so it worked out.

We do this, too.


glass.

 

[glass]

I personally don't mind point buy (it keeps players honest), but my group doesn't like it because it feels WRONG, somehow, if you're not rolling dice when you make up PC's.

Well, there is always starting gold...


glass.