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<blockquote data-quote="Chaosmancer" data-source="post: 8372767" data-attributes="member: 6801228">The argument, just to make sure there is some clarity, is that DnD is meant to be a population simulator. Back in 1e when the game was being designed, that was why they went with a 3d6 roll down the line method of stat generation, because it produced a bell curve that closely matched an ideal population distribution. The bonuses and penalties to stats then shifted that bell curve, to provide the &quot;different averages&quot; for each race. See, it doesn't matter if you are rolling 3d6+2 for the goliath and getting a total of 14 and then roll 3d6 for the elf and get an 18, because what they care about is if you rolled ten thousand goliaths and ten thousand elves, you would get that bell curve distribution of population averages that make the game seem like it models reality. This is why there are always calls to &quot;biological realism&quot; and claims that &quot;goliaths are stronger&quot; or &quot;elves are more dexterous&quot; because they see the reality of the game as the population bell curve being shifted.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Chaosmancer, post: 8372767, member: 6801228"] The argument, just to make sure there is some clarity, is that DnD is meant to be a population simulator. Back in 1e when the game was being designed, that was why they went with a 3d6 roll down the line method of stat generation, because it produced a bell curve that closely matched an ideal population distribution. The bonuses and penalties to stats then shifted that bell curve, to provide the "different averages" for each race. See, it doesn't matter if you are rolling 3d6+2 for the goliath and getting a total of 14 and then roll 3d6 for the elf and get an 18, because what they care about is if you rolled ten thousand goliaths and ten thousand elves, you would get that bell curve distribution of population averages that make the game seem like it models reality. This is why there are always calls to "biological realism" and claims that "goliaths are stronger" or "elves are more dexterous" because they see the reality of the game as the population bell curve being shifted. [/QUOTE]

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