D&D 5E Ability Score Point Cost − what does a 16 cost?

[Tormyr]

I remember that one of the Unearthed Arcana articles has an alternative method for generating ability scores. (Unearthed Arcana: Quick Characters, 7/25 2016). I appreciate there is a (quasi) official method to assign a 16 array. Under scrutiny, it is obviously unbalanced ... but not egregious. Heh, I figure some of the posters in this thread would appreciate it.

Roll d6: Ability Score Array
1 18, 14, 12, 8, 8, 6
2 16, 14, 14, 10, 10, 8
3 16, 16, 12, 10, 8, 8
4 16, 12, 12, 12, 10, 8
5 14, 14, 12, 12, 12, 12
6 14, 14, 14, 12, 12, 10



Obviously

16, 14, 14, 10, 10, 8

is way better than

14, 14, 14, 12, 12, 10.

But still, the 16 array isnt too far from the 16 array that the 3d6 method in this thread arrives at.

16, 13, 10, 10, 10, 10.

The difference is only about four points and only concerning a non-primary score.



Also, notice. Even with the overflowing generosity of the arrays in the Unearthed Arcana article, notice how many scores below 10 that an array must have before an 18 even becomes thinkable. Three: 8, 8, 6.

Looking at the calculation that I proposed a couple pages back:
[table="width: 0"]
[tr]
[td]Array[/td]
[td]Cost[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]1[/td]
[td]30[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]2[/td]
[td]30[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]3[/td]
[td]30[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]4[/td]
[td]26[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]5[/td]
[td]30[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]6[/td]
[td]31[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]

I was surprised that array 4 was so low. Also array 1 does not seem to award bonus points for going below 8. With the 18 costing 19 points, the 14 costing 7, and the 12 costing 4, that is 30 points. Array 6 seems to have cost 1 extra point solely to avoid an odd ability score.

 

[Yaarel]

I notice when comparing the 3d6 point method versus the 4xPrime method, 4xPrime is slighty stronger than 3d6 when the prime is lower, and slightly weaker than 3d6 when the prime is higher. The result of the 4xPrime method is arrays that feel equally good. It is probably the ideal.

The 4xPrime method has an oddity where if a score is less than 10, it will be an odd number. But this is good too. A race can use the +1 improvement to bump up the odd score to an even one, thus reducing the penalty. And the featless Human can bump up all odd-number penalties, as a race feature. This accident of mechanics is great for character building.

The 4xPrime method can even handle very low scores, if the player desires.

Score: Points
9: −1
7: −2
5: −3
3: −4

So for example, if a player wants a score of 3, it will reduce the total value of the array by 4 points. Normally unrecommended but possible for certain character concepts. If a player creates an array with an Charisma score of 9, for a Drow Elf, the player can then use the Drow Elf +1 improvement to boost the 9 to a 10, thus eliminating the penalty.