D&D 5E About Rolling for Ability Scores

[Celtavian]

I have always used a rolling system that keeps the RNG range close enough that no character is far more powerful than another unless they have ridiculous luck such as rolling a ton of 18s.

I generally use point buy with inexperienced players or large groups to make it easier to start the game and run it with a large party. High stats make the game hard to run in 5E given the assumptions most monsters/NPCs are built on. You're probably wise to use point buy. Keeps the game simple to run. The way stats are on this game, most characters will end up with a 20 in their major stat at some point. All high rolls isn't particularly useful or necessary in 5E. High stats don't improve AC much, though they do help with saves. You can still find a weak save or two to attack. There's not much material difference between rolling and point buy save the chance at a 16 or better to start.

 

[epithet]

In my group, each player rolls up an array of stats using 4d6 drop 1. Then each player can choose whichever array they want, regardless of who rolled it. Everyone can choose the same array if they prefer it.

Generally you'll wind up with an array that has highs and lows, and an array that has a small bonus to everything. Sometimes you get an array that belongs to a demigod.

Everyone's happy with this, because there are elements both of randomness and of choice. You do tend to end up with strong characters, but that can lead to some great role playing elements, like characters that have a very high score in what would generally be a "dump stat" for the class, with the background and skills to match. My experience, which might not hold true for your group, was that all I needed to do to shut down the min/max business was to start with the "no multiclassing" house rule. We've had good results.

It doesn't matter whether your characters are high powered or low powered. As a DM, you should always be tweaking the balance anyway, adding another minion to this encounter or lowering the save bonus on that boss to keep things challenging but fun for your group. By the time they learn to work together and synergise their abilities, stat bonuses won't be the biggest determining factor in their combat effectiveness anyway.

 

[jrowland]

I won't go into likes dislikes, I feel that ground is over-trod. But I do find it interesting to see what people are doing, and in that vein, I'll offer my current method:

Players choose 1 of the below methods:

1) Standard Array: 15,14,13,11,10,9 (total 72)
2) Method 1 - Dice roll choose a variant below
2a) Roll 4d6 drop the lowest six times. Assign as you see fit. You may lower any one score by 2 to raise another score by 1. If you are not happy with results you may choose standard array (choice 1) instead.
2b) Roll 3d6 in order. You get any uncommon or common magic item of your choice. If you are not happy with results you may choose standard array (choice 1) instead.
3) Point Buy using default points.

So far, most players have opted for 1) and 2a). Only 1 (of about 12 players since launch) have chosen option 2b) and it worked out reasonably well, iirc they had a total of 69 (slightly less than standard array) and the stats 'forced' him to play a wizard (he didn't care, but it was like 8-11 in all stats but int which was 17) but got a magic item.

For 2a) I find people who roll well usually take advantage of the drop 2 points bump 1 option to smooth out their stats, even if its it at a net loss. Yes, usually to hit an even number in a 'prime' stat and to drop an even in a dump stat to an odd, but I don't mind...like I said, it is at a net loss, so it self-regulates.

 

[Coredump]

Starting stat methods have always been problematic since they introduced options. In OD&D and 1E we rolled 3d6 in order... and we hated it--but there was nothing else, initially.

Heh... actually 1E had 4 methods to choose from, and 'roll 3d6 in order' was not any of them. That was just something your DM decided to do.

 

[TarionzCousin]

Heh... actually 1E had 4 methods to choose from, and 'roll 3d6 in order' was not any of them. That was just something your DM decided to do.

I must just be misremembering, since I was the DM.

 

[thalmin]

Heh... actually 1E had 4 methods to choose from, and 'roll 3d6 in order' was not any of them. That was just something your DM decided to do.

I believe that was from Original, and possibly Holmes Basic.
And it was the only way, no options provided (officially)

 

[Psikerlord#]

In my group, each player rolls up an array of stats using 4d6 drop 1. Then each player can choose whichever array they want, regardless of who rolled it. Everyone can choose the same array if they prefer it.

Generally you'll wind up with an array that has highs and lows, and an array that has a small bonus to everything. Sometimes you get an array that belongs to a demigod.

Everyone's happy with this, because there are elements both of randomness and of choice. You do tend to end up with strong characters, but that can lead to some great role playing elements, like characters that have a very high score in what would generally be a "dump stat" for the class, with the background and skills to match. My experience, which might not hold true for your group, was that all I needed to do to shut down the min/max business was to start with the "no multiclassing" house rule. We've had good results.

It doesn't matter whether your characters are high powered or low powered. As a DM, you should always be tweaking the balance anyway, adding another minion to this encounter or lowering the save bonus on that boss to keep things challenging but fun for your group. By the time they learn to work together and synergise their abilities, stat bonuses won't be the biggest determining factor in their combat effectiveness anyway.

We also do this, it works great, and I greatly prefer it to point buy. It's nice to see the occasional Champion Fighter with 14 Int, and so on.

 

[Wik]

In a 1e game I recently played in, I had a demi-god type character. Two 18s, a 17, a 16, etc. Her lowest stat was her intelligence... at 12. (I think her stats were 18, 18, 17, 16, 15, and 12). In this homebrew, 18 strength didn't go percentile, but instead got a bonus. And she basically rolled the equivalent of 18/00 strength. So, yeah, hugely strong character.

Her competition in the party was a fighter who had been around much longer than her, and whose highest stat was a 16.

Funny thing is, we both felt useful, and I never really overshadowed the other guy. We both had fun, we both saved each other's butts on many occasions, and while I'd compete with the other fighters over who could do the most damage, it was mostly just fun joking around.

Flash forward to our current 5e game, where the fighter with a strength of 14 (he put his 18 in charisma for a battlemaster warlord type fighter) is finding that the dex 16 wizard with a rapier can consistently out-damage him. The player is not at all bugged by this - he actually thinks it's cool and fun. Having random ability scores leads to interesting builds, and interesting character variations in play. Thieves with a high strength. Wizards with low wisdoms. Fighters with low dexterities. All that fun stuff.

Now, if it's a game that plays like a board game or combat simulation, I can see where people would get upset. If it's a game where the DCs are consistently around 30 and every plus matters, absolutely. If it's a game where many class abilities and feats require ability score minimums, I understand point buy completely. But in a game where the difference in numbers is small, who really cares if you've got an 18 and I've got a 14?

We're on the same side. We're fighting the same forces. And we're both going to contribute, probably equally.

 

[Wik]

For what it's worth, in my 5e game, the rule is 4d6 drop lowest and arrange to taste. And if your total modifiers amount to a net of +1 or less, AND/OR you have no stat of at least 15, you re-roll. Or you can choose to point buy, but if you decide to roll, you're stuck with what you get.

 

[CapnZapp]

The fundamental problem with rolling for stats is that it concentrates a very large amount of character power into a very small number of rolls with no real way to get around it after chargen. It's fine for one-shots because they don't last very long so the imbalance it inherently creates is small so the small and so the constant benefit from people who enjoy rolling can outweigh the cost from the linear penalty that imbalance creates.


The average character created by whatever generation method you use will be average, not exceptional. That is what average means. And the point buy and array rules in the PHB actually create characters which are weaker than the average rolled character. Which is a problem. Still, if you're looking for a less bad method which still involves some rolling you could try forte/foible. Everyone gets an 18 and an 8, the other stats are rolled by your preferred method.

Honestly, I go the other way. If you're using feats, you should go out of your way to make sure everyone has a good main stat off the bat so you can skip the boring "everyone is sticking their feat in their main stat" phase at levels 4 and 8 so that people can start choosing actually interesting abilities that make characters more distinct as soon as possible.

Sorry I don't really understand your reasoning.

There's nothing wrong with either point buy or random rolls.

There is, however, an interesting decision point built into the system at mainly levels 4 and 8 where you're faced with an interesting mechanical dilemma: will I take an ability increase, or will I take a feat?

If you already are at 20 in your prime stat, this quite neat decision point goes away.

Not to mention how unbalancing it is of one character (rolling an 18) getting two free feats compared to his friend (rolling only a 14).

Still, I'm only making a recommendation, albeit a strong one.

Feel free to go ahead with random rolls (with no 15 cap) and feats. As long as everyone is enjoying themselves, you're okay.