D&D 5E Alternate ability generation rule

[77IM]

Your method is still too random to guarantee the results you want. I recommend a more direct approach.

SUGGESTION:
1. Roll 3d6 for each ability score, in order.
2. If your total is less than 64 or your highest score is less than 16, you may start over if you wish.

ALTERNATIVE:
1. Roll 3d6 for each ability score, in order.
2. If your total is less than 64, add the difference to your lowest score (to a max of 18 of course).
3. If your highest score is less than 16, increase it to 16.
In case of ties for highest/lowest score the player picks the ability to modify.

Methods like this preserve random assignment of scores while making sure no-one is truly gimped. Obviously you would pick race/class after rolling.

 

[Skyscraper]

Interesting [MENTION=12377]77IM[/MENTION]. I would like however to allow class selection before they roll up their character. Would you suggest allowing swaps?

 

[sunrisekid]

I sympathize with OPs sentiment about having more interesting characters in play. ("More interesting" to me, as DM, means having fewer stereotypes.)

Not intending to thread-jack, but here's a method I plan to introduce (developed by user "S'mon" if IIRC).

* Roll 3D6 for each stat, in the order listed on the character sheet; if less than 8, re-roll.
* Change one stat to 16.
* Apply racial modifiers.

I haven't done the math but rolled up a dozen test cases and, anecdotally, it all seemed to work. Fighter-types can be strong, wizards can be smart, etc.

 

[77IM]

Interesting [MENTION=12377]77IM[/MENTION]. I would like however to allow class selection before they roll up their character. Would you suggest allowing swaps?

You could, or you could go the Gamma World route:
Assign a 16 to one ability score of your choice, and a 14 in another. Roll for the other 4 in order.

The problem with a single swap is many classes need more than one good score. Like if you want to play a paladin and roll Str 8, Dex 10, Con 6, Int 18, Wis 17, Cha 11, it's going to be hard to make that class choice work with a single swap.

Plus I think the fun of random scores is seeing what sort of character you can build from your scores. Picking a class first seems like setting up for disappointment. If I already have an idea of what I want to play, I don't want some random roll to quash my character idea.

 

[Skyscraper]

I sympathize with OPs sentiment about having more interesting characters in play. ("More interesting" to me, as DM, means having fewer stereotypes.)

Not intending to thread-jack, but here's a method I plan to introduce (developed by user "S'mon" if IIRC).

* Roll 3D6 for each stat, in the order listed on the character sheet; if less than 8, re-roll.
* Change one stat to 16.
* Apply racial modifiers.

I haven't done the math but rolled up a dozen test cases and, anecdotally, it all seemed to work. Fighter-types can be strong, wizards can be smart, etc.

Interesting idea.

I'm not fond of the less-than-8-reroll because I like for some low crappy stats to exist, but the idea of assigning one good stat is interesting.

 

[Umbran]

p.s.: anyone remember the 1E Unearthed Arcana alternate ability score generation method? We used that. You could apply 9d6 to one stat, 8d6 to the next, and so on until you had 3d6 for the last; keep best 3 on each.

Yes, I remember that. I used it to roll up precisely one character - a wizard. He wound up with an 18 Strength and a 17 Intelligence!

This was not all for the worse, though, as we had one of those UA, magic-hating barbarians in the party. The best way for a wizard to not get killed by such a barbarian is to beat him in an arm-wrestling match to prove you aren't some magic-using wimp. And then only use fireball when he's not looking.

 

[LostSoul]

I sympathize with OPs sentiment about having more interesting characters in play. ("More interesting" to me, as DM, means having fewer stereotypes.)

Not intending to thread-jack, but here's a method I plan to introduce (developed by user "S'mon" if IIRC).

* Roll 3D6 for each stat, in the order listed on the character sheet; if less than 8, re-roll.
* Change one stat to 16.
* Apply racial modifiers.

I haven't done the math but rolled up a dozen test cases and, anecdotally, it all seemed to work. Fighter-types can be strong, wizards can be smart, etc.

That's the method I use (I think I created it; I don't think [MENTION=463]S'mon[/MENTION] uses it, though he could let us know). Instead of re-rolling stats lower than 8 I (used to) raise the stat to 8. Now I just let the lower-than-8 stats stand as they are. I find it works well (in my 4E-ish game).

If you think a 14 is acceptable in 5E, you can use that instead of the 16. The 16 is there to make sure the character is playable - you don't need to re-roll. I recall one PC whose best rolled stat was a 13. He was one of the more competent PCs in the group because of the player.

 

[S'mon]

That's the method I use (I think I created it; I don't think [MENTION=463]S'mon[/MENTION] uses it, though he could let us know). Instead of re-rolling stats lower than 8 I (used to) raise the stat to 8. Now I just let the lower-than-8 stats stand as they are. I find it works well (in my 4E-ish game).

If you think a 14 is acceptable in 5E, you can use that instead of the 16. The 16 is there to make sure the character is playable - you don't need to re-roll. I recall one PC whose best rolled stat was a 13. He was one of the more competent PCs in the group because of the player.

My current method is roll best 3 of 4d6 in order, swap any one stat with any one other stat, reroll if too low (in 3e-4e-5e 'too low' is 'net sum bonuses below +3). I learned it from Judith, one of my players, and it works very well IME. Rolling in order IME is important as it avoids the 'randomised point buy' effect you get from roll-then-arrange, but the single swap means you can put your highest stat in eg STR if you want to be a Fighter.

 

[sunrisekid]

Instead of re-rolling stats lower than 8 I (used to) raise the stat to 8. Now I just let the lower-than-8 stats stand as they are. I find it works well (in my 4E-ish game).

This leads me to another issue, which is how to handle player push-back. My players are disinclined to adopt a method that may result in worse overall scores, but I'd like to get them open to the possibility. How would you handle that?

 

[clearstream]

There is a clear assumption since 4E, and even in 3E before that, that PCs should have 8+ in all scores, and 10+ in about 5 scores; and everyone should have a 16+ in his main stat - even 16 is seen as weak. In 5E, 18 is average, 20 is just good and it is what any player will be getting for his PC by the time he has access to stat bumps. Having everyone stand on high ground means everyone is on equal footing. The high ground then means nothing. I'm hoping to find a way around this. Going back to 3d6 appears to achieve the variability and uniqueness of very good (and very bad) scores that I hope to have in a group of characters.

I know what you mean! It could be worth noting that 5e moves a lot of extraneous modifiers (like the skill ranks of 3.5) into essentially stat + proficiency. So my sense is that a 20 in 5e is mechanically comparable with an 18 in 3.5e.

However, playing a wizard with 7 INT makes little sense. I do not wish to force players to choose their class after their rolled up their characters. So I still hope that the character's main stat will have at least a 12 and hopefully a 14. And that the character might also be able to boost a secondary stat to 12 or even a 14 - albeit not necessarily the one that he would naturally be inclined towards. Apart from that, I'm happy with the variability.

Given we want to avoid letting the dice roll dictate the character class, we must allow players to reorder or boost some of their rolls. We're aware of a lot of different options. Points buy. Pre-gen arrays. Additional 3d6 rolls. Bonus dice. Etc. I want to suggest something different.

1. Your players generate six rolls of 3d6 each and put those into a group pool sorted highest to lowest.
2. They each choose their character class.
3. They then take turns to take rolls out of the pool. They must always take the highest roll available to them.
4. Their first two picks must be assigned to their class attributes. Other picks are assigned randomly to their remaining attributes.
5. After everyone's first pick, order reverses and then stays reversed for the remaining picks. This means the last picker in round one picks first in round two and each subsequent round. The second-to-last picker in round one picks second in round two and each subsequent round. Etc.

But how does one deal with late joiners, or replacement characters? I think what this system amounts to is that the DM has a pool of pre-generated arrays that have distributed good and bad rolls fairly. If that doesn't work for you I might suggest instead simply

1. Roll 3d6 for attributes, allocated to attributes in order rolled.
2. If the sum attribute bonus is <+1 discard array and start over.
3. Choose class.
4. You may swap the roll on one class attribute for that on another (non-class) attribute.