silentounce
First Post
Okay, my players and I both like die rolling methods for creating characters, but I was worried with the way that 4e was designed about the possibility of 4d6 drop the lowest causing some issues with game play if the characters didn't end up with a very high score to put in their primary attack stat. So, I was thinking of some kind of die rolling method that could result in characters that would have a power level similar to those resulting from the point-buy in the PHB. Warning, some may find this method overly complicated/more involved than necessary. Please refrain from just dropping into the thread to point that out.
When I showed it to my players I was pleasantly surprised that they thought it was very cool and jumped right in. I think we may use it as standard for 4e from now on. I find that it gives more "organic" characters, albeit ones that are still heroes. It brings back the possibility of having a very low score and keeps the randomness of the dice. Alright, enough of that, here goes.
Take 18 six sided die. Make three of them 6s, three of them 5s, and one of them a 1. Roll the remaining 11 dice. Now, assign three dice to each ability score. That's it. You could alternately only roll the 11 dice if you don't have 18 laying around (I'd imagine most of us do) and just remember what the numbers of the seven missing dice are.
This method allows a player to take an 18 if they like, guaranteed. It also makes PCs more even across the board compared to the 4d6 drop the lowest because less die rolling is involved, granted, it is still less even than a pure point buy. They automatically have at least one 1 and in the 11 rolls they'll probably end up with several other rolls of 3 or less. This gives them a hard choice. Do they really want a low stat, or would they rather have a few more average stats? I also expect my players to have that low ability score, if they have it, affect their playing in some way. I don't force them to do things, but if I notice they're continually ignoring a low Int or Cha, by in game actions, etc then I may bring it up. Usually, this never occurs. I find that players who pick to have a low ability on purpose, as opposed to those stuck with it by rolling, are the kind of players that like roleplaying that sort of thing.
We really like this method so far. We have a minotaur fighter with low int whose favorite pastime is munching on wildflowers. We have the stereotypical clumsy dwarf with a low dex, cleric in this case. And a few of the players decided not to have a "dump stat" and sacrificed some higher key attributes for more average abilties, 10-12. But they still have 16+ main attribute stats so it shouldn't affect game mechanics.
Finally, the math. The eleven die rolls yield a result of 3.5 each for 38.5 points, plus 18(6s), 15(5s), and 1, yields 72.5 for total ability scores. The standard array yields 76. A common point buy of 16, 16, 12, 12, 10 gives 76 as well. While 18, 14, 10, 10, 10, 9 is 71. If you want to crunch further numbers, go ahead. So, while on average this method may yield slightly lower ability scores, it gives the potential for higher and lower but guarantees the players two high scores if they want them. What I've seen so far is that the lower scores just serve to replace the scores PCs would normally have as 10s or 8s in point buy. So, I don't think there is much power difference even though on average this method results in a lower total of the scores. Plus, we found it fun to move around the dice to see the possibilities.
Let's see, a name. How about The Organic Heroes Method?
Comments, please.
When I showed it to my players I was pleasantly surprised that they thought it was very cool and jumped right in. I think we may use it as standard for 4e from now on. I find that it gives more "organic" characters, albeit ones that are still heroes. It brings back the possibility of having a very low score and keeps the randomness of the dice. Alright, enough of that, here goes.
Take 18 six sided die. Make three of them 6s, three of them 5s, and one of them a 1. Roll the remaining 11 dice. Now, assign three dice to each ability score. That's it. You could alternately only roll the 11 dice if you don't have 18 laying around (I'd imagine most of us do) and just remember what the numbers of the seven missing dice are.
This method allows a player to take an 18 if they like, guaranteed. It also makes PCs more even across the board compared to the 4d6 drop the lowest because less die rolling is involved, granted, it is still less even than a pure point buy. They automatically have at least one 1 and in the 11 rolls they'll probably end up with several other rolls of 3 or less. This gives them a hard choice. Do they really want a low stat, or would they rather have a few more average stats? I also expect my players to have that low ability score, if they have it, affect their playing in some way. I don't force them to do things, but if I notice they're continually ignoring a low Int or Cha, by in game actions, etc then I may bring it up. Usually, this never occurs. I find that players who pick to have a low ability on purpose, as opposed to those stuck with it by rolling, are the kind of players that like roleplaying that sort of thing.
We really like this method so far. We have a minotaur fighter with low int whose favorite pastime is munching on wildflowers. We have the stereotypical clumsy dwarf with a low dex, cleric in this case. And a few of the players decided not to have a "dump stat" and sacrificed some higher key attributes for more average abilties, 10-12. But they still have 16+ main attribute stats so it shouldn't affect game mechanics.
Finally, the math. The eleven die rolls yield a result of 3.5 each for 38.5 points, plus 18(6s), 15(5s), and 1, yields 72.5 for total ability scores. The standard array yields 76. A common point buy of 16, 16, 12, 12, 10 gives 76 as well. While 18, 14, 10, 10, 10, 9 is 71. If you want to crunch further numbers, go ahead. So, while on average this method may yield slightly lower ability scores, it gives the potential for higher and lower but guarantees the players two high scores if they want them. What I've seen so far is that the lower scores just serve to replace the scores PCs would normally have as 10s or 8s in point buy. So, I don't think there is much power difference even though on average this method results in a lower total of the scores. Plus, we found it fun to move around the dice to see the possibilities.
Let's see, a name. How about The Organic Heroes Method?
Comments, please.
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