Character Creation Stat Draft (Trial Draft Complete!!)

[Umbran]

Well, of course we ran a little high. Since we get to pick, we get to throw a whole much of crummy rolls down a dark hole. Imagien the poor sucker who has to be built out of our dregs!

If you want to control the power level a bit, don't include the wild stats. If you're feeling nice, you can roll one more set of stats than you intend to have characters, so exactly one of each bad stat can be dodged by the group.

 

[Thanee]

Yep.

Then you are lucky, that can happen quite easily, if you roll stats that way.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

However, I expect that, without wild stats, the draft would be a LOT more unsatisfying for those who went later since there are a couple stats that everyone would want a decent score in. In this example, there were two very poor con scores and I know I would have picked a 10 Con in the first round in order to avoid getting stuck with the 7. I suspect that our sample draft would have gone very differently without the wild stats.

 

[Thanee]

I suspect that our sample draft would have gone very differently without the wild stats.

Yep, most likely.

Bye
Thanee

 

[el-remmen]

Then you are lucky, that can happen quite easily, if you roll stats that way.

Bye
Thanee

I meant, yep, it happened all the time.

 

[Umbran]

However, I expect that, without wild stats, the draft would be a LOT more unsatisfying for those who went later since there are a couple stats that everyone would want a decent score in.

Yes, but you also get unsatisfying results when you make people roll dice and stick with the first set that's a +1 total mod or better.

Any time you get to choose to toss away low stats, you'll get creep upwards. Any time you don't, you risk unsatisfying results.

 

[Thanee]

I meant, yep, it happened all the time.

Oh, ok, misunderstanding.

Guess that's the reason you looked into this in the first place then, to get a better (fairer) distribution.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

Yes, but you also get unsatisfying results when you make people roll dice and stick with the first set that's a +1 total mod or better.

Any time you get to choose to toss away low stats, you'll get creep upwards. Any time you don't, you risk unsatisfying results.

That's true. However, a stat draft format with no wild stats and a range of con scores from incredibly good to incredibly bad like this one had is more likely to yield unsatisfying results than most other methods. Most of the time people don't roll 4d6 in order and at least have a choice to move their really low score into a stat that won't get them killed. In a no wild score stat draft, someone is going to be stuck with the 7 con--probably the person who picks last. For my part, that would be enough to sour me on the whole experience--especially because I would be expected to then build some kind of a backstory and care about a character who is almost guaranteed to die the first time someone busts out area effect spells against him--or the first time he finds himself in melee combat or targeted by archers.

 

[Conaill]

That's true. However, a stat draft format with no wild stats and a range of con scores from incredibly good to incredibly bad like this one had is more likely to yield unsatisfying results than most other methods. Most of the time people don't roll 4d6 in order and at least have a choice to move their really low score into a stat that won't get them killed. In a no wild score stat draft, someone is going to be stuck with the 7 con--probably the person who picks last. For my part, that would be enough to sour me on the whole experience--especially because I would be expected to then build some kind of a backstory and care about a character who is almost guaranteed to die the first time someone busts out area effect spells against him--or the first time he finds himself in melee combat or targeted by archers.

So back to my original suggestion to use 3d6 for the Wild scores...

Let's say we had done a draft with the same scores as in this thread, but Wild scores of 14, 12, 10, 8, 8, 6 (i.e. 2 lower than what you guys were using). Would that be acceptable? If all the Wild scores went to Con, the top 6 Con scores would become 18, 14, 14, 13, 12, 11. That's far from shabby, and you'd still have a 10 Wild left to patch up another low score left (or even an 8 Wild to fix that 7 CHA).

I agree that having the extra flexibility that the Wild scores lends to the process is a very nice feature. I just wouldn't want the stat distribution to be significantly biased by it though...

 

[Thanee]

Maybe it would work to give the last (few) person(s) something extra in exchange for being so far behind in the initial draft order.

For example, the option to swap any two stats at the end.

Or 1-2 extra points (at point buy value, so it's not possible to raise anything too high) to use to increase any one ability at the time they draft it.

Something like that.

Bye
Thanee