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<blockquote data-quote="Dalamar" data-source="post: 9195127" data-attributes="member: 358"><p>Digging up my book.</p><p></p><p>3.5 Player's Handbook, p. 7:</p><p>[SPOILER="Ability Scores"]</p><h2>Ability Scores</h2><p>To create an ability score for your character, roll four six-sided dice (4d6). Disregard the lowest die roll and total the three highest ones. The result is a number between 3 (horrible) and 18 (tremendous). The average ability score for the typical commoner is 10 or 11, but your character is not typical. The most common ability scores for player characters (PCs) are 12 and 13. (That's right, the average player character is above average.)</p><p>[/SPOILER]</p><p></p><p>3.5 Player's Handbook, p. 8:</p><p>[SPOILER="Rerolling"]</p><h4>Rerolling</h4><p>If your scores are too low, you may scrap them all and roll all six scores again. Your scores are considered too low if the sum of your modifiers (before adjustments because of race) is 0 or lower, or if your highest score is 13 or lower.</p><p>[/SPOILER]</p><p></p><p>3.5 DMG, p. 110:</p><p>[SPOILER="Elite and Average Characters"]</p><h4>Elite and Average Characters</h4><p>All PCs and all the NPCs described in this section are "elite", a cut above the average. Elite characters (whether they are PCs or not) have above-average ability scores and automatically get maximum hit points from their first Hit Die. Average characters, on the other hand, have average abilities (rolled on 3d6) and don't get maximum hit points from their first Hit Die. The monsters described in the in the <em>Monster Manual</em> are average characters rather than elite ones (though elite monsters exist). Likewise, some fighters, wizards, and so on are average people rather than elites; they have fewer hit points and lower ability scores than the NPCs described here.</p><p>[/SPOILER]</p><p></p><p>3.5 DMG, p. 169:</p><p>[SPOILER="Ability Scores"]</p><h2>Ability Scores</h2><p>In addition to the standard method for generating ability scores presented in the <em>Player's Handbook</em> (roll 4d6, discard the lowest die, and arrange as desired), here are eight options you might want to consider using in your campaign.</p><p><strong>1. Standard Point Buy:</strong> All ability scores start at 8. Take 25 points to spread out among all abilities. For ability scores of 14 or lower, you buy additional points on a 1-for-1 basic. For ability scores higher than 14, it costs a little more (see the table below). This method allows for maximum customization, but you should expect each PC to have at least one really good score.</p><p>[[Not typing up the cost table]]</p><p>[/SPOILER]</p><p></p><p>So you are correct that in 3.5 it is the elite array, including when applied to the PCs. But it seems clear to me that it is called that because the standard method produces characters that are considered elite <em>compared to average commoners</em>. This is further reinforced by the Standard Point Buy (not something called an Elite Point Buy) being able to reproduce the array.</p><p></p><p>So I will reiterate what I was getting at some pages back: it seems your problem isn't actually with the ability score array of 15 14 13 12 10 8 itself, your problem is with the standard character generation method that, on average produces characters that have an ability score array of 15,66 14,17 12,96 11,76 10,41 8,5 (probably a little higher if accounting for the reroll rules in 3.5).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Dalamar, post: 9195127, member: 358"] Digging up my book. 3.5 Player's Handbook, p. 7: [SPOILER="Ability Scores"] [HEADING=1]Ability Scores[/HEADING] To create an ability score for your character, roll four six-sided dice (4d6). Disregard the lowest die roll and total the three highest ones. The result is a number between 3 (horrible) and 18 (tremendous). The average ability score for the typical commoner is 10 or 11, but your character is not typical. The most common ability scores for player characters (PCs) are 12 and 13. (That's right, the average player character is above average.) [/SPOILER] 3.5 Player's Handbook, p. 8: [SPOILER="Rerolling"] [HEADING=3]Rerolling[/HEADING] If your scores are too low, you may scrap them all and roll all six scores again. Your scores are considered too low if the sum of your modifiers (before adjustments because of race) is 0 or lower, or if your highest score is 13 or lower. [/SPOILER] 3.5 DMG, p. 110: [SPOILER="Elite and Average Characters"] [HEADING=3]Elite and Average Characters[/HEADING] All PCs and all the NPCs described in this section are "elite", a cut above the average. Elite characters (whether they are PCs or not) have above-average ability scores and automatically get maximum hit points from their first Hit Die. Average characters, on the other hand, have average abilities (rolled on 3d6) and don't get maximum hit points from their first Hit Die. The monsters described in the in the [I]Monster Manual[/I] are average characters rather than elite ones (though elite monsters exist). Likewise, some fighters, wizards, and so on are average people rather than elites; they have fewer hit points and lower ability scores than the NPCs described here. [/SPOILER] 3.5 DMG, p. 169: [SPOILER="Ability Scores"] [HEADING=1]Ability Scores[/HEADING] In addition to the standard method for generating ability scores presented in the [I]Player's Handbook[/I] (roll 4d6, discard the lowest die, and arrange as desired), here are eight options you might want to consider using in your campaign. [B]1. Standard Point Buy:[/B] All ability scores start at 8. Take 25 points to spread out among all abilities. For ability scores of 14 or lower, you buy additional points on a 1-for-1 basic. For ability scores higher than 14, it costs a little more (see the table below). This method allows for maximum customization, but you should expect each PC to have at least one really good score. [[Not typing up the cost table]] [/SPOILER] So you are correct that in 3.5 it is the elite array, including when applied to the PCs. But it seems clear to me that it is called that because the standard method produces characters that are considered elite [I]compared to average commoners[/I]. This is further reinforced by the Standard Point Buy (not something called an Elite Point Buy) being able to reproduce the array. So I will reiterate what I was getting at some pages back: it seems your problem isn't actually with the ability score array of 15 14 13 12 10 8 itself, your problem is with the standard character generation method that, on average produces characters that have an ability score array of 15,66 14,17 12,96 11,76 10,41 8,5 (probably a little higher if accounting for the reroll rules in 3.5). [/QUOTE]
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