Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Dice Rolling for beginning ability scores...redux
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 9061022" data-attributes="member: 6790260"><p>...but you <em>won't see that</em> unless the player rolls well. Because their good rolls will go to the stats that have the most value.</p><p></p><p>A typical rolled Fighter <em>won't</em> have high Intelligence <em>unless</em> the rules force them to (strict rolling) <em>or</em> they're quite lucky (e.g. <em>several</em> 14+ stats.) And the reason for that is exactly what I said.</p><p></p><p>You say it is "much more likely," but you need to already be in rarefied company to have the <em>potential</em>. A Fighter is going to put their first high stat in Strength or Dex, depending on which they rely on most, and the second into Con. For a Str-based Fighter, high Dex is still compelling, but for a Dex-based one, high Str is of minimal value. So, for a Dex-based one, you're gonna need at least three good rolls to see high Int (or Cha or whatever) on a Fighter; for a Str-based one, you'll probably need <em>four</em> such rolls. I'm not sure what you would consider a "high" stat, but even for pretty low standards thereof, people are only gonna hit that about one seventh of the time (e.g. rolling four 14+ stats.)</p><p></p><p>Conversely, I've known several players, including yours truly, who have no problem sinking 14 or more into "unimportant" stats <em>with point buy</em> because it fits the concept of the character. This is especially true when the point buy is more generous, covers a broader spread of numbers, and the game overall offers ways to mitigate it...which is exactly what I've done in other games.</p><p></p><p>So yeah. I don't really buy the argument that you suddenly get this huge windfall of unexpectedly diverse and interesting characters. The vast majority will be just as "cookie-cutter" as what you're criticizing, and it really won't be <em>that</em> much more likely that you'll see such "quirky" statted characters.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="EzekielRaiden, post: 9061022, member: 6790260"] ...but you [I]won't see that[/I] unless the player rolls well. Because their good rolls will go to the stats that have the most value. A typical rolled Fighter [I]won't[/I] have high Intelligence [I]unless[/I] the rules force them to (strict rolling) [I]or[/I] they're quite lucky (e.g. [I]several[/I] 14+ stats.) And the reason for that is exactly what I said. You say it is "much more likely," but you need to already be in rarefied company to have the [I]potential[/I]. A Fighter is going to put their first high stat in Strength or Dex, depending on which they rely on most, and the second into Con. For a Str-based Fighter, high Dex is still compelling, but for a Dex-based one, high Str is of minimal value. So, for a Dex-based one, you're gonna need at least three good rolls to see high Int (or Cha or whatever) on a Fighter; for a Str-based one, you'll probably need [I]four[/I] such rolls. I'm not sure what you would consider a "high" stat, but even for pretty low standards thereof, people are only gonna hit that about one seventh of the time (e.g. rolling four 14+ stats.) Conversely, I've known several players, including yours truly, who have no problem sinking 14 or more into "unimportant" stats [I]with point buy[/I] because it fits the concept of the character. This is especially true when the point buy is more generous, covers a broader spread of numbers, and the game overall offers ways to mitigate it...which is exactly what I've done in other games. So yeah. I don't really buy the argument that you suddenly get this huge windfall of unexpectedly diverse and interesting characters. The vast majority will be just as "cookie-cutter" as what you're criticizing, and it really won't be [I]that[/I] much more likely that you'll see such "quirky" statted characters. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Dice Rolling for beginning ability scores...redux
Top