D&D 5E Different Methods for Rolling Ability Scores (8-15 range)

[squibbles]

If you look at the spoiler, are any of the methods I have more appealing to you personally?

I think options 2 & 3 are the best. Remember that players already look up ability scores/modifiers on a table. It's just that your group is familiar enough with the process to be able to do it from memory. If you make a simple enough table, they will be able to do the same thing once they learn it.

What can you come up with that is (hopefully) simple, generates scores from 8 - 15, and averages about 12.25 or so? Any ideas?

If I were looking for a way to make this change, I'd just replace the dice in options 1 and 2 with 3d6 and finagle the correspondence between 8-15 and the 3d6 distribution until I liked it.

The familiar feel of the dice might help gloss over the table change.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

8 rolls of 1d8+7 drop the highest and lowest.

 

[DND_Reborn]

I have another method:

Roll
7+1d8 2 times
9+1d6 2 times
11+d4 2 times

That is an average of 12.5

Interesting. I was not looking for a solution with different minimums. The average of 12.5 is a bit high, but acceptable for rolling.

Of course, it gives you a stepped distribution:

I'll have to give this one more thought as well.

 

[DND_Reborn]

I think options 2 & 3 are the best. Remember that players already look up ability scores/modifiers on a table. It's just that your group is familiar enough with the process to be able to do it from memory. If you make a simple enough table, they will be able to do the same thing once they learn it.


If I were looking for a way to make this change, I'd just replace the dice in options 1 and 2 with 3d6 and finagle the correspondence between 8-15 and the 3d6 distribution until I liked it.

The familiar feel of the dice might help gloss over the table change.

Excellent points!

We have adjusted the ability modifiers a bit, so putting them in the same table with the roll to determine the score would kill two birds with one table.

 

[DND_Reborn]

8 rolls of 1d8+7 drop the highest and lowest.

The problem is the average is only 11.5, not 12-12.5.

But doing 7 or 8 rolls and using the best 6 would probably work, giving averages of 12-12.5 I think. Using only 7 dice might be a bit low, though...

 

[DND_Reborn]

And thanks for this thread, I like playing with dice statistics.

LOL, I do as well so thanks for the back and forth!

 

[FitzTheRuke]

The problem is the average is only 11.5, not 12-12.5.

But doing 7 or 8 rolls and using the best 6 would probably work, giving averages of 12-12.5 I think. Using only 7 dice might be a bit low, though...

My first thought was 8 rolls of 1d8+7, drop the two lowest, but I thought that might wind up high. (I was drinking my coffee and didn't bother to do the math).

 

[DND_Reborn]

My first thought was 8 rolls of 1d8+7, drop the two lowest, but I thought that might wind up high. (I was drinking my coffee and didn't bother to do the math).

It actually works pretty well. The average is 12.5 or so, a tad high, but acceptable.

Using 7 choose 6 drops the average to under 12 by less than 0.1, so it is borderline. However, the more I think about it, since your rolls could get really high, so the price you're paying is the average will typically be lower.

It becomes a good trade-off choice: use standard or point-buy for guaranteed scores, or try for high rolls but risk a lower average.

 

[Charlaquin]

You just convinced me to use this method with the Tarroka deck from GF9 for my next campaign.
0) The players pick a race
1) I'll pick 6 cards representing each of the 6 Ability that the player will need to draw, then align in order, face down, before drawing their Score cards piles.
2) The player draws their Score cards, face down and put them in a Celtic cross spread.
3) The player picks one Ability card, turns it face up and select one pile from the spread.
3) The player turns their score cards and notes which Ability got which Score.

4) The player picks a class that complement its choice of race and stats they got.

I like this in concept but I’m not sure what you mean by “select a pile from the spread.” In a Celtic cross spread there’s only one card in each position, no piles.

EDIT: Just went through my Tarokka deck, and here's the card used for this chargen method:

Ability Card
Marionette: Dexterity
Raven: Intelligence
Warrior: Strength
Beast: Constitution
Seer: Wisdom
Tempter: Charisma

Nice!

2 x 4 points: Shepherd, Abjurer
2 x 5 points: Druid, Guild Member
3 x 6 Points: Evoker, Anarchist, Beggar
4 x 7 points: Charlatan, Hooded one, Illusionist, Thief
1 x 8 points: Bishop

I don’t know what this means…

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

I like this in concept but I’m not sure what you mean by “select a pile from the spread.” In a Celtic cross spread there’s only one card in each position, no piles.

It is made using the idea from @DEFCON 1, so you pick 2 cards from a selection of 12 cards (whose total value is the same as the total of ''point buy'' character's ability score) for each ability score, adding both of them to generate that score.

I don’t know what this means…

These are the name of some of the tarokka cards, and their value.

The Celtic cross spread is really more to add a theatrical flare to the whole process. You could just draw an ability card, then draw 2 cards from the pile of 12 cards to make a score.

But that's less cool