Particle_Man
Explorer
Has anyone played in or run a 3rd edition game in which the PCs were generated either by 3d6 6 times, in order, or by a 15 point buy? How did it go?
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Doing it the hard way?
- Thread starter Particle_Man
- Start date
CroBob
First Post
Why would someone do this? I mean, except to make the game more difficult, I don't understand why it would get done.
delericho
Legend
No. I did once run a one-shot game where the characters were all kobolds, generated using 4d6-drop-lowest (in order, no rerolls). That was a huge amount of fun.
But I wouldn't ever even try to do as the OP asks - I have a hard enough time persuading people that 4d6-drop-lowest (with the by-the-book reroll clause) and/or 28-point buy is a fair, generous, and viable way to generate characters.
Empirate
First Post
I'm actually planning to do this in a rather old school-y campaign I'm planning on DMing... whenever I can interest some of my regular players to give it a try.
Very much on the 'survival of the fittest' side, we'd be playing lots of one-shot dungeon crawls, with new PCs brought in when and if the old ones die (which I'd make sure to have become a regular occurrence). We'd be starting with 1st level weaklings, who really just happen to have training a notch above the NPCs they're with (core PC classes), but are otherwise exceedingly un-special. Maybe even downright hampered in their potential.
But the overall campaign structure is intended to include hexcrawl exploration elements, and also includes building up and defending a settlement of refugees in a hostile archipelago.
Furthermore, I'd introduce new classes (non-core, prestige etc.), new spells (again, non-core) etc. only after certain in-game events ("the Tower of Exaggerated Sorcery is discovered, the entrance breached, and the guardians defeated, then three spells of each level from Spell Compendium are available for the Sor/Wiz list") or thresholds reached ("one fighter-type PC must survive to 5th level, then he's allowed to retrain all his levels to Duskblade, and from now on, Duskblades are a playable class option", stuff like that).
I will probably include a similar threshold from when on the game will become 'heroic', which allows PCs to roll 4d6, drop lowest (still rolled in order...).
In such a hostile game environment, low, random, all-over-the-place ability scores just feel right to me. Especially since the PCs will still be head and shoulders above everybody else (yeah, no magic for sale anywhere, that's right, but there's plenty of stuff lying around in the horrible-monster-infested dungeons!).
Very much on the 'survival of the fittest' side, we'd be playing lots of one-shot dungeon crawls, with new PCs brought in when and if the old ones die (which I'd make sure to have become a regular occurrence). We'd be starting with 1st level weaklings, who really just happen to have training a notch above the NPCs they're with (core PC classes), but are otherwise exceedingly un-special. Maybe even downright hampered in their potential.
But the overall campaign structure is intended to include hexcrawl exploration elements, and also includes building up and defending a settlement of refugees in a hostile archipelago.
Furthermore, I'd introduce new classes (non-core, prestige etc.), new spells (again, non-core) etc. only after certain in-game events ("the Tower of Exaggerated Sorcery is discovered, the entrance breached, and the guardians defeated, then three spells of each level from Spell Compendium are available for the Sor/Wiz list") or thresholds reached ("one fighter-type PC must survive to 5th level, then he's allowed to retrain all his levels to Duskblade, and from now on, Duskblades are a playable class option", stuff like that).
I will probably include a similar threshold from when on the game will become 'heroic', which allows PCs to roll 4d6, drop lowest (still rolled in order...).
In such a hostile game environment, low, random, all-over-the-place ability scores just feel right to me. Especially since the PCs will still be head and shoulders above everybody else (yeah, no magic for sale anywhere, that's right, but there's plenty of stuff lying around in the horrible-monster-infested dungeons!).
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Ahnehnois
First Post
Limitations spawn creativity. The thought process behind building a character given X number of points is different from essentially being handed a set of statistics and having to decide "what would this person do"? You'll likely end up with a character you never would have thought of otherwise, and perhaps be more invested in that character, because like that character you have to live with what nature gave you.
Personally, I have not done that, but that sort of idea is interesting to me.
CroBob
First Post
Not me. I don't see the appeal in playing someone whose just plain gimped. I mean, flaws are actually fun, don't get me wrong, but sucking at basically everything isn't even remotely fun (to me). In earlier editions, your stats didn't really matter unless they were extremely high or extremely low, but third edition isn't those earlier editions.
Libramarian
Adventurer
I like method IV from the 1e DMG, where you roll 3d6 in order for 12 different characters and choose one (and give the rest to the DM to use for henchmen/NPCs).
Eldritch_Lord
Adventurer
I ran a short adventure like that, where not only did the PCs use 3d6 in order but they also randomly generated their class and race. Each character had two backup characters as well, generated the same way, and they could be found in the course of the adventure (a captive of the villain, fellow adventurers, etc.), so if they played well and found the new characters before they died they'd have a larger and stronger party, and if any of them died they'd have a new character to play--but not necessarily one of their backup characters.
It was a fun change of pace, but doesn't always work out; I remember one of them ended up being an aasimar sorcerer who had originally rolled a 9 Cha; had he not gotten the racial boost, he'd have been without any spells or class features at all and wouldn't have had any fun. So it can work for short adventures, but I'd wouldn't want to do it long-term.
It was a fun change of pace, but doesn't always work out; I remember one of them ended up being an aasimar sorcerer who had originally rolled a 9 Cha; had he not gotten the racial boost, he'd have been without any spells or class features at all and wouldn't have had any fun. So it can work for short adventures, but I'd wouldn't want to do it long-term.
airwalkrr
Adventurer
When I run D&D I almost always require rolls (usually 4d6, drop the lowest). But I run Rifts as much as I run D&D, and when I run Rifts, I always have players roll 3d6 in order for all eight of their attributes. It always creates interesting characters. With eight attributes you are virtually guaranteed to have a weak point, and not even having control over what that weak point is really brings out the creativity in players. In Rifts, I do everything the hard way.
As it turns out, in my current Rifts campaign something very quirky and interesting happened. One of the players rolled up a 5 for her Physical Endurance, which meant that her character had a 50% chance of being a germophobe and was very susceptible to infectious disease and illness of all kinds. Later in the campaign, the player characters stumbled across a mystical ancient tome called the Book of Heroes. This event heralded the dramatic transformation of the characters. They each received one random super power rolled from a table of 100 random super powers. And guess which one the germophobe got? Invulnerability to disease, radiation, poison and toxins! It was a fantastic result and it happened entirely randomly. It was as if fate reached out and made what was once that character's weakness her greatest strength! A cool story like that never would have happened if the players had been able to choose their own stats via some sort of point buy. Randomness can be very exciting and create some very excellent stories.
As it turns out, in my current Rifts campaign something very quirky and interesting happened. One of the players rolled up a 5 for her Physical Endurance, which meant that her character had a 50% chance of being a germophobe and was very susceptible to infectious disease and illness of all kinds. Later in the campaign, the player characters stumbled across a mystical ancient tome called the Book of Heroes. This event heralded the dramatic transformation of the characters. They each received one random super power rolled from a table of 100 random super powers. And guess which one the germophobe got? Invulnerability to disease, radiation, poison and toxins! It was a fantastic result and it happened entirely randomly. It was as if fate reached out and made what was once that character's weakness her greatest strength! A cool story like that never would have happened if the players had been able to choose their own stats via some sort of point buy. Randomness can be very exciting and create some very excellent stories.
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