D&D 5E Generating Player Characters

[cbwjm]

Hi All,

Just out of interest, how does your table generate your player characters? I'm planning a new campaign for my group and I'm thinking of using Matt Colville's method which is the standard 4d6, drop the lowest, if you don't have at least two 15s then you can reroll. For new players, he will also typically have them roll in order, however, since my players have been playing for a bit already I plan on letting them assign their ability scores as they like. I do like the idea of players rolling their ability scores in order and then deciding on a class, but I don't want to be that restrictive.

I've also though of using the multiclass requirements for single classed PCs so a fighter would need a 13 Strength or 13 Dexterity but again, I don't think I would need to be that restrictive and at any rate, the minimum ability scores probably won't even be noticed since players tend to typically have a high score in their primary ability anyway.

Other considerations I can see for generating characters is session 0 where the players discuss what roles they want to cover and have a collaborative method of party creation as opposed to the AL method, where everyone shows up with a PC, no discussion beforehand due to the nature of AL. I think one of my friends would like to have the session 0 not so much for party creation but for party connections. That is, how do the PCs know each other which I think is a good idea and could lead to RP later in the campaign.

SO these are just a couple of things I've thought of, I will be rolling for stats instead of point buy/stat array this time, just curious how others approach character generation.

 

[jgsugden]

3d6, replace lowest die with a 4. If you agree to take them in order rather than select order, you get to add 2 to one score.

 

[Grazzt]

4d6, drop lowest or 3d6, reroll 1s. We've used both and generally seem to go back and forth between them honestly.

 

[cbwjm]

3d6, replace lowest die with a 4. If you agree to take them in order rather than select order, you get to add 2 to one score.

That's an interesting way of generating scores. I was also thinking of having a bonus to their scores if they rolled in order but ultimately figured that if I'm allowing rerolls until they have two 15s then they may not need an additional bonus.

Do you always replace the lowest die or is it only if the lowest die is less than 4? Just curious if you are capping the stats before race modifiers at 16 on the off chance someone rolls three 6s.

 

[cbwjm]

4d6, drop lowest or 3d6, reroll 1s. We've used both and generally seem to go back and forth between them honestly.

Does one seem better than the other? I would think the 3d6, reroll 1s would be similar to 4d6, drop lowest simply because often, you only roll a single 1. Sometimes though, I can see the where 3d6 reroll 1s would be superior.

 

[jgsugden]

...
Do you always replace the lowest die or is it only if the lowest die is less than 4? Just curious if you are capping the stats before race modifiers at 16 on the off chance someone rolls three 6s.

Always. Range is 6 to 16.

 

[Grazzt]

Does one seem better than the other? I would think the 3d6, reroll 1s would be similar to 4d6, drop lowest simply because often, you only roll a single 1. Sometimes though, I can see the where 3d6 reroll 1s would be superior.

They seem pretty similar. Whenever a player rolls a new PC, it's pretty much whatever method (of those two) we feel like using at the time. (We've even given thought to trying 3d6 arrange as desired, just to see what happens. We've all been playing D&D/AD&D since the early 80's so 3d6 has never bothered us. Just not sure how good/bad it'd be in 5e yet.)

 

[CAFRedblade]

My usual homebrew method is 4d6 drop lowest, distribute as you want.
Sometimes, if I want stronger player characters, I'll do 4d6 drop low, reroll 1s.
But not often.

 

[Tormyr]

Standard array or point buy.

 

[ccs]

When I DM you get a choice:
*4d6 drop one of them (most opt for the lowest) x6, arrange as you wish, then add racial mods.
*Take the standard array,
*27pt buy.

If you choose to roll, those #s are what you'll use. There's no re-rolls, no safety net vs mediocre/bad results. You're gambling that you'll be awesome & letting fate decide your stats. Sometimes that pays off big, most times fairly average, & other times....
Whatever you get, you WILL play the resulting character in good faith.