Help finding alternate ways to roll stats

[CRGreathouse]

So what do you do if you roll a 1 for your half-orc's Intelligence score, ending up with an Intelligence of -1 (!!!) after racial modifiers? Talk about an intellect rivaled by gardening tools!

The half-orc's Int modifier would be -6. Gardening tools would be +0 (MM, page 10).

 

[SylverFlame]

So what do you do if you roll a 1 for your half-orc's Intelligence score, ending up with an Intelligence of -1 (!!!) after racial modifiers? Talk about an intellect rivaled by gardening tools!

Originally posted by Hashmalum

Thankfully it never happened. As I said, the lowest stat ever was my fighter with a 1 intelligence.

In the event of the half-orc, it couldn't put a one in its intelligence because it would result in a negative stat. Of course, since I'm a nice DM, if the player did that, I'd make the stat a one or deduct points from other stats to increase the negative to at least a one.

Of course, I don't like manipulating players during creation, so I'd likely boost the stat to a one.

 

[WarRabbit]

Here's a modified point system that statistically is very close to the 3e point system. You roll a # of 6-sided dice and pick the best 3, much like the 2e system, but you determine how many 6-sided dice by buying them with your points(i.e. 25 points is standard just like 3e, but your DM can vary this...I use 32 points in my campaign)

# Dice Points
3 2
4 4.5
5 6.0
6 7.5
7 8.5
8 9.5
9 10

For example, I could roll 9 dice for str, 3 dice for dex, 5 dice for con, 5 dice for wis, 3 dice for int, and 5 dice for cha for rolling up a paladin.

Basically this system gives the same average as the 3e point buy, but also adds quite a bit of luck into stat generation...I give my players a choice between rolling point buy or standard point buy and so far all of them have picked the standard one.

 

[Sixchan]

One I leaned here, that has since become a favourite, is the grid method.

Step 1. Roll 3d6 6 times, listing one after another:

12 14 07 17 08 16

Step 2. Repeat step 1 five more times, listing them in the same way, with each row diretly below.

12 14 07 17 08 16
13 04 18 12 15 08
03 12 10 11 16 15
18 17 12 10 13 08
16 05 14 12 07 17
13 09 12 15 10 18

Step 3. Now select any set, horizontally, vertically, one of the two diagonals, upwards, downwards, forwards or backwards, and enter them in order. Thus:

12 14 07 17 08 16
13 04 18 12 15 08
03 12 10 11 16 15
18 17 12 10 13 08
16 05 14 12 07 17
13 09 12 15 10 18

STR: 18
DEX: 17
CON: 12
INT: 10
WIS: 13
CHA: 8

OR

STR: 8
DEX: 13
CON: 10
INT: 12
WIS: 17
CHA: 18

 

[Lela]

Here's a modified point system that statistically is very close to the 3e point system. You roll a # of 6-sided dice and pick the best 3, much like the 2e system, but you determine how many 6-sided dice by buying them with your points(i.e. 25 points is standard just like 3e, but your DM can vary this...I use 32 points in my campaign)

# Dice Points
3 2
4 4.5
5 6.0
6 7.5
7 8.5
8 9.5
9 10

For example, I could roll 9 dice for str, 3 dice for dex, 5 dice for con, 5 dice for wis, 3 dice for int, and 5 dice for cha for rolling up a paladin.

Basically this system gives the same average as the 3e point buy, but also adds quite a bit of luck into stat generation...I give my players a choice between rolling point buy or standard point buy and so far all of them have picked the standard one.

For some reason, this one sings to me. I think I'll try it out the next time I start a campaign.