D&D General How Did You Generate Your Most Recent Character's Stats?

[Lakesidefantasy]

Why would anyone pick option 1 in that scenario? That's the trap option. Option 3 is okay IF it's a very short campaign at low levels. But option 2 seems like the obvious winner. I assume that's what everyone picked?

I think that is "advance to level 3" rather than "Option 3". So they created 1st level characters with either Option 1 or Option 2. It looks like at least 4 players chose option 2 (yay!). Then, they advanced these characters to 3rd level.

 

[Nod_Hero]

I think that is "advance to level 3" rather than "Option 3". So they created 1st level characters with either Option 1 or Option 2. It looks like at least 4 players chose option 2 (yay!). Then, they advanced these characters to 3rd level.

Exactly that.
And all 6 players took the roll for stats option, I only had the results on paper of the folks who rolled this past Thursday night.

Checking my notes, I rolled:
12, 11, 14, 15, 16, 14
17, 9, 7, 13, 6, 14
11, 16, 12, 10, 8, 13
so I ended up with 16-15-14-14-12-11 (which would be a 41 point spread using point buy)

The 6th player, Jim, rolled:
10, 14, 13, 16, 17, 15
16, 14, 17, 13, 17, 8
10, 14, 13, 17, 12, 10

 

[Nod_Hero]

...but if you're going to basically guarantee better numbers (although there will still be disparity between the best and worst characters with rolling)

Just don't pretend the options were balanced.

I don't think the DM was going for balanced. His quote was something along the lines of
"If you are playing an adventurer, you should have an adventurer's stats"

Me, I'm just doing whatever the DM told me to do, lol...

 

[AlViking]

I don't think the DM was going for balanced. His quote was something along the lines of
"If you are playing an adventurer, you should have an adventurer's stats"

Me, I'm just doing whatever the DM told me to do, lol...

Which is fine - even if I don't think it's at all necessary - I'm just saying that comparing standard point buy to rolling stats 3 time and choosing the best option is not comparable. I think 3e did it better where you could have an elite array and buy up to an 18 for those people who wanted more powerful characters.

 

[GrimCo]

Point buy is by far my favourite. Wanna dump everything and pump 1-2 stats? Go for it. Wanna go with even spread across all stats? Go for it.

As a DM, sometimes i like to mix it up. 4d6, drop lowest, arrange how you wish. If you are not satisfied with results, you can take standard array. It gives players opportunity to try getting very good stats trough rolling, but also, gives them secure backup option if they roll very poor.

 

[jmartkdr2]

My last two have been "everyone rolls as per the book (4d6d1 six times) but each player can use any of the rolled arrays." Results in slightly more powerful characters but that's good because it makes us feel free to try odd stuff we might not have done with more restrictive stats.

 

[CleverNickName]

Folks get pretty creative with character generation. I've seen a lot of house rules for rolling stats over the years...

1. All stats are 1d12+1d6 (and reroll any 1s)
2. All stats are 1d8+10
3. All stats are 2d6+6 (basically the 3d6 method, except one roll is a guaranteed 6)
4. Roll 3d6, and reroll any 1s.
5. Roll 4d6, then adjust if desired (one score gets a +1 and a different score gets -2. Repeat as much as you like).
6. You roll seven ability scores using the 4d6 method, and then keep the best six of them. Basically you get to trash one result.
7. Roll 4d6, reroll any nat-1s, and then drop the lowest.
8. Roll 4d6, reroll your lowest die, and then drop the lowest.
9. Roll 4d6 and keep all four, then subtract 6. (but why tho?)

Of them all, I think I like #2 and #3 best. Still random, but the math is flatter.

That said, I don't use any of these methods. When I'm a player, I prefer to 4d6 method as-written in the PHB...and when I'm in the DM chair, I let each player choose the method they want to use for their character (most choose the 4d6 method, but there's always one guy who opts to use Point Buy or the standard array.) I've never used, or seen anyone use, a pregen character from the book.

 

[Weiley31]

Normally, roll the Standard 4D6, with 1 free Mulligan roll.

However, two weeks ago, I rolled the Standard 4D6, with 1 free Mulligan roll using this:

Been wanting a Dice Tower for a while now. I love it!

And hey, the rolls with it for stats turned out VERY well too.