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<blockquote data-quote="jsaving" data-source="post: 7796151" data-attributes="member: 16726">It isn't productive to make players apply ability scores as rolled and then wring your hands about overshadowing.&nbsp; Of course some players will have better scores than others, the only question is how much you are willing to compromise to reduce it.&nbsp; The more you compromise, the less overshadowing there will be, but the more you stray from your original goal of discouraging min-maxing in character generation.&nbsp; I'd suggest thinking about the type of players in your campaign before making this decision.&nbsp; If your players think of high rolls as a &quot;victories&quot; because high-stat characters are &quot;better,&quot; then it's probably a bad idea to apply ability scores as rolled.&nbsp; And there are a lot of players who think that way, just go to the Baldur's Gate forums and see how many players brag about 100-point characters as if it were an accomplishment to hit the reroll button until you get high stats.&nbsp; &nbsp; But not every gaming group is like that.&nbsp; If you run a role-playing-intensive campaign that rewards players based on the quality of their role-playing instead of how often they succeed at skill checks and to-hit rolls, then it won't matter nearly as much if you make players apply ability scores as rolled.&nbsp; It can actually be a lot of fun to role-play a character who is massively not min-maxed, you have to be a lot more creative about getting things done and often find yourself having to turn lemons into lemonade.&nbsp; However this only works if your gaming group has the same mindset and is willing to chuckle at the travails of an 8-strength fighter or an 8-dex rogue instead of being angry about having to &quot;carry&quot; those characters through the campaign.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="jsaving, post: 7796151, member: 16726"] It isn't productive to make players apply ability scores as rolled and then wring your hands about overshadowing. Of course some players will have better scores than others, the only question is how much you are willing to compromise to reduce it. The more you compromise, the less overshadowing there will be, but the more you stray from your original goal of discouraging min-maxing in character generation. I'd suggest thinking about the type of players in your campaign before making this decision. If your players think of high rolls as a "victories" because high-stat characters are "better," then it's probably a bad idea to apply ability scores as rolled. And there are a lot of players who think that way, just go to the Baldur's Gate forums and see how many players brag about 100-point characters as if it were an accomplishment to hit the reroll button until you get high stats. But not every gaming group is like that. If you run a role-playing-intensive campaign that rewards players based on the quality of their role-playing instead of how often they succeed at skill checks and to-hit rolls, then it won't matter nearly as much if you make players apply ability scores as rolled. It can actually be a lot of fun to role-play a character who is massively [I]not[/I] min-maxed, you have to be a lot more creative about getting things done and often find yourself having to turn lemons into lemonade. However this only works if your gaming group has the same mindset and is willing to chuckle at the travails of an 8-strength fighter or an 8-dex rogue instead of being angry about having to "carry" those characters through the campaign. [/QUOTE]

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