D&D 5E How do you determine your initial Attributes?

[Maxperson]

My current new favorite method of rolling is 7d20, reroll 1s and 2s, keep highest 6.

That sounds super swingy. Back during 1e there was a 3rd party dealing with demons and half-demons. When you made a half demon, you rolled 2d10 for your stats. Very swingy, but that's how demon blood worked.

 

[Maxperson]

I have a lot of respect for people who do 3d6 in order, but I feel like rolling is pretty pointless if you're doing 4d6 drop lowest and then putting them wherever you like. In same cases, players are clearly fishing for high stats, and then you have to deal with their overpowered build/puppy dog eyes when the dust settles. I go standard array and recommend it to my players when I DM, but I'll accept point buy as well.

We roll 4d6-L in order, but I do allow the swapping of one pair of stats. My players usually have a character concept in mind and I don't want fickle fate to ruin that. Swapping a single set of numbers allow them to put a high stat in their primary if they want to, while still leaving other high/low stats where they fell. You still see that 17 strength wizard or 16 charisma fighter.

 

[RoughCoronet0]

My group rolls, 4d6 seven times. Reroll ones. Drop the worst score. Pick where the stats go. In the open so we all can verify.

Out of the many games my group have played in the last ten years, we have only had one incident of someone not taking there rolls and being allowed to roll again, and that was because they rolled so poorly; 9, 7, 7, 6, 6, 6. It was so hilariously bad that it was impressive. He later became a Kenku Npc that loves tying and untying knots.

We have also had times where someone rolled so good and decided to give themselves a dump stat by lowering on of their higher scores to a 6 or 8 for the fun of it, which we have no problem with.

It’s always worked for us, as my group tends to enjoy playing more dangerous combats and our DM’s like tweaking things to make the game a bit more challenging and hardcore in general.

 

[Campbell]

I guess I don't really see the value of rolling if you are still arranging to taste. It's not like it has any real impact on the character you are going to play.

 

[Swarmkeeper]

We’re currently using modified point buy for our West Marches campaign. A single score of 8 can be reduced to a 6 to give +1 to another stat.

Next campaign, I’m considering 4d6 kh3 five times and then, for the sixth score, take those 5 low dice and kh3.
Alternatively, 3d6+1d8 kh3, and follow the above for the 6th score.

 

[Campbell]

Something that might be interesting to try is importing Worlds Without Number ability score generation. 3d6 down the line, but can replace one roll with a 14. For 5e I would probably make it 15.

 

[Amrûnril]

My preference is for rolling, but with one important caveat: I want to roll before settling on a character concept. Some concepts make sense with a single extremely high score, others with a more balanced array. And some make sense with an above or below average spread overall. Building a character around randomized stats can be really interesting, not just mechaninically but in terms of considering how those abilities would influence a character's history and personality.

Creating a character and then randomizing stats, in contrast, doesn't allow those dynamics and can sometimes lead to incongruous results. If that's the order things would have to happen, I'd probably rather do point buy, though it still does bother me that this system doesn't allow extremely high or genuinely low scores.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Standard Array e'ery day.

Sometimes I'll do point buy.

I will grudgingly roll if that's the game, but I don't allow it when I DM. The dice are not in charge here.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

We’re currently using modified point buy for our West Marches campaign. A single score of 8 can be reduced to a 6 to give +1 to another stat.

Next campaign, I’m considering 4d6 kh3 five times and then, for the sixth score, take those 5 low dice and kh3.
Alternatively, 3d6+1d8 kh3, and follow the above for the 6th score.

Doesn't...that just effectively guarantee that your sixth stat is 9 or less?

The odds of getting every die in 4d6 between 4 and 6 inclusive is only 1/16 (=.5^4). That means, for any given set of 5 rolls, you have 1-(15/16)^5 = 0.2758 or about 27.6% chance of getting any dice in the "5 low dice" set. Almost three quarters of the time, you'll be having a set no better than {3,3,3,3,3} and almost surely worse, so the absolute best you can do is 9 the vast majority of the time--and that's only if you get relatively lucky and have at least three 3s.

I'd have to crunch numbers a lot harder with the mixed dice, but the overall chances of the lowest die wouldn't change that radically (after all, the d8 has a 25% chance to simply be superior to anything a d6 could roll to begin with). It is, of course, obviously more friendly, but the impact on the sixth stat will be pretty small as the d8 will very rarely be the lowest die (overall 13% to be THE uncontested lowest die, slightly higher if you allow tied-for-lowest.)

 

[TwoSix]

That sounds super swingy. Back during 1e there was a 3rd party dealing with demons and half-demons. When you made a half demon, you rolled 2d10 for your stats. Very swingy, but that's how demon blood worked.

Oh, it's super swingy. I'm using it with Worlds without Number where the stats don't matter quite as much.