D&D 5E How Will You Be Generating Stats in 5E?

[Dausuul]

One solution I've seen is this one: Everybody rolls 4d6 drop lowest and creates a set of stats. Then each player can choose any one of those sets and arrange to taste.

So, if one guy rolls crazy-good and gets 18, 18, 16, 15, 14, 12, then there is cheering and whooping and that guy gets free pizza, and the entire party has crazy-good stats (because everyone picks that set). More likely, there's a couple of decent options to pick from, and some choose one and some choose another. But you never end up with the situation where one player's stats are way better than another's.

 

[CaffeineBoy]

That said, I'm conceptually fond of 2d6 + 6.

That's been my favorite method since 1e... I came here to post it, in fact. Min = 8, max = 18, centered around 13 -- what's not to like?

 

[Doc_Klueless]

I really like using stat arrays. I can't exactly put my finger on why, but it might be that I dislike the tension of watching to see if the die will treat me fairly and the math needed for point buy.

I freely admit, though, that it is completely a personal preference and not built upon any actual science!

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Default array. I've been admiring and using the elegant simplicity and balance of 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8 arrange as desired since 3E.

 

[77IM]

Back in 2e days I played with a DM who enforced an ingeniusly simple ability-generation method: "Pick whatever scores you want. I don't care. If you think having all 18's actually sounds fun, go for it."

Now in 5e, ability scores matter a lot more, so I might give better guidelines. Maybe, "Whatever scores you want, max of 15 before racial mods. If you want any higher scores, your character should genuinely suck in some other area to compensate." That could create slightly unbalanced characters, but I think this is outweighed by the benefits of simplicity and letting the players play the characters they really want to play.

 

[TerraDave]

Write a 15 next to one stat, 14 next to a second, 13 next to a third.

Then roll 3d6 in order. For the three you picked, you keep the highest. Other three as rolled. May allow you to increase one below 8 to 8 if you have more then one low roll (and no 17 or 18).

 

[Mercule]

Point buy/standard array.

I've never been a fan of rolling for something as critical as stats -- unless it's a very strict dungeon-crawl, die-by-the-sword type game. That was reinforced when the group created characters for the Starter module. Two used Standard Array, two rolled 4d6. Of the two rollers, one ended up with something like a 12-point character. I have no idea what the point value of the other one is, but he's got two 18s and at least one 16. I feel really bad for the low-point guy, but I'm strongly opposed to "random if it's good for me" things, and I was clear about that when they asked to roll.

That said, I can roll with an entire group at just about any power level. It's just the PC imbalance that bugs me. Okay, I also like a chance for different PCs to be able to shine in different areas, but that's related. So, I kinda like these ideas:

Take the aces through 6s from a deck of cards to get 24 cards. Deal into six stacks of four cards. Drop lowest card from each stack. Assign to stats in order, then optionally swap two stats.
If I recall, this averaged to a 28 point buy (in 3e) with a very tight distribution.

One solution I've seen is this one: Everybody rolls 4d6 drop lowest and creates a set of stats. Then each player can choose any one of those sets and arrange to taste.

While reading the thread, I also thought that 4(d4+1), drop lowest, might work for me, too. It reduces the swinginess and pushes everything to the average, which is good by me.

I think I'm going to spend some time playing with the cards to see how it actually turns out, in practice.

 

[Sunseeker]

I offer players the following at my table:
7x4d6, drop lowest die, re-roll 1's, drop lowest score. May roll second set and take either set.
or my custom point array.
18,16,16,14,12,10.
Scores may be arranged into stats as the player chooses.

I like my players to be on the powerful side, because I like to throw lots of enemies and design tough fights.

 

[Warbringer]

Same as we've been doing for 10 years.

You have +6 in ability mods. None can be higher +3. You can take upto -2 total to other scores
to boost you modifiers (but not over +3 again). Then add racial bonus.

(We don't use ability scores, just mods)

So , consider roguish-cleric

St -1
In +1
Wis +3
Co -1
Dx +3
Ch +1

Then add racial bonii

 

[Jack7]

Talent Pool

I allow my players to use something I call a Talent Pool (I invented many years ago).

The idea is based on real people, that being that most people are really good at at least one thing and this is reflected in general attributes. And most people are good at a few other things and then not so good at others and at some things they are bad. So I allow them to roll in the following way:

First Roll: 6d6 -keep the highest 3
Second Roll: 5d6 - keep the highest 3
Third Roll: 5d6 - keep the highest 3
Fourth Roll: 4d6 - keep the highest 3
Fifth Roll: 4d6 - keep the highest three
Sixth Roll: 3d6

For the 4th, 5th, and 6th rolls I disregard ones.

The pragmatic math yields do not always reflect the apparent statistical probabilities based on the number of dice. But it almost always gives a superior/moderate/inferior talent spread reflected as attribute rolls as it would seem given the system.

Then I allow the players to arrange and apply their stats as they desire or as their character class demands.