D&D 5E (2014) How Will You Be Generating Stats in 5E?

[Ashr]

One of the DMs I have played with uses 4d6 drop lowest one, 7 times, drop lowest stat, and 4 1s equals a 19. It can be interesting, especially for those who tend to roll crappy.

 

[SoulsFury]

Since the default method is choose Race and Class first then do Stats, I chose 4d6 drop Lowest and arrange to suit.

Preferred method?

3d6 six times, in order. Play Race and Class my Abilities would be best suited for.

Seems like doing this you would either play a stereotypical character or an under powered character.

 

[crusaderbard]

stats

Just out of curiosity, what do you guys do when someone rolls a horribly low roll like a 4 for their intelligence or strength? I mean I have a tough time making my players want to play characters with crappy rolls. They all love high fantasy tougher characters.

 

[Steely Dan]

Depends on the campaign, but my default is 4d6 drop the lowest, and if you are not happy you can take standard array or point buy.

I might bump the array or point buy; and I would love to go with the traditional 3d6 in order (maybe for my Middle-Earth campaign), separate the men from the boys!

As for rolling, yeah, my nephew, rolling 4d6 drop the lowest: 18, 15, 14, 14, 13, 12.

 

[Kobold Stew]

Just out of curiosity, what do you guys do when someone rolls a horribly low roll like a 4 for their intelligence or strength? I mean I have a tough time making my players want to play characters with crappy rolls. They all love high fantasy tougher characters.

First, the players choose where they put the stat in most cases. It's easy to get by with a very low Strength or Charisma and still be completely badass, and neither of these are among the key saves in 5e. But a low stat is part of the risk when you roll.

5e even has a safety net, because each class has two proficient saves -- if for whatever reason your ba stat is one of the key saves (Con, Wis, Dex), you can pick a class that has proficiency in that save and get the bonus -- it starts as if you were effectively +4 in that ability score.

In my game, players can choose point buy or they can roll -- but if they roll, they live with the consequences. They want the 18 to start? they live with the possibility of a 6.

 

[Warskull]

A lot of players would consider this statement sacrilege, but I feel point buy is a far superior system to the other options. The only thing rolling has that point buy doesn't is randomness for the sake of randomness. However, that randomness doesn't add to the game, in fact it takes away some interesting choices from the players.

Point buy just has so many perks:

• Minimizes power disparity between party members (prevents stat jealousy)
• Provides the DM with a consistent power level to plan for
• It makes choice of race more interesting, but guaranteeing a player can meanginfully interact with all the +2s and +1s
• It is more cheat proof, players can create their characters without supervision. Any stat cheating is quickly obvious. This saves a mini-session at the start
• It is easily fine tuned, if you want higher or lower power level campaigns you can quickly and easily adjust the point buy budget
• It allows the player to play exactly what they want, dice can end up limit player choice. MAD classes in previous editions and multiclassing in the current edition could be difficult with a lopsided roll.
• It also prevents players from becoming disengaged if they are disappointed with their rolls
• It loses none of the "uniqueness" players claim to get from randomness. In fact, it gives players more power to run unique stat spreads.

All the tweaks I see to roll systems attempt to achieve what point buy already has in spades. They try to make rolling more consistent and fair.

 

[Steely Dan]

A lot of players would consider this statement sacrilege, but I feel point buy is a far superior system to the other options. The only thing rolling has that point buy doesn't is randomness for the sake of randomness. However, that randomness doesn't add to the game, in fact it takes away some interesting choices from the players.

Point buy just has so many perks:

• Minimizes power disparity between party members (prevents stat jealousy)
• Provides the DM with a consistent power level to plan for
• It makes choice of race more interesting, but guaranteeing a player can meanginfully interact with all the +2s and +1s
• It is more cheat proof, players can create their characters without supervision. Any stat cheating is quickly obvious. This saves a mini-session at the start
• It is easily fine tuned, if you want higher or lower power level campaigns you can quickly and easily adjust the point buy budget
• It allows the player to play exactly what they want, dice can end up limit player choice. MAD classes in previous editions and multiclassing in the current edition could be difficult with a lopsided roll.
• It also prevents players from becoming disengaged if they are disappointed with their rolls
• It loses none of the "uniqueness" players claim to get from randomness. In fact, it gives players more power to run unique stat spreads.

All the tweaks I see to roll systems attempt to achieve what point buy already has in spades. They try to make rolling more consistent and fair.

Or a childish need to be "equal", whatever the hell that means.

 

[Warskull]

Or a childish need to be "equal", whatever the hell that means.

It does absolutely suck when there is a large power gap between players. If one player rolls a double 18 ubermensch and another player is stuck with no stat higher than 14 he will have a hard time finding a chance to shine. Mr 18 will dominate combat and be able to shine a disproportionate amount of the time. It can sap the fun out of the game if the best solution for every problem is to throw the party super-hero at it.

D&D is fun when all the players have a chance to do their thing. One player being way too good while another player is weak minimizes this chance. We've all seen this in 3.5 where one player is min/maxed and another player has no clue how to build. That weak player eventually gets bored of the game because he really isn't able to participate very well.

That's why point buy is great, it is a powerful player management tool and helps the DM head off the problem before it even starts.

 

[billd91]

A lot of players would consider this statement sacrilege, but I feel point buy is a far superior system to the other options. The only thing rolling has that point buy doesn't is randomness for the sake of randomness. However, that randomness doesn't add to the game, in fact it takes away some interesting choices from the players.

One thing point buy takes away from he player compared to rolling: discovering your character, roll by roll. That's one of the aspects of rolling stats I love.

Also, rolling up characters together, celebrating good rolls, jeering bed ones.

 

[DammitVictor]

Elite Array or Point-Buy. I've always hated rolled stats.

If I wanted to do something organic, I'd probably do something like 4+3d4 arrange to taste.