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<blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 7847300" data-attributes="member: 29398"><p>This is kind of like what I do: there's a "floor" level at which new characters join in*, which slowly rises during the campaign as the party's average level rises. Right now my groups are in the 6-10 range and, depending on specific party, the floor would be either 6th or 7th. Stats and hit points are rolled. Starting wealth/gear is also somewhat random, to reflect the relative good or bad luck this character's had thus far in its [unplayed] career, but whatever gear is given is always suitable for the character to use (e.g. if my dice try to give a 6th-Wizard +2 plate mail it gets a +2 Ring: Protection instead) again reflecting the choices said character would likely have made.</p><p></p><p>That said, they've all got so many characters now that truly new PCs are few and far between; they just cycle the ones they have in and out.</p><p></p><p>* - exception: for a new player joining the game the <strong>first</strong> PC comes in at the party average, rounded up. If that one dies or retires, the next comes in at the floor level.</p><p></p><p>You might be a bit surprised on this one.</p><p></p><p>We've always used rolled stats, and have rolled up and played hundreds of characters over that time. I still have nearly all the character sheets of the characters that were in my campaigns, ditto for the other main DM in our crew.</p><p></p><p>Just for kicks a few years ago I took a sample of 50 or so random characters whose careers didn't last long - "one-hit wonders", we call these - and another sample of as many characters as I could find who'd had long and fruitful careers (using 10+ adventures as the benchmark for "long"), and ran some comparisons of their racially-adjusted** starting stats.</p><p></p><p>The difference in average stat (i.e. add them up and divide by 6) turned out to be fairly trivial between the one-hits and the long-term types. What made a much bigger difference stat-wise was having at least one really good stat as opposed to lots of mundane stats (e.g. a 17-11-11-11-11-11 avg 12.00 had a measurably better chance of success than 14-14-14-12-12-12 avg 13.00 even though the second character's average is a full point higher). That said, there were one-hits with averages over 16 (!) and long-termers with averages below 11, so read into that what you will.</p><p></p><p>** - I used racially adjusted because to try and reverse-engineer all those characters to what the dice actually said would have been beyond tedious. What I was after was the stats the characters actually had in play, and we've always used the same roll-up system of 5d6 drop 2.</p><p></p><p>Conclusion: while numeretic stat disparity might make a difference in day-to-day play at the table its effect on the overall career length (or life) expectancy of any given character was surprisingly minimal.</p><p></p><p>Disclaimer: this is all using characters from our modified 1e system, where bonuses don't tend to start until 15 (but conversely, a stat of 7 never carries a penalty). In 5e, with its linear bonus progression, even a tiny discrepancy in stat average might have more of an impact; but someone else will have to run the numbers for that. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /> 5e also has a <strong>much</strong> quicker ASI progression than our system does.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lanefan, post: 7847300, member: 29398"] This is kind of like what I do: there's a "floor" level at which new characters join in*, which slowly rises during the campaign as the party's average level rises. Right now my groups are in the 6-10 range and, depending on specific party, the floor would be either 6th or 7th. Stats and hit points are rolled. Starting wealth/gear is also somewhat random, to reflect the relative good or bad luck this character's had thus far in its [unplayed] career, but whatever gear is given is always suitable for the character to use (e.g. if my dice try to give a 6th-Wizard +2 plate mail it gets a +2 Ring: Protection instead) again reflecting the choices said character would likely have made. That said, they've all got so many characters now that truly new PCs are few and far between; they just cycle the ones they have in and out. * - exception: for a new player joining the game the [B]first[/B] PC comes in at the party average, rounded up. If that one dies or retires, the next comes in at the floor level. You might be a bit surprised on this one. We've always used rolled stats, and have rolled up and played hundreds of characters over that time. I still have nearly all the character sheets of the characters that were in my campaigns, ditto for the other main DM in our crew. Just for kicks a few years ago I took a sample of 50 or so random characters whose careers didn't last long - "one-hit wonders", we call these - and another sample of as many characters as I could find who'd had long and fruitful careers (using 10+ adventures as the benchmark for "long"), and ran some comparisons of their racially-adjusted** starting stats. The difference in average stat (i.e. add them up and divide by 6) turned out to be fairly trivial between the one-hits and the long-term types. What made a much bigger difference stat-wise was having at least one really good stat as opposed to lots of mundane stats (e.g. a 17-11-11-11-11-11 avg 12.00 had a measurably better chance of success than 14-14-14-12-12-12 avg 13.00 even though the second character's average is a full point higher). That said, there were one-hits with averages over 16 (!) and long-termers with averages below 11, so read into that what you will. ** - I used racially adjusted because to try and reverse-engineer all those characters to what the dice actually said would have been beyond tedious. What I was after was the stats the characters actually had in play, and we've always used the same roll-up system of 5d6 drop 2. Conclusion: while numeretic stat disparity might make a difference in day-to-day play at the table its effect on the overall career length (or life) expectancy of any given character was surprisingly minimal. Disclaimer: this is all using characters from our modified 1e system, where bonuses don't tend to start until 15 (but conversely, a stat of 7 never carries a penalty). In 5e, with its linear bonus progression, even a tiny discrepancy in stat average might have more of an impact; but someone else will have to run the numbers for that. :) 5e also has a [B]much[/B] quicker ASI progression than our system does. [/QUOTE]
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