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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Arial Black" data-source="post: 7212094" data-attributes="member: 6799649">One truth about this is that the writers of 5E also played the previous editions, and carry many, many assumptions around in their heads, and (consciously or not) assume that we do too.Sometimes, JC forgot to actually write down one of these things; they remain true nonetheless.One of these is that the 4d6k3 method produces suitably heroic arrays compared to the mass of humanity, and that PC arrays (rolled, bought, whatever) are 'better' than 'normal' people, and that 'normal' people are represented as 3d6 in order. That is the default assumption! It remains as true in 5E as it was in 1E, so true that JC didn't even feel the need to write it down!What about the NPCs in the back of the MM? Well, these exist to make the DM's life easier, and so the averages are assumed, rather than making the DM roll six random stats for every NPC. But the assumption is not that 95% of the population have exactly 10 in all six ability scores, the assumption is that the general population is rolled 3d6 six times in order.Now, this would be an insane amount of work for a DM to actually do for his campaign city, and for not much benefit over the deliberately averaged commoner in the MM.I have seen it done though. In 1E's City State of the Invincible Overlord, every single NPC had all six stats published, and they were all rolled on 3d6 in order, and the hit points were also rolled.When you consider having to do that for every single member of a city's population, aren't you glad that you can just assume an 'average' commoner? That ease of use doesn't change the 'reality' of the whole population, just as the fact that 5E's point-buy doesn't let you buy a score of below 8 or above 15 doesn't mean that the lowest stat any human can possibly have is 8, or the highest 15 (before racial mods). Such flawed logic is what leads Hussar to incorrectly assume that the strongest possible 1st level human has a score of 16. It's taking the point-buy method as if it were this method that models the entire population, when all it is is a method to make PCs to play in the game.</blockquote>

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