re-rolling 1's

[Herzog]

stats are almost always rolled using the standard rules. (4d6, discard lowest, arrange as seen fit) although I tend to roll in order for my own characters (helps me decide on a class to pick)

I have only had 1 DM who used a re-roll system for hp, and he used the following system:

When your total hp falls below the average for the class(es) you took, you may re-roll your last die.

So, starting with max at lvl 1, at lvl 2 you could re-roll anything below the average for the HD.
If you rolled really high (max..) for lvl 2, your third lvl would have less chance of being a re-roll. If you rolled just above average for lvl 2, the third lvl would again have a ~50% chance for a re-roll.

This assured that all characters would have above average hp, without taking out the chance factor altogether.

Herzog

 

[DragonLancer]

Despite giving all monsters max hit points I may add

Not all of them. At low levels (1-5) I don't give them that. And then only when I feel that I need to in order to make a suitable encounter.

 

[RFisher]

Interesting thought that limits your attribute range from 6 to 18. I am not sure what does to the Bell Curve, though.

The most common score becomes 13. The probability of both 6 & 18 are 1:36.

I'd imagine finding a DM that would go for that is not that simple

Every DM should once allow players to freely pick their ability scores. You will probably be surprised by the result.

 

[maggot]

Every DM should once allow players to freely pick their ability scores. You will probably be surprised by the result.

Perhaps it is just my players, but I tried that and I got one character who was 28pt buy, one that was 32pt buy, one that was about 70pt buy, and one that had a couple of 22's and a 20.

So we switched to a different method.

 

[RFisher]

Perhaps it is just my players, but I tried that and I got one character who was 28pt buy, one that was 32pt buy, one that was about 70pt buy, and one that had a couple of 22's and a 20.

So we switched to a different method.

If you are implying that that is a problem, I would merely note that it isn't a problem for many groups.

Did any of their choices surprise you?

 

[maggot]

If you are implying that that is a problem, I would merely note that it isn't a problem for many groups.

I don't know many groups where one guy can have stats of 15,14,13,12,10,8 and another guy have 22,20,18,18,16,16 with some kind of long-term negative ramification, especially if both are playing barbarians. If anything, it would make balancing encounters very tricky to keep the standard array guy in the game.

Did any of their choices surprise you?

Yes, actually. I figured some players would be kind of high, but two 18s seemed kind of extreme. And going outside the 3-18 range was a bit of a surprise. Going outside of it multiple times was truly top notch. I think the player in question did it just to make a point and return to 4d6 drop 1. (Of course, to do that he could have written down Str 130, Dex 950, Con Infinite, etc.)

At some point writting down stats breaks down. Would you allow an Str 130 guy at first level?

 

[CanadienneBacon]

Just wondering how mant DM's out there allow players to re-roll 1's during character creation. Also do you allow re-rolls for 1's on anything eles (Hit Points, etc.).

If it's to be a high-powered campaign, then we roll 4d6, re-roll 1s, and drop the lowest. If, on the re-roll(s), more 1s keep coming up, then the player keeps rolling that die until it doesn't show a 1 anymore.

I do not currently nor have I ever allowed players to re-roll hit points if they roll a 1. Not saying I wouldn't in the future, but I haven't ever to date. We once had a barbarian who rolled really poorly nearly every level, so that by about 8th level he had something like only 24 HP. The wizard had more HP than the barbarian did. The barbarian player got no end of rp mileage out of his PC's extra low HP. If I'd allowed him to re-roll all those 1s on his HP, I'd've been cheating the group out of a lot of fun times at the table. And I would never want to do that, no sir.

 

[irdeggman]

With the "keeper" concept built into the 3.5 system rerolling 1s shouldn't be necessary.

A character is not a keeper unless both of the follwoing conditions are met:

At least a +1 net ability mod

and

at least one ability score of 14 or more.



Now historically (in 2nd ed) we gamed with a player who "cheated" all of the time. He rerolled 1s on ability score rolls without "asking" the DM. His logic was "I've always done it that way" - he came into the group after most of the group had been gaming together for 10+ years. There was already a house rule that your PC had to have at least 3 15s or higher to be a "keeper". Now having said that he "cheated" really had no overall impact in the continuing game, except that his PCs were very, very powerful. He went into the game assuming his PC would die every week and rolled up new PCs almost every other session. We nick named him "Kenny".

This re-roll 1s really got bad when playing Dark Sun.

Ability scores in Dark Sun were rolled using 5 d4 - so 1/4 of the time he was rerolling his dice.

 

[RFisher]

I don't know many groups where one guy can have stats of 15,14,13,12,10,8 and another guy have 22,20,18,18,16,16 with some kind of long-term negative ramification, especially if both are playing barbarians. If anything, it would make balancing encounters very tricky to keep the standard array guy in the game.

Which just reinforces for me the fact that there is some fundamental difference is how some people play vs. every group I have ever been in.

Any "balancing encounters" I do is very rough. Even then, it's against the party, not against individual PCs.

It's not an intra-party competition. PCs are happy to have each other's capabilities at their disposal rather than jealous of them. Sure, two barbarians in one party are going to "step on each others toes" a bit, but you know that up front. You have the same potential for problems when the wizard's spells seem to trump the rogue's abilities. This isn't something unique to ability scores. The party finds roles for each PC. The DM should try to make sure that everyone has a chance at spotlight time.

More importantly, though, the player has generally counted more than the PC in my groups. It's the ideas & decisions that really matter, not just the mechanics.

At some point writting down stats breaks down. Would you allow an Str 130 guy at first level?

I've never seen a DM allow "choose your scores" to go beyond what is possible under conventional means. Dropping the 18 to 20ish cap on starting ability scores is, IMHO, a wholly separate issue.

How much what I said above still holds with on PC having a 22 & a 20, I don't know.