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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Arial Black" data-source="post: 6873491" data-attributes="member: 6799649">It might be said that we are talking about slightly different things, but my point is that the 'average' that you are talking about has absolutely no impact on any character you play!When we observe something that already exists, like noting the average height of a group of people for example, no observation we make actually changes what we observe (outside of quantum mechanics which, I think you would agree, is outside the scope of the 5E game rules). We can ignore (shoot!) some of the observed group, and that may change our observations (the average height of the part of the group that survives may be different than the average before the culling), but that new average does not change the height of any surviving individual at all!Let's take a thought experiment: there are two identical infinite rooms, where an infinite number of geeks continually roll sets of six stats using 4d6k3. In each room, we can expect that, were we to take an average those sets, that average would be close to 16/14/13/12/10/9. But that average in no way affects any rolled set!Next, in one of the rooms and not the other, discard any set that whose highest stat is less than 14, and discard any set whose cumulative modifiers are less than +1.Now, if you were to collate the new average from that room, it would go up (as long as at least one set were discarded, and there are an infinite number of sets!). However, of the sets that are not discarded, how many sets improve? Does any set actually get better/higher?No! There is not a single set of six ability scores that changes even slightly after the discarding process!Although we are both correct in our own way, the difference is that your way of looking at it has no part in the creation of any character! No single character you roll (that does not get discarded) is affected in any way by any discard option.As to the bell curve? Take 2d6 for simplicity. There are 36 combinations, and the most common result (which is also the average result) is 7, occurring 7 times out of 36.Now discard any result of 5 or less. What happens to the bell curve?Actually, nothing happens to the bell curve! You will still have 7 out of every 36 rolls statistically likely to be 7. The bell curve itself is unaffected by you choosing not to use some of the rolls; you just have wasted rolls!The set of six stats you roll will be unchanged in any way by the presence of a discard rule that does not apply to the set you rolled. Later observations about 'average' rolls of a group of played characters does not change the maths of the rolls you made to get those stats, so are irrelevant when seeking to understand the effect 'discarding' has on the set you roll.</blockquote>

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