Rolling characters...what's your favorite method?

[incognito]

I like to see players start off on equal footing stat wise:

It's awful when you have the one PC who ended up with the quivalent of a high point buy, and another pc who is significantly lower. It ruins character spotlighttime often, and does not allow for CHA based classes to be run by the low rolling gent

I use two methods:

1) An 80 point, 1 for 1, point buy, with racial penalites meaning the character in question may not put more than a 20/16 that stat. I liek this becaus eit takes soem of the "sting" out of being a 1/2 orc. Problems with it is all the cheaty elves runing around with 16 CON and 14 DEX

2) A new default array: 17, 15, 14, 13, 12, 9 this is actually nice becase no one starts out with an 18, and they have to consider the low score. It't weak in that a character who wants lower, more well rounded scores cannot have them unless he/she chooses a non human race, and the 1/2 orc thing (Admittedly a DM pet peeve).

 

[Munin]

Thanks for all the tips, guys.

I'll be going with a modified version of Kenjibs idea for my next game.

Corinth, the problem I have with point buy is that it sets the wrong tone for the game. A characters entire life is determined by the whims of the dice. Nothing tells a player that better than making them roll for their stats. In my experience, point buy leads to min/maxed, homogenous characters.

As far as cheating goes, that's never been a problem with my group. We always roll on the table in front of the entire group. Besides, most of the players would enjoy playing a 'gimped' character, I guess they're sadistic like that!

 

[kenjib]

I hope it works out well for you. I thought I'd add that another person that tried this system (LordBen I think?) mentioned that he found that rolling 4d6 drop lowest worked better than 3d6 if you go with a higher point buy baseline.

 

[ForceUser]

In our games, we're switching to a system we call Organic Point-Buy. We've played standard point-buy for over a year now and come to the conclusion that its simply too sterile. We perfer 28 points in our campaigns, and over the last year of using standard point-buy we've noticed a disheartening trend:

All fighter have an 8 Cha.
All wizards have an 8 Str.
All clerics have a 10 Dex.
All rogues have a 10 Wis.

etc...

We like point-buy in terms of power, but as DMs we want to see a bit less optimization and a bit more flavor. One of my friends discovered what we have dubbed the Organic Point-Buy system on these very boards about 6 months ago, and we are implementing it unilaterally in all our games henceforth. Here's how it works:

Step One. Roll 3d6 straight down.

Step Two. Flip-flop any two stats.

Step Three. Add up your stats using the point-buy system and compare your total to 28 points (Or whatever points you use in your campaign. We like 28). If your stats add up to less than 28 points, you gain the difference to distribute as you like. If your stats add up to 28 points or more, you gain 4 points anyway as a nod at flexibility.

Step Four. Assign racial modifiers.

That's it. Players are happy because they can still sculpt their stats to a character concept, and DMs are happy because all characters have stats in the same range (a strength of the point buy method) and none are 100% optimized (a strength of the rolling method). Now that fighter might have a 13 Cha, the rogue might have a 14 Wis, etc.

We like this system a lot.

 

[John Crichton]

Here's how it works:

Step One. Roll 3d6 straight down.

Step Two. Flip-flop any two stats.

Step Three. Add up your stats using the point-buy system and compare your total to 28 points (Or whatever points you use in your campaign. We like 28). If your stats add up to less than 28 points, you gain the difference to distribute as you like. If your stats add up to 28 points or more, you gain 4 points anyway as a nod at flexibility.

Step Four. Assign racial modifiers.

Hmmm, sounds cool. I may use it next time I roll up a PC for myself. Could generate a few cool ideas....

 

[Jeph]

I've thought about doing this...

1 at 1d4+16
2 at 1d6+12
2 at 1d8 +10
1 at 1d10+8

 

[hammymchamham]

I vote for an interesting way as: 1d20 7 times, drop the lowest roll. Truely makes this a d20 system.

Normally I have played with roll 4d6, drop lowest 1, 7 times, drop lowest total roll.

Next game I run (which hopefully will be in a month), I'm doing the roll of :

8d6, take highest 3
7d6, etc
6d6, etc
5d6, etc
4d6, etc
3d6, etc

Reroll of total modifers (before racial adjustment) is +3 or lower.

Next game I want above average, powerful folk. I'm gonna start at either level 3-4, so I might beable to convince the guy who only likes powerful games.

 

[Dog Faced God]

In 2E I used this method:

Roll 3d6 x 6. Count all ones as sixes, and all twos as fives. Arrange to taste. This method usually resulted in characters with 15's as their lowest stat.

In 3E I use this method:

Roll 3d6 x 6. Count <i>one</i> one as a six (for example, 1,1,5 would actually be 6,1,5). If you roll three ones, it's an eighteen. Total up your ability modifiers. If the total is less than +1, re-roll all stats. If your highest stat is thirteen, re-roll all stats. Arrange to taste.

I like the 'draw cards' method mentioned by Magius del Cotto.

 

[Furn_Darkside]

I'm point buy all the way. It provides an even playing field for all the players, and eliminates any whining about bad rolls.

Simplicity is a DM's best friend.[/URL]

Painfully hit the nail on the head. (err.. yeah..*chuckle*)

We use point buy.

Sure, an even playing field may not be "realistic", but it gives all players of the game an even starting point.

FD

 

[bwgwl]

All rogues have a 10 Wis.

as an aside, this has really been your experience?

that's strange to me. two of the most commonly used rogue skills (Spot and Listen) are dependent on Wisdom. in my campaigns, i always see rogues with at least a 12-14 Wisdom. the rogue i'm currently playing through RttToEE has a 16 Wisdom!