So, I rolled 5 18s

[Jedi_Solo]

I've played the low stat character in a game with an uber-character. This was the campaign that started our group using point-buy. Calculated with point buy, my character was about an 18 point-buy and the other was about 40 point buy. The numbers may not be exactly accurate since it has been a few years since the campaign and I had stats lower than 8.

Social interaction for the characters wasn't much of a problem. I wasn't the face man for the group anyway. Combat, on the other hand, was a different issue. If a combat was scaled to my character, the big guy would look at it crosseyed and it would keel over dead. If the combat was scaled to the big guy I was forced to stand in the back and hope nothing got past the front line (okay - slight exageration here I will admit. He had to hit the monsters with a sword and THEN look at them crosseyed for the critters to die. But my point still stands )

I say drop the character. Gloat all you want to the group, it's a great story after all, but don't have the uber-character next to a guy that had to roll six times just to get what is classified as a viable character by the DMG (with all six sets rolled in front of the whole group and still told as a comedy story (even by me) to this day). It is easier on the DM and all of the players if the characters are about even. If the fight is a fair fight to you the weakling will be in the corner shaking like a leaf. If the fight is fair to the weakling you will be bored from how easy the combat tends to be.

 

[lukelightning]

The original poster still hasn't informed us of one vitally important piece of information: What method of rolling was he using? The default 4d6+drop? Some other variant?

In any case, I never use random scores, but if I did I'd insist the rolls be in the presence of the DM.

 

[Endur]

Also, lets remember that the odds of rolling an 18 are not pure math.

There are some variables based on the person rolling the dice and the dice themselves and the surface they are landing on.

According to math, if you were using the original 3d6 method, which is supposedly 1/6 times 1/6 times 1/6 for a 1 in 216 chance of rolling an 18.

If you tell me that your first stat is an 18, I'm not necessarily going to believe that you have a 1 in 216 chance for your next stat to also be an 18. Instead the odds might be somewhat less based on other variables. By the time you have rolled three 18s in a row, the odds of another 18 might be higher than any other result.

 

[Nyaricus]

Completely OT, but hey...

Back in the day, say about 4 years ago, this guy named Trevor was gaming with us. We were playing a monster campiagn, and he wanted to be a minotaur. He rolls. Five 18s and a 17. My Centaur Bard/Ranger was very jealous of the Minotaur Barbarian/Fighter's prowness in battle.

The highest stats I've ever seen rolled, and there were about 7 witnesses to that. Yeesh.

 

[Herzog]

Somewhat OT, but still:

Most campaigns I play in use the 4d6, drop lowest, 6 times, assign as you see fit rule.

One used a 5d6, drop 2 lowest, 4 times, assign as you see fit, 5d6, drop 2 highest, 2 times, assign as you see fit rule.

Mostly, I roll my stats in order (disregarding the oppertunity to assign free) to set the base of my character.
I have played all sorts of classes, and with the multitude available in 3.x i tend to get swamped.

Having generated stats gives me a starting point for class-selection.


Should I ever be invited to a group using point-buy, I would probably still roll, check against the point-buy system, and lower or increase certain stats when necessary to conform to the point buy total.......

More on-topic:
If I roll up a character by myself, and get this kind of stats, I would think: Nice stats, no idea what to do with it. lets roll again!

Herzog

 

[glass]

LordBOB, as a moderator, I'd like to ask that you not attempt to bypass the swearing filters.

Especially since you can just say ass. Like this:

Ass ass aSS ass ass ass ass ASS.

Ass is not filtered.

But for 's sake don't say !

Now that is what I call moderation!


glass.

 

[glass]

You ever notice how everyone always comes here with stories about how they rolled up incredibly unlikely high-stat combos for characters, but no one ever seems to comment on how they rolled up a character with all 4s and 5s? I haven't done the math, but I'd say an all 5 and less character is probably much more probably (using 4d6 drop lowest) as someone with 5 18s.

An all-5-or-less character is impossible unless you really want to play one, because it is well below the re-roll threshold.


glass.

 

[Wolf72]

Completely OT, but hey...

Back in the day, say about 4 years ago, this guy named Trevor was gaming with us. We were playing a monster campiagn, and he wanted to be a minotaur. He rolls. Five 18s and a 17. My Centaur Bard/Ranger was very jealous of the Minotaur Barbarian/Fighter's prowness in battle.

The highest stats I've ever seen rolled, and there were about 7 witnesses to that. Yeesh.

that's not OT ... you're right on the ball, there was witnesses and the person was rolling up a PC to use then, not 'practicing'.

even with a couple of -'s that PC is just kick arse!

 

[was]

If we choose to use dice rolls to determine stats, all rolls are made in front of the group. So, as a DM, I wouldn't let that pc be run unless I saw the rolls. If you got high rolls in front of the group, then I'd have no problems with it.

 

[lacedaemon]

It depends on which system he used.

If he used 3D6, I do not believe him. The odds of that are 1 in 250+ billion. That's like winning the lottery 5000+ times.

If he used 4D6 drop lowest, I still do not believe him. The odds of that are 1 in 500+ million. That's like winning the lottery 10+ times.

If he used 5D6 drop lowest two, it starts coming down into the believable range, but I still do not believe him. The odds of that are 1 in 10+ million. That's like winning a small lottery.


I once had a friend who claimed that his DM rolled 7 20s on 7 consecutive D20s. I told him that he was either misremembering, or the die was loaded. The odds of doing that are 1 in 1,280,000,000. Now, I know that someone will claim that it COULD happen, but I still do not believe it happened in his game. That's like winning the lottery 25+ times. Nope. Never happened. Sorry.

Anything is possible I did once role 5 18's for a game in front of the DM but the DM nerfed it saying the stats were to good and had to balance more with the other players cutting me down to 2 18's. This is with 4d6 minus the lowest. I can understand his point but always use point based buys now its a long time since I have roled a character.

I have also had an elf with 17 or 18 for all stats but one which was a 3 the dm did let me play that one though curse all threes.

You do need to role in front of people though.