What character generation method do you use?

[Terraism]

First the DM determines the point-buy standard he's using for his campaign. We often go with 28 points. A player rolls 3d6 straight down in the order of the stats (Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, Cha)....{TRIMMED}

That is perhaps one of the best methods I've ever seen. Consider it stolen.

 

[demiurge1138]

I use what I've dubbed the "Wisnewski method", after a player who did this without telling me. It was easier and more legal to adopt the method than to bury his body in a shallow grave by the railroad tracks. The method acts as 4d6, drop lowest, arrange to taste, but the player rolls multiple sets (usually 5) and selects the set that suits him. High-powered, yes, but I make my players work for every xp.

Demiurge out.

 

[Arc]

I use what I've dubbed the "Wisnewski method", after a player who did this without telling me. It was easier and more legal to adopt the method than to bury his body in a shallow grave by the railroad tracks. The method acts as 4d6, drop lowest, arrange to taste, but the player rolls multiple sets (usually 5) and selects the set that suits him. High-powered, yes, but I make my players work for every xp.

Demiurge out.

Btw, you spelled my name wrong.

Anyways, this occured when I asked how many characters I could roll up, and you gave a somewhat offhand answer, something like 6 or 7. Then, instead of telling me to just redo it, you kinda applied it to the entire group, even though the character I made wasn't that powerful.

I'd still prefer 32 point buy, simply because it keeps all the arguments about rolling techniques to a minumum. Especially since you got rid of the especially whiny players, you could probably pull it off without any long, drawn out arguments (as you were wont to have with Chris and crew).

 

[Threedub]

We use to use 4d6, arrange in any order during 1E, 2E, and the first few 3E campaigns. Now we use a 32 point buy as it eliminates roll fudging. There are just some people you can't trust, and it seems they always play a rogue or paladin.

However, one of the most enjoyable games I was ever in was using 3d6 in order. It was challenging and great fun (when your wisdom score is 3, you have a habit of making poor choices), but after that campaign a lot of players changed and I'm the only one that has ever voted for a straight roll since.

 

[Agemegos]

/me hangs head in embarrassment

I am afraid that all three characters I have played under D&D 3.x have been generated under hideous rules such as 5d6-2L, seven times, keep best six, arrange as desired. This produces characters taht I am ashamed to describe in public, but it has allowed me to play members of classes that depend on several good stats: a paladin (STR 16, CON 16, DEX 14, INT 14, WIS 13, CHA 18), an elvish monk, and a drow bard.

On the rare occasions when I DM, I prefer 4d6-L in order, make one swap, then re-roll one stat if you wish. Occasionally that makes it hard for people to play the class they had in mind, but I don't mind that because otherwise players tend to fall into ruts.

 

[TimSmith]

On the rare occasions when I DM, I prefer 4d6-L in order, make one swap, then re-roll one stat if you wish. Occasionally that makes it hard for people to play the class they had in mind, but I don't mind that because otherwise players tend to fall into ruts.

This is what I prefer, too-think its called "organic characters" in the DMG. It tends to give slightly better scores overall, but you can't put every score where you want. Makes for some interesting characters such as a high strength sorceror or high int barbarian.

 

[woodelf]

Either
--4d6, drop whichever one you darn well feel like, and arrange to suit [sure, most people drop the lowest die, but i think it's silly to explicitly disallow dropping a high die by the wording of the rules]
or
--a system sorta like the old Unearthed Arcana option: each race has a variable number of dice for each stat, from 2 to 9. You roll that many, total up to 3 of them (usually the highest three, but it's up to the player), and that's your score for that ability. Helps to enforce the stereotypes of the races by generally giving them the expected strengths and weaknesses. The idea is to be more simulationist, rather than the goal of the UA method which was to be narrativist and give you the class you wanted.

 

[jollyninja]

whatever method the players want to use is fine with me. if you want your character to have all 18's fine, he'll just get the extra attacker most of the times there is one, not get any tailored magic items, and be penalised just a bit in every way i have available as a dm short of outright headhunting him. if you want to play a lower powered character and have some sense of accomplishment in the end, i'm alot more likely to assist you in meeting your goals. the players are told this before character creation. socially many are envious of the clearly gifted individual who is a success and most are inspired by the guy who is not all that different then themselves but manages to do something extraordinary. i'm not saying i want guys playing characters with all 10 stats but if your average is higher then 14, i'm not interested in putting alot of thought into hepling your character survive. he's good enough to do it himself.

 

[Philip]

28 point buy.

Used to be in the weirdo category back in 2E:

Roll 3d6 in order, then roll 4d6 and assign the result of each die to one of the abilities as desired (points above 18 were lost). This way, players could always play what they wanted, but you did get the occasional fighter with Cha 17.

 

[diaglo]

i'm a softie. i let the Players roll their own stats.

3d6 six times. in order.

there is a method for taking points from non prime abilities and adding to prime at varying costs.... but the lowest you can dump a stat is 9 still.

from Booklet I