While true, it effectively means that the game is technically designed to handle fluxuating ability scores, so the removal or addition of a few ability point bonuses should not greatly affect the play experience.
Level Up (A5E) Where to put ability bonuses during character creation
While true, it effectively means that the game is technically designed to handle fluxuating ability scores, so the removal or addition of a few ability point bonuses should not greatly affect the play experience.
jmucchiello
Hero
Rolling 4d6 drop the lowest averages 6 12s. Point buy averages to 6 12s. Standard array, using reverse point buy averages 6 12s. The default method of char gen assumes a certain range of ability scores and monster designs take that into account.
Micah Sweet
Level Up & OSR Enthusiast
It may be supposed to be designed for range of ability scores, but I think in practice it assumes something like what the array produces. Since rolling tends to produce higher scores in practice, this means that monsters are underpowered under the "default" ability generation model.
jmucchiello
Hero
No, it doesn't actually. Or it's not supposed to. It's just people don't use the underpowered results. On average, you get 6 12s. In practice, someone gets 2 18s and 4 12s and someone else gets 4 10s and 2 8s and the second guy is told to try again.
Micah Sweet
Level Up & OSR Enthusiast
That is exactly what I'm talking about. For practical purposes, rolling produces higher results.
CubicsRube
Hero
People seem to forget about rolling and treat a +1 difference as massive. The game has been built with the assumption one charavter might only have a 14 in their primary stat with another with 18.
5e is a lot more robust than many seem to believe.
DND_Reborn
The High Aldwin
FWIW...
Rolling 4d6-L averages 12.24 (roughly)
The standard array does, in fact, average 12.
Point-but averages 11.5-12.5 depending on the scores generated (with an overall average of 12.05 for all possible arrays)
So, on average the total of the scores for rolling will be less than 1.5 points better than the standard array; and point-buy can sum as high as 75, which would be about 1.5 points better than rolling 4d6-L.
Rolling 4d6-L averages 12.24 (roughly)
The standard array does, in fact, average 12.
Point-but averages 11.5-12.5 depending on the scores generated (with an overall average of 12.05 for all possible arrays)
So, on average the total of the scores for rolling will be less than 1.5 points better than the standard array; and point-buy can sum as high as 75, which would be about 1.5 points better than rolling 4d6-L.
jmucchiello
Hero
I believe .24 and .5 are withing the margin of error for stats when you need 2 point difference to have a meaningful game effect.
DND_Reborn
The High Aldwin
For any one score, sure, but the cumulative effect is about 1.5 as I wrote depending on which methods you are comparing, and 1.5 is nearly the 2 you need for a +1 modifier. So, while the differences are not necessarily enough to make one system better to another, they can be used as such.
For example, the standard array is 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8 or +2, +2, +1, +1, and -1, for a total of +5 modifiers. Point buy can give you 14, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, for a total modifier sum of +7, which is +2 greater than the standard array. Even the accepted standard array equivalent for 4d6-L is 16, 14, 13, 12, 10, 9, totaling +6 in modifiers.
Thus, point-buy can give you +7, the "standard array" of 4d6-L gives you +6, and the standard array is +5. Each system can show a +1 total modifier better than the other. Is the difference meaningful? That is up the the individual to surmise, but the systems are not really equivalent. I would never use the standard array, for example, if point-buy was an option.
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I think its probably much higher. My take is that considering how many rolls it actually takes to get a to a true "average", I think the reality is the ability scores don't have as much to do with character success as people might think.
At the end of the day, the randomness of damage and d20 rolls account for a LOT of the experience at the table... and just as the system is robust enough to account for one character with "hot dice" from going off the deep end, its robust enough that a +2/-2 here or there doesn't break the bank in the overall scheme.
Just to give a statistical demonstration. On average, it takes 72 rolls of a d20 before you will witness every value of the die comes up at least once (its like 71.95 if you want to get technical). That means there is some poor person out there that will roll their d20 72 times in a dnd game before ever seeing a 20 result. The game is quite random all things said, and its robust enough to handle those swings.
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