D&D 5E Why I Am Starting to Prefer 4d6 Drop the Lowest Over the Default Array.

[rabindranath72]

Yeah, the Cleric in our Basic D&D game rolled a Dex 3, but the player found a way to make the character interesting.

 

[epithet]

I make characters with the full level 1 - 20 career in mind, so to me it makes no sense to try to get a player to run with a set of stats he or she doesn't like. There is no scenario where I would tell a player at the start of a campaign "sorry, those are the stats you rolled; play that character or don't, but you can't roll up another one." That kind of thing might be ok for a "one shot" or a single adventure break from a full campaign, but for a "real" campaign I want to make sure all my players are happy with their characters and fully engaged.

In my group, everyone rolls up stats using 4d6, drop lowest. Then each player can chose whichever set of stats he or she likes (regardless of who rolled them,) and assign them in the order he or she wants. This leads to more powerful characters, and I (as DM) usually compensate by bumping encounters a little. We also tend to have extra feats, because I like to award training as treasure when it seems appropriate to the narrative, and if I'm running a published adventure I'll give "alternate advancement" points instead of XP for extra stuff I throw in to make things more interesting so as not to skew the level curve of the published adventure. 1 point buys a skill, language, or tool; 3 points buys a feat. It's a lot easier to juice up encounters for more capable PCs than to re-arrange the entire adventure to accommodate accelerated levelling.

My point here is that it is really easy to adapt to more capable characters, and completely worth it to let the players realize their character concepts. I tend to use Kobold Fight Club to build encounters, and I'll just dial them in with an extra party member or as a level higher to tweak the balance (or just wing it.) It's not hard to do.

 

[Lanefan]

I make characters with the full level 1 - 20 career in mind

You must either run or play in quite low-lethality campaigns, then, to be able to look that far ahead.

Me, I just assume it's extremely unlikely that the character(s) I start with will be the one(s) I finish with. As a player, I also tend to cycle characters in and out of parties even when death is not the cause.

Which means even if I get a lousy set of stats I can find something* to hang a characterization on; and I'll just play it till it drops or has a logical in-character reason to retire, and come back with something else.

* - usually; I'll freely admit to an occasional exception where a character is just so bland that no inspiration comes...all I can do there is hope it finds a way to die with grace and honour...

Lanefan

 

[FrogReaver]

You must either run or play in quite low-lethality campaigns, then, to be able to look that far ahead.

Me, I just assume it's extremely unlikely that the character(s) I start with will be the one(s) I finish with. As a player, I also tend to cycle characters in and out of parties even when death is not the cause.

Which means even if I get a lousy set of stats I can find something* to hang a characterization on; and I'll just play it till it drops or has a logical in-character reason to retire, and come back with something else.

* - usually; I'll freely admit to an occasional exception where a character is just so bland that no inspiration comes...all I can do there is hope it finds a way to die with grace and honour...

Lanefan

I agree. I stopped worrying about what things were like at level 20 a long time ago. I now mostly concentrate on a holistic look at levels 1-14 and value the levels around level 5 the most (levels 3-7). I don't like to look ahead more than 4-5 levels at the most.

 

[Oofta]

While I don't plan out to level 20, and instead let them grow more organically and what makes sense at the time I never "expect" to switch characters during a campaign. Most of my characters survive at least as long as the campaign (a couple have carried over).

Unless I run an elf/half elf. They always die before they get to third level, usually in moronically stupid ways that I have little or no control over.

I also think up my character personality/flaws/hooks long before any numbers are put on a character sheet. Probably part of why I like point buy. My characters don't start as numbers, the numbers are there to express my vision.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

* - usually; I'll freely admit to an occasional exception where a character is just so bland that no inspiration comes...all I can do there is hope it finds a way to die with grace and honour...

Or have a transformative experience that gives him some distinctive personality traits. Bob the Fighter (Str 11 Dex 10 Con 11 Int 10 Wis 10 Cha 11) may have been just a run of the mill guy once, but then he got marooned at sea once with nothing but an empty jug of maple syrup and the lower torso of an unconscious troll in a cave--and now he still has mediocre stats but he's a wild-eyed semi-savage who files his teeth and has picked up some very odd personal habits such as an overt distrust of his own tattooed right arm, a shrieking fear of Pobbles, and an utter refusal to talk about why he has no nose...

But yeah, failing that, an ignominious retirement or death will occur sooner or later, or the campaign will die.

 

[epithet]

You must either run or play in quite low-lethality campaigns, then, to be able to look that far ahead.
...
Lanefan

Never said they all make it that far, just that I have that longevity in mind. If I can't imagine a running a character for 20 levels, then there's not much point in starting it off in the first place (unless, of course, it's for a one shot or single adventure.)

 

[Lanefan]

I also think up my character personality/flaws/hooks long before any numbers are put on a character sheet. Probably part of why I like point buy. My characters don't start as numbers, the numbers are there to express my vision.

Where while I might well have some clear ideas going in, I also have to see what the dice give me and be ready to react accordingly...this is part of the challenge/fun of random stat rolls.

Bob the Fighter (Str 11 Dex 10 Con 11 Int 10 Wis 10 Cha 11) may have been just a run of the mill guy once, but then he got marooned at sea once with nothing but an empty jug of maple syrup and the lower torso of an unconscious troll in a cave--and now he still has mediocre stats but he's a wild-eyed semi-savage who files his teeth and has picked up some very odd personal habits such as an overt distrust of his own tattooed right arm, a shrieking fear of Pobbles, and an utter refusal to talk about why he has no nose...

You're stretching that Cha 11 mighty thin with this guy...what you describe sounds like about a Cha 6...and much more playable.

Never said they all make it that far, just that I have that [1-20] longevity in mind.

This is heartwarmingly optimistic of you.

Lan-"this 'level 20' you speak of must surely be a myth, or legend; as none alive have ever seen it"-efan

 

[TheCosmicKid]

You're stretching that Cha 11 mighty thin with this guy...what you describe sounds like about a Cha 6...and much more playable.

Although I very much appreciate the poetic justice in accusing Hemlock of playing his stats wrong, I've got to defend him on this one. Charisma's not about what you do, it's about how you do it. He could have 18 Charisma and still act like that -- it'd simply make him a mysterious tortured soul who makes men quaver and women quaver for different reasons, as opposed to a repulsive lunatic people just try not to look at.

 

[Shasarak]

We are doing this (which I stole from this board at some point) after the current campaign ends at 20th (we are close):

Everyone rolls ONE set of 4d6 drop lowest, then each set is written down on a sheet of paper. Players pick the stat array they want from the list, and players can even pick the same one. This way, either everyone is screwed equally, or everyone gets the god stats.

This is a great idea!