D&D General You Were Rolling Up a New Character, and Just Rolled a 3. What Is Your Reaction?

[TiQuinn]

Depends on the GM, the campaign pitch and the chemistry with the other players.

Light hearted romp through classic dungeons? Sure why not.

Serious character arc-building campaign? ehhhhhh I'll ask for a re-roll, unless I can make that terrible stat be an interesting trait.

Yeah, I tend to come up with character concepts first prior to die rolls, not the other way around. Sometimes I’m willing to adjust that concept, other times, I’d ask for the reroll. Honestly, it’s why for most games, I’m cool with standard array or point buy.

 

[Cadence]

Depends on the GM, the campaign pitch and the chemistry with the other players.

Light hearted romp through classic dungeons? Sure why not.

Serious character arc-building campaign? ehhhhhh I'll ask for a re-roll, unless I can make that terrible stat be an interesting trait.

I think this is one of the big question I have - is it a hopefully long term campaign with lots of combat and other rolls where failing them 20% more often might start being noticeable, or is it one that's more light-hearted?

To be honest, I don't think ability scores have much impact on how players roleplay. Nor should they, for the most part. I run a LOT of games, and players always come up with their character concept first. If getting a particular roll is inspiring for a player, that's awesome, but in practice I don't see that much. Except for intelligence, occasionally, and then it's usually predictable, and only done when convenient. Unless you're Travis Willingham...though even he broke character to have Grog come up with clever plans pretty regularly.

What’s wrong with playing a disabled character? Though I disagree a three is disabled.

And there’s nothing saying a three INT means a PC can’t put together a coherent sentence.

A lot of this seems to tie into the same issues as how the species ASIs weren't really meaningfully large to some and were huge to others. Thinking back, there have been times where the %-ile interpretation of a 3 going with being in the bottom 0.004=0.4% or with a z-score of -2.53 seemed like a popular thing, in which case a 3 would emphatically would be considered as having a disability.

The very act of putting ability scores on monsters and animals and trying to make them all fall between 1 and 20 or so on a scale where humans are typically 3-18 and the bonuses are linear -- and then vaguely describing the mental stats in ways that are kind of like what a psychometrician might come up with as a scale (no matter how flawed) -- also leans that way. Things like a lion or jackal have a 3 INT in 5e and an ape having a 5 INT. The physical stats are similar, but just less cringey. An Ape only has a Str 16 and a Tiger of 17. etc...

Looking at them as just the bonuses to game activities (and not as percentiles or being tied into things with descriptions related to strength and intelligence) dodges that and I think makes it much easier to play a low stat (for those who think the things on the character sheets should have anything to do with how a character is played anyway; those who don't should have been fine anyway I guess).

But then calls into question why bother having anything like the current abilities at all. (Which is another topic).

In any case, reading a lot of the replies above makes me much happier thinking about playing a character with a low stat.

Finally, comic potential from some low stats (especially INT) feels cringe to me. On the other hand I can see CHR going that way.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I think this gimmick might work better over VTT play. You could, theoretically, type in chat to simulate writing messages on a board. And PM other players for sign language or other non-verbal communication.

That would be a great way to leverage the technology to bring the character to life.

 

[Gorgon Zee]

Assuming you are creating a new character, and
assuming that you DO roll your stats, and
assuming you DID roll a nat-3...
...what is your initial reaction?

We also roll up characters after discussing the genre and tone of the game we are running. And that makes a big difference.

So, if I was in a PF2 AP, and for some reason we had decided to roll stats, the GM would likely allow a re-roll, as a character with such a low stat would have much less fun in a more aggressive game. I also ran a campaign where the goal was to get the best ingredients for a lich necromancer lord to use in the annual cookery contest. People there would be happy to roll a 3.

But generally, we don't roll. I ran in a 3.5 campaign using 4d6 drop one where one fighter type had two 17's and an 18, and another was all flat stats, max of 15 (maybe a 16). It did not make the game more fun for anyone.

 

[CreamCloud0]

Expedite the foregone conclusion and start rolling up a new array immediately.

 

[jaycrockett]

I'm pretty sure in my 40 years of rolling 4d6 and dropping the lowest I've never seen someone roll 4 ones. I did run a DCC 0 level funnel where out of the 15 scratch off character sheets one of them had a 3 agility. He didn't make it. But half the party didn't either. I think his real problem was he was deemed expendable and pushed in front of every dangerous situation.

 

[the Jester]

I'm excited to see what kind of interesting character I can build. Tied to my strong preference for rolling stats in order, I'm pretty sure I end up with a cool, fun, and high-comedy-potential pc.

 

[Swarmkeeper]

This is the problem when assigning linear bonuses to bell-curve stats.

A 3 is the extreme low end of the bell-curve. In real life, you'll never see someone with 3 in anything on the street as that person is either incapable of getting there or incapable of functioning there. In the game, allowances will have to be made for that 3-stat person to be able to function in the field, though if done right this can greatly enhance your game.

Another mark against the 5e PHB.

And that choice IMO absolutely has to be informed by the character's stats, otherwise the player is cheating.

Sure, at your table. At our table, roleplay how you like - I don't want to put myself in a situation where I'm policing how players should roleplay their PCs (under the guise that they're somehow "cheating" if they cross some arbitrary line?). I've got enough on my plate and, regardless, the 5e rules do not tell me I should do so. Telling a player that "your character wouldn't try/say/think that" is anathema to fun for us. That said, the smart play is usually to avoid PC actions that could potentially trigger the DM to call for a roll that involves your bad stat. The dice are not your friend.

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

And why is that? Is there a rule that you have to RP to your stats?

No rule. just a matter of sportsmanship.

sure, technically there's nothing FORCING you to act a 3 int in a specific way...but like...cats in dnd have 3 int. as do foxes, elephants, tigers, sperm whales, walruses...

so it's perfectly accurate to say a 3 intelligence is "animal level reasoning" when multiple animals literally have that level of intelligence.

More to the point: With an Int of 3, multiple animals are measurably brighter than you are.

 

[saviirkad]

Had a Paladin with a 3 Dex, which was very fun playing a character who would dive out of the way after the Fireball explosion clears.

I'm currently playing this Druid/Wizard/Cleric multiclass with 18s in her Int and Wis, has +16 to most Int/Wis checks, and a +24 Arcana. She can boost those skills even further several different ways, which is how she could reach 50+ on Arcana multiple times.

We're almost done with the campaign, and I've already got a PC rolled up for the next one ready to go, and I am so excited that he's got an 8 and 9 for Int/Wis. After trying to play as someone brilliant and hyper aware for so long, I deeply crave the himbo experience.