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

[cbwjm]

If I can place my rolls wherever then I'll just make someone that can't talk his way out of a paper bag. If it's in order then that's potentially a deadly scenario, since if it ends up in constitution then I'm likely to have a short career, a 3 dexterity won't help much on the survival side of things either. Strength I can manage but my wizard might become a some other spellcaster so he doesn't have to lug around a spellbook. Intelligence just means a big dumb brute of a fighter, wisdom might be a thief or bard who always gets into trouble.

So I will play a PC with a 3 stat, I may not be enthusiastic about that 3 but that won't stop me from having fun in the game.

 

[haakon1]

I mostly DM. I let people reroll the whole set of stats if they don’t like it.

Not everyone is cut out to be an adventurer. Some sets of stats should probably stay home.

 

[AnotherGuy]

Amazing! Unless you put it in Strength, then I will cry.

I'd likely (and have done) play a child with divine powers or innate arcane powers

 

[Lanefan]

I mostly DM. I let people reroll the whole set of stats if they don’t like it.

Not everyone is cut out to be an adventurer. Some sets of stats should probably stay home.

Having a hard cutline can help, as there's some players out there who won't like it unless their average is 17 or higher.

My cutline is if either of

A - none of your rolls is higher than 13, or
B - the average of all six rolls is lower than 10.0

is true, then you may reroll.

And yes, this means the "balanced" point-buy array of 13-13-13-12-12-12 would qualify for reroll in my game.

 

[Horwath]

One solution to make stat rolling mean less is:

use abilities just for ABILITY checks, rest uses only proficiency bonus:

Attack: 2×prof bonus, or only prof bonus if non proficient
AC:10+prof bonus(if proficient with armor)+ AC bonus(if any)
Damage: base damage+prof bonus(if proficient with weapon)
DC: 8+2×prof bonus
Saves: prof bonus for non proficient, 2×prof bonus for proficient saves.
Initiative: d20+prof bonus
HPs: add +2 per level HP, 80% of characters have 14 CON anyway.

 

[Umbran]

I have never played with a group that felt a 3 was a playable stat. So, this would trigger whatever re-roll processes the game had established.

 

[TwoSix]

Which would you choose?

A) 14-14-14-14-14-14
B) 18-14-14-14-14-3

 

[AlViking]

Which would you choose?

A) 14-14-14-14-14-14
B) 18-14-14-14-14-3

I would choose A every time. To be honest they'd feel a little OP to me though.

 

[Swarmkeeper]

Which would you choose?

A) 14-14-14-14-14-14
B) 18-14-14-14-14-3

I’d find A kinda boring, so would pick B.

B offers a chance at maxing the character’s primary stat, after the initial ASI. It also provides a solid mechanical weakness out the gate that could make certain aspects of gameplay more challenging and might require more reliance on other party members.

 

[jayoungr]

I had a player roll a 3 in a game with rolled stats. I told him I'd let him pull points from other stats to prop up that 3. He took me up on it and bumped the character's INT to 6.