Rolling stats [Archive] - Wizards Community

Rolling stats [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
stephenKingMinion
04-14-04, 07:52 PM 8 + d10.

Each.

Either placed automatically or chosen, adjusted to player's skill as determined by DM.

Comments?
Wolf72
04-14-04, 09:10 PM boring ...

might as well do the higher powered stat buy.

personally I like the good 'ol 4d6, drop lowest method.

one of these days I want to to a game where everyone has to roll 3d6 in order ...

I like flaws and difficulties.
Bard-of-all-trades
04-15-04, 08:00 PM The DM we have likes the idea that the players are above average, physically and mentally. He uses the 5d6 drop the lowest 2 and these can be placed as wanted by the player. Very good chance of all bonuses and the lowest stat my latest character has is a 14. He has a house rule which is awesome (if you role all five dice and get the same result).

I'm getting into another game where the DM uses the following formula: 20 - d10. If you roll a 10, roll again. If you roll a 10 twice you get to keep that stat at 20. Otherwise, it's a 10. Each stat is rolled in order, so they cannot be placed as you want them. Makes you play the stats. He says it's like family, you don't get to choose them.

I've also heard of a DM that used the following formula: 10 + d8
I thought this would make for bland character. As opposed to the original formula given, which would make for a "normal" hero (i.e. some flaws and not perfect).

Anyway, you're the DM and you have the final say as to what your players do. I would caution you to make sure they have at least a +3 bonus when adding all bonuses/penalties or they might be too difficult to play. Good luck.
Aurotuli
04-17-04, 03:15 AM I've seen and played under many methods.

One DM I played under used 2d10 - reroll 2s & 20s and reroll all scores if the total of the modifiers (pre-racial adjustments) is negative. An interesting system (high chance for mid-level scores, very low chances for high/low scores: 2% chance for a 3 or 19, 3% for a 4 or 18, 4% for a 5 or 17, ... , 9% for a 10 or 12, and 10% chance for an 11. Most would roll around 8 to 13 (44% chance of being rolled). It was a good but strange system; it really made massive or miniscule scores stand out.

Another DM had me roll (3d6 6x) 3x - and then choose which of the three collumns I wanted to use. If we got a cohort, if we died and created a new PC, or if we were reincarnated into another humanoid race we would go back and choose again (from the remaining two). We could choose to reroll all three collumns rather than choose the third set. Most did so if the third set did not have a positive total of modifiers (it rarely did).
Roman
04-19-04, 02:19 AM I think I am one of the most generous DMs out there as far as stats go. I have my players use this method: 6+3d6 (drop the lowest)

The players end up with high scores and I like it that way, since resurrection is houseruled so as to be almost impossible in my campaign, so I want them to die as infrequently as possible. The high scores are also an attempt to compensate for my extreme stinginess with magic items. There are no magic shops in The World of Ages - you cannot even buy potions and scrolls and finding magic items is rare. Sure, the high ability scores are nowhere near high enough to fully compensate for this, but they do so at least partially.
Nagarhi
04-19-04, 04:15 AM My group use a similar method....We choose a character concept...Give the characters Prime stat an 18. We then roll stats in order, what ya roll is what ya get for each stat (no swappies about), rolling 3d6+6 dropping the lowest d6.

Seems to work nicely..:)
Roman
04-19-04, 04:31 AM Originally posted by Nagarhi
My group use a similar method....We choose a character concept...Give the characters Prime stat an 18. We then roll stats in order, what ya roll is what ya get for each stat (no swappies about), rolling 3d6+6 dropping the lowest d6.

Seems to work nicely..:)

Interesting, because I give my players an 18 in the prime stat too if they did not roll it... you don't by any chance happen to be in my group do you? :D

Nah, it cannot be. ;)
Nagarhi
04-19-04, 08:04 PM Not unless you live in Western Australia..:)
jagggar
04-19-04, 11:02 PM I kinda like 5d6 drop lowest 2. When I get bored and make a character for the fun of it, I roll as many d6s as I have and drop all but the highest three (or four sometimes).

My DM normally does standard 4d6 drop lowest, but if you get all the dice to come up as 6s, you get a 20. Two times I've rolled up characters with him, and got low scores (a 9 was one of them I'm sure) he either rerolled the ones below 10 for me (using his non-cursed dice like he says mine are sometimes) or just told me to scratch it and make it an 18.
He rolled up our groups d20 Modern stats on his calculator (actually, he didn't roll them up) doing 3(?) to 20 randomly. The guy that had the lowest scores he decided to give a free feat (and if I recall correctly, he had one 19 or 20).

Kinda wondering, does anyone have probablity curves made up for the X + dY or Z - dA systems? I've got one for 4d6 drop lowest made up if I can find it.
cthulu_mt
04-20-04, 08:18 AM Roll 4d6
Reroll any ones.
Drop the lowest die.
Pystian
04-20-04, 08:42 AM We use the standard rules, only you can reverse convert your scores into point buy and then use the point buy system with that many points.
Keebler
04-20-04, 11:59 PM i actually did a thread on extra stats and the last thing i put on it was a bunch of different ways to roll stats. it was called Keebler's Big Book O' Stats. I can't seem to find it on the normal boards and hyperlinking it doesnt work, but if you put in a search for the username keebler its there.
stone_dog
04-21-04, 03:32 AM I like the organic method in the DMG, but with 5d6 drop two instead of 4d6 drop one. It turns out some pretty nice characters.
Pystian
04-21-04, 04:21 AM I had a group once that I trusted enough to let them pick their own stats. Of course they were good role-players and didn't pick all 18's, otherwise it just wouldn't have worked. Everyone gave themselves weaknesses, though somehow everyone ended up with a very charismatic character. It kind of turned into a "too many chiefs and not enough Indians" game, but that seems to happen to me a lot anyhow.
Wizzy of Eros
04-21-04, 11:55 AM I use my own standard array, and my players my use it if they like, else they can roll their stads...

10, 12, 14, 14, 16, 18
NineInchNall
04-25-04, 03:50 AM Damn skippy, Wolf72! 3d6 in order was the best rolling method ever.

Characters had weaknesses!
Exceptional stats were, well, exceptional!

You saw that guy with the 18 strength and you said, "Oooooh." I'm actually in a game right now where we're playing 3d6 drop lowest. We're also using the old racial maximums rules from 2e. Humans have a max of 19 across the board because there's only so much nonmagical flesh and blood can do.

Basically we houseruled the 2e soul into the 3e rules. Whew, certainly took a few rule changes, I'll tell you.
howlerhawk
04-25-04, 01:23 PM THE 3d 6 works for me umm ya because people dont really understand the reference it is
for exsample a 18 int would be equilivant to steven hawkings
Masterful_Norg
04-25-04, 01:50 PM Well howler.

The intelligence quotient system works on the idea of an average. Ideally, average people should have an IQ of 100. In D&D the average intelligence score for a human is 10. Therefore, we could decide that a D&D character's IQ is equal to 10 times their intelligence abilty score. If this is the case then steven hawking would have an intelligence score of 25 because his IQ is 250.

However, I hear that it isn't that simple and there are other applicable factors, but this is just one clean cut way to do it.

Why not try an open ended system. Roll 3d6. If you get a 6 roll another d6 an add it on. Or, if you get a 1 roll another d6 and add the result on. Continue the process until you stop rolling sixes.

Some interesting trivia:

To roll 6 18s in a row with the normal 3d6 rolling system the chances are 1 in 1.01559957 × 10^14 or 1 in approximately 101,559,957,000,000.
howlerhawk
04-25-04, 02:35 PM wow looks like im 1 of a kind.... norg remeber icefalls ... so i guess thats 2of akind :king:
Mith
04-25-04, 03:54 PM Masterful_Norg: I don't think you're quite correct there.

The appropriate way to convert Int into D&D stats would be to go from IQ to % (as in, you are in the top x percent of the population) and then from % to a score between 3 and 18, based on the odds of rolling that stat on 3d6.

In other words, even though Hawking is more intellegent that Joe the Genius, they both have an 18 in Int, becase 18 is the maximum stat and reserved for the top ~.5% of the population (1 in 216).
howlerhawk
04-25-04, 04:31 PM BURN :r: :r: :r: :R:
SirisC
04-26-04, 12:26 AM here is how we generally do it:

4d6 drop lowest 7 times and drop the lowest stat
if you get 4 of a kind you don't drop the lowest.
next time around we are going to try an open ended variant
by open ended I mean that when you roll a 6 on a die you re-roll that d6 and add 5 to the result, similar to open ended d20s
Wolf72
04-26-04, 06:34 PM Originally posted by NineInchNall
Damn skippy, Wolf72! 3d6 in order was the best rolling method ever.

Characters had weaknesses!
Exceptional stats were, well, exceptional!

...

hey-yah! ... gimme my 12 str fighter anyday!
trapspringer
04-28-04, 06:36 PM I kinda like the 28 pt buy. But there is always that guy who winds up with and 8 in everything but con and str. If the players actually try to avoid being legally retarded, it makes a fairly balanced party (though many 18's).
Wolfrath
05-15-04, 05:05 PM Group does a 4d6 reroll all 1s take highest 3 dy lowest of the six is made to an 18
DrKultra
05-15-04, 06:18 PM 4d6
Reroll 1's
Drop the lowest

----------------------

For my gestalt campaing:
4d6 Keep them all, Max 18 before Racial.
trapspringer
05-15-04, 09:31 PM The above method works well, but results in really powerful toons. 3d6 is good for shorter campaings, but could easily be frustrating w/out DM intervention in the form of equalizing rolls in some manner. Maybey you could give the player with the lowest total of stat mods a +4 to his class' primary ability.
Nedlum
05-16-04, 03:38 PM Here's one I like:

Start all stats at zero, and add 72 Stat points. Not the traditional point buy. Going from 17 to 18 takes one point.
MithrilWyrm
05-17-04, 10:09 PM I've played systems like that... I have to say I'm not a fan. You have too much control, and it takes a lot of willpower to force yourself not to be average, and then shine in one way. So no one really has flaws, and the racial bonuses just convert into being slightly more able in general than a human.

Truth be told, I'm not entirely unbiased. I have a tendancy to roll high scores using any organic system. D6's just like me.

To each his own, I suppose.
TheDarkLord
05-19-04, 02:49 AM Roll 4d6
drop the lowest die.

in most campaigns ive been in its been like this.

While i do normally have one 18 (My green and white d6's really love me), i have ended up with a 4 in a stat. That was soooo not cool, until higher levels. Then I could be ugly as hell and still bash yer face into a bloody pulp. For Rp Purposes to describe such a low Cha score i had really ugly scar's covering my body, and one eye and ear sat up higher on one side than the other.

As for Rerolling the one's... i've gotta talk to people about that see if we cant do that.
Slippery Mind II
05-20-04, 11:39 AM Here's the way one DM does it...

3d6, you roll in order (str, dex, con, etc.)

You can reroll as much as you like. 3 1s count as 19.

It has made for some very interesting characters.
dicaela
05-20-04, 05:30 PM I always have my players roll 4d6, reroll 1's and drop the lowest. I always wondered though, for rerolling 1's, if you roll another 1, do you reroll. I tell my players no, but I'm curious to see what anyone thought about it.
MithrilWyrm
05-20-04, 06:24 PM I say go ahead and reroll them as must as you like.

I never thought of all ones generating a 19, however. I may have to consider that for the next one.
SirisC
05-21-04, 01:01 AM Originally posted by MithrilWyrm
I say go ahead and reroll them as must as you like.

I never thought of all ones generating a 19, however. I may have to consider that for the next one.
Just don't tell them until after they have chosen to stick with their rolls.
Wolf72
05-21-04, 05:03 PM Originally posted by MithrilWyrm
I say go ahead and reroll them as must as you like.

I never thought of all ones generating a 19, however. I may have to consider that for the next one.

my brother does this something like this when using 4d6 (- lowest)

4 ones: you get an 18

4 sixes: you get a 19 ...
Aurotuli
05-21-04, 09:03 PM Regarding Stephen Hawkings, I would state that 1) he initially rolled 18 for his Int, and 2) due to having had a major breakthrough or three he must be at least a 10th level Field Scientist. As such, I would rate him to be at least a 13th level character (Int 3/ Field Sci 10). That said, his Int is likely 21 (all three ability raises placed in Int).

Regarding the subject of this thread:

4d6 drop the lowest, reroll if the total of the modifiers is negative. Reroll a single roll if: the total of the roll is 7 or less.

I'm considering implementing a system of rolling 4d8, drop the lowest for heroic play (same rules regarding rerolls as above). It wouldn't be used often, but it could be interesting to try out.
PeteRR
05-21-04, 09:39 PM In our oldest group(Started 1977), we roll 4d6 drop lowest. If you roll 4-6's, you get a 19. If you roll 4-1's, you get a 2.

If you roll really terribly, you can drop your two highest stats for a 17 + 14 or 16 +15.
Asta Kask
05-24-04, 08:25 AM 5d6, drop the two highest. We play Commoners! Our next adventure is called "The Harvest". We have to get all our crops into the barn before it's gets soggy...
Yorlum
05-24-04, 03:49 PM 4d6, drop lowest. You can trade scores once, 2 for one [eg, drop Cha 2 points to get an extra point of Str].
JohnSnow
05-24-04, 05:09 PM I had long been a fan of the default method:

4d6, drop lowest.

In our current game, we're using our DM's system, which is very nice and has made for some very interesting characters:

4d6, reroll all ones, drop lowest. Place in order. Are total modifiers +3 or higher? If not, start over. When scores are set, replace any single score with a 16. The upside has been some very intriguing characters (most of them have high charisma stats, for example). The floating 16 allows ANY character concept, but inclines certain characters towards certain jobs. And placing the stats in order prevents traditional "dump stats." So we all have relatively high charisma for example. My own character is a Rogue with high DEX, CON, and INT, good STR and CHA scores, and a just over average WIS. All in all, a very satisfying mix.

For the record, this is a fairly low-magic campaign, described by our DM as "Excalibur meets Cthulu" (and for the record, we're having a blast!). So the slightly more powerful stats help keep us alive. So far, it's working, although we were hard pressed in our first adventure. We're using several variant rules, but the game is great fun.
Salla
05-24-04, 05:36 PM Point Buy, all the way. Tried it, never looking back.
Krelios
05-28-04, 01:41 PM I'm actually in a game right now where we're playing 3d6 drop lowest. Hmmm... I don't think I'd like stats ranging from 2-12... I like having some bonuses occassionally.

I've considered using 2d6+6 next time around as it provides stats from 8-18 with an average of 13. Very nice, well within the range for typical characters and it eliminates someone from having stats that are as extreme as the "organic" methods.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
stephenKingMinion 04-14-04, 07:52 PM	8 + d10. Each. Either placed automatically or chosen, adjusted to player's skill as determined by DM. Comments?
Wolf72 04-14-04, 09:10 PM	boring ... might as well do the higher powered stat buy. personally I like the good 'ol 4d6, drop lowest method. one of these days I want to to a game where everyone has to roll 3d6 in order ... I like flaws and difficulties.
Bard-of-all-trades 04-15-04, 08:00 PM	The DM we have likes the idea that the players are above average, physically and mentally. He uses the 5d6 drop the lowest 2 and these can be placed as wanted by the player. Very good chance of all bonuses and the lowest stat my latest character has is a 14. He has a house rule which is awesome (if you role all five dice and get the same result). I'm getting into another game where the DM uses the following formula: 20 - d10. If you roll a 10, roll again. If you roll a 10 twice you get to keep that stat at 20. Otherwise, it's a 10. Each stat is rolled in order, so they cannot be placed as you want them. Makes you play the stats. He says it's like family, you don't get to choose them. I've also heard of a DM that used the following formula: 10 + d8 I thought this would make for bland character. As opposed to the original formula given, which would make for a "normal" hero (i.e. some flaws and not perfect). Anyway, you're the DM and you have the final say as to what your players do. I would caution you to make sure they have at least a +3 bonus when adding all bonuses/penalties or they might be too difficult to play. Good luck.
Aurotuli 04-17-04, 03:15 AM	I've seen and played under many methods. One DM I played under used 2d10 - reroll 2s & 20s and reroll all scores if the total of the modifiers (pre-racial adjustments) is negative. An interesting system (high chance for mid-level scores, very low chances for high/low scores: 2% chance for a 3 or 19, 3% for a 4 or 18, 4% for a 5 or 17, ... , 9% for a 10 or 12, and 10% chance for an 11. Most would roll around 8 to 13 (44% chance of being rolled). It was a good but strange system; it really made massive or miniscule scores stand out. Another DM had me roll (3d6 6x) 3x - and then choose which of the three collumns I wanted to use. If we got a cohort, if we died and created a new PC, or if we were reincarnated into another humanoid race we would go back and choose again (from the remaining two). We could choose to reroll all three collumns rather than choose the third set. Most did so if the third set did not have a positive total of modifiers (it rarely did).
Roman 04-19-04, 02:19 AM	I think I am one of the most generous DMs out there as far as stats go. I have my players use this method: 6+3d6 (drop the lowest) The players end up with high scores and I like it that way, since resurrection is houseruled so as to be almost impossible in my campaign, so I want them to die as infrequently as possible. The high scores are also an attempt to compensate for my extreme stinginess with magic items. There are no magic shops in The World of Ages - you cannot even buy potions and scrolls and finding magic items is rare. Sure, the high ability scores are nowhere near high enough to fully compensate for this, but they do so at least partially.
Nagarhi 04-19-04, 04:15 AM	My group use a similar method....We choose a character concept...Give the characters Prime stat an 18. We then roll stats in order, what ya roll is what ya get for each stat (no swappies about), rolling 3d6+6 dropping the lowest d6. Seems to work nicely..:)
Roman 04-19-04, 04:31 AM	Originally posted by Nagarhi My group use a similar method....We choose a character concept...Give the characters Prime stat an 18. We then roll stats in order, what ya roll is what ya get for each stat (no swappies about), rolling 3d6+6 dropping the lowest d6. Seems to work nicely..:) Interesting, because I give my players an 18 in the prime stat too if they did not roll it... you don't by any chance happen to be in my group do you? :D Nah, it cannot be. ;)
Nagarhi 04-19-04, 08:04 PM	Not unless you live in Western Australia..:)
jagggar 04-19-04, 11:02 PM	I kinda like 5d6 drop lowest 2. When I get bored and make a character for the fun of it, I roll as many d6s as I have and drop all but the highest three (or four sometimes). My DM normally does standard 4d6 drop lowest, but if you get all the dice to come up as 6s, you get a 20. Two times I've rolled up characters with him, and got low scores (a 9 was one of them I'm sure) he either rerolled the ones below 10 for me (using his non-cursed dice like he says mine are sometimes) or just told me to scratch it and make it an 18. He rolled up our groups d20 Modern stats on his calculator (actually, he didn't roll them up) doing 3(?) to 20 randomly. The guy that had the lowest scores he decided to give a free feat (and if I recall correctly, he had one 19 or 20). Kinda wondering, does anyone have probablity curves made up for the X + dY or Z - dA systems? I've got one for 4d6 drop lowest made up if I can find it.
cthulu_mt 04-20-04, 08:18 AM	Roll 4d6 Reroll any ones. Drop the lowest die.
Pystian 04-20-04, 08:42 AM	We use the standard rules, only you can reverse convert your scores into point buy and then use the point buy system with that many points.
Keebler 04-20-04, 11:59 PM	i actually did a thread on extra stats and the last thing i put on it was a bunch of different ways to roll stats. it was called Keebler's Big Book O' Stats. I can't seem to find it on the normal boards and hyperlinking it doesnt work, but if you put in a search for the username keebler its there.
stone_dog 04-21-04, 03:32 AM	I like the organic method in the DMG, but with 5d6 drop two instead of 4d6 drop one. It turns out some pretty nice characters.
Pystian 04-21-04, 04:21 AM	I had a group once that I trusted enough to let them pick their own stats. Of course they were good role-players and didn't pick all 18's, otherwise it just wouldn't have worked. Everyone gave themselves weaknesses, though somehow everyone ended up with a very charismatic character. It kind of turned into a "too many chiefs and not enough Indians" game, but that seems to happen to me a lot anyhow.
Wizzy of Eros 04-21-04, 11:55 AM	I use my own standard array, and my players my use it if they like, else they can roll their stads... 10, 12, 14, 14, 16, 18
NineInchNall 04-25-04, 03:50 AM	Damn skippy, Wolf72! 3d6 in order was the best rolling method ever. Characters had weaknesses! Exceptional stats were, well, exceptional! You saw that guy with the 18 strength and you said, "Oooooh." I'm actually in a game right now where we're playing 3d6 drop lowest. We're also using the old racial maximums rules from 2e. Humans have a max of 19 across the board because there's only so much nonmagical flesh and blood can do. Basically we houseruled the 2e soul into the 3e rules. Whew, certainly took a few rule changes, I'll tell you.
howlerhawk 04-25-04, 01:23 PM	THE 3d 6 works for me umm ya because people dont really understand the reference it is for exsample a 18 int would be equilivant to steven hawkings
Masterful_Norg 04-25-04, 01:50 PM	Well howler. The intelligence quotient system works on the idea of an average. Ideally, average people should have an IQ of 100. In D&D the average intelligence score for a human is 10. Therefore, we could decide that a D&D character's IQ is equal to 10 times their intelligence abilty score. If this is the case then steven hawking would have an intelligence score of 25 because his IQ is 250. However, I hear that it isn't that simple and there are other applicable factors, but this is just one clean cut way to do it. Why not try an open ended system. Roll 3d6. If you get a 6 roll another d6 an add it on. Or, if you get a 1 roll another d6 and add the result on. Continue the process until you stop rolling sixes. Some interesting trivia: To roll 6 18s in a row with the normal 3d6 rolling system the chances are 1 in 1.01559957 × 10^14 or 1 in approximately 101,559,957,000,000.
howlerhawk 04-25-04, 02:35 PM	wow looks like im 1 of a kind.... norg remeber icefalls ... so i guess thats 2of akind :king:
Mith 04-25-04, 03:54 PM	Masterful_Norg: I don't think you're quite correct there. The appropriate way to convert Int into D&D stats would be to go from IQ to % (as in, you are in the top x percent of the population) and then from % to a score between 3 and 18, based on the odds of rolling that stat on 3d6. In other words, even though Hawking is more intellegent that Joe the Genius, they both have an 18 in Int, becase 18 is the maximum stat and reserved for the top ~.5% of the population (1 in 216).
howlerhawk 04-25-04, 04:31 PM	BURN :r: :r: :r: :R:
SirisC 04-26-04, 12:26 AM	here is how we generally do it: 4d6 drop lowest 7 times and drop the lowest stat if you get 4 of a kind you don't drop the lowest. next time around we are going to try an open ended variant by open ended I mean that when you roll a 6 on a die you re-roll that d6 and add 5 to the result, similar to open ended d20s
Wolf72 04-26-04, 06:34 PM	Originally posted by NineInchNall Damn skippy, Wolf72! 3d6 in order was the best rolling method ever. Characters had weaknesses! Exceptional stats were, well, exceptional! ... hey-yah! ... gimme my 12 str fighter anyday!
trapspringer 04-28-04, 06:36 PM	I kinda like the 28 pt buy. But there is always that guy who winds up with and 8 in everything but con and str. If the players actually try to avoid being legally retarded, it makes a fairly balanced party (though many 18's).
Wolfrath 05-15-04, 05:05 PM	Group does a 4d6 reroll all 1s take highest 3 dy lowest of the six is made to an 18
DrKultra 05-15-04, 06:18 PM	4d6 Reroll 1's Drop the lowest ---------------------- For my gestalt campaing: 4d6 Keep them all, Max 18 before Racial.
trapspringer 05-15-04, 09:31 PM	The above method works well, but results in really powerful toons. 3d6 is good for shorter campaings, but could easily be frustrating w/out DM intervention in the form of equalizing rolls in some manner. Maybey you could give the player with the lowest total of stat mods a +4 to his class' primary ability.
Nedlum 05-16-04, 03:38 PM	Here's one I like: Start all stats at zero, and add 72 Stat points. Not the traditional point buy. Going from 17 to 18 takes one point.
MithrilWyrm 05-17-04, 10:09 PM	I've played systems like that... I have to say I'm not a fan. You have too much control, and it takes a lot of willpower to force yourself not to be average, and then shine in one way. So no one really has flaws, and the racial bonuses just convert into being slightly more able in general than a human. Truth be told, I'm not entirely unbiased. I have a tendancy to roll high scores using any organic system. D6's just like me. To each his own, I suppose.
TheDarkLord 05-19-04, 02:49 AM	Roll 4d6 drop the lowest die. in most campaigns ive been in its been like this. While i do normally have one 18 (My green and white d6's really love me), i have ended up with a 4 in a stat. That was soooo not cool, until higher levels. Then I could be ugly as hell and still bash yer face into a bloody pulp. For Rp Purposes to describe such a low Cha score i had really ugly scar's covering my body, and one eye and ear sat up higher on one side than the other. As for Rerolling the one's... i've gotta talk to people about that see if we cant do that.
Slippery Mind II 05-20-04, 11:39 AM	Here's the way one DM does it... 3d6, you roll in order (str, dex, con, etc.) You can reroll as much as you like. 3 1s count as 19. It has made for some very interesting characters.
dicaela 05-20-04, 05:30 PM	I always have my players roll 4d6, reroll 1's and drop the lowest. I always wondered though, for rerolling 1's, if you roll another 1, do you reroll. I tell my players no, but I'm curious to see what anyone thought about it.
MithrilWyrm 05-20-04, 06:24 PM	I say go ahead and reroll them as must as you like. I never thought of all ones generating a 19, however. I may have to consider that for the next one.
SirisC 05-21-04, 01:01 AM	Originally posted by MithrilWyrm I say go ahead and reroll them as must as you like. I never thought of all ones generating a 19, however. I may have to consider that for the next one. Just don't tell them until after they have chosen to stick with their rolls.
Wolf72 05-21-04, 05:03 PM	Originally posted by MithrilWyrm I say go ahead and reroll them as must as you like. I never thought of all ones generating a 19, however. I may have to consider that for the next one. my brother does this something like this when using 4d6 (- lowest) 4 ones: you get an 18 4 sixes: you get a 19 ...
Aurotuli 05-21-04, 09:03 PM	Regarding Stephen Hawkings, I would state that 1) he initially rolled 18 for his Int, and 2) due to having had a major breakthrough or three he must be at least a 10th level Field Scientist. As such, I would rate him to be at least a 13th level character (Int 3/ Field Sci 10). That said, his Int is likely 21 (all three ability raises placed in Int). Regarding the subject of this thread: 4d6 drop the lowest, reroll if the total of the modifiers is negative. Reroll a single roll if: the total of the roll is 7 or less. I'm considering implementing a system of rolling 4d8, drop the lowest for heroic play (same rules regarding rerolls as above). It wouldn't be used often, but it could be interesting to try out.
PeteRR 05-21-04, 09:39 PM	In our oldest group(Started 1977), we roll 4d6 drop lowest. If you roll 4-6's, you get a 19. If you roll 4-1's, you get a 2. If you roll really terribly, you can drop your two highest stats for a 17 + 14 or 16 +15.
Asta Kask 05-24-04, 08:25 AM	5d6, drop the two highest. We play Commoners! Our next adventure is called "The Harvest". We have to get all our crops into the barn before it's gets soggy...
Yorlum 05-24-04, 03:49 PM	4d6, drop lowest. You can trade scores once, 2 for one [eg, drop Cha 2 points to get an extra point of Str].
JohnSnow 05-24-04, 05:09 PM	I had long been a fan of the default method: 4d6, drop lowest. In our current game, we're using our DM's system, which is very nice and has made for some very interesting characters: 4d6, reroll all ones, drop lowest. Place in order. Are total modifiers +3 or higher? If not, start over. When scores are set, replace any single score with a 16. The upside has been some very intriguing characters (most of them have high charisma stats, for example). The floating 16 allows ANY character concept, but inclines certain characters towards certain jobs. And placing the stats in order prevents traditional "dump stats." So we all have relatively high charisma for example. My own character is a Rogue with high DEX, CON, and INT, good STR and CHA scores, and a just over average WIS. All in all, a very satisfying mix. For the record, this is a fairly low-magic campaign, described by our DM as "Excalibur meets Cthulu" (and for the record, we're having a blast!). So the slightly more powerful stats help keep us alive. So far, it's working, although we were hard pressed in our first adventure. We're using several variant rules, but the game is great fun.
Salla 05-24-04, 05:36 PM	Point Buy, all the way. Tried it, never looking back.
Krelios 05-28-04, 01:41 PM	I'm actually in a game right now where we're playing 3d6 drop lowest. Hmmm... I don't think I'd like stats ranging from 2-12... I like having some bonuses occassionally. I've considered using 2d6+6 next time around as it provides stats from 8-18 with an average of 13. Very nice, well within the range for typical characters and it eliminates someone from having stats that are as extreme as the "organic" methods.