This. Without exception, no matter how old they are players are not mature enough to play with randomized stats for any prolonged amount of time. They will whine, they will cheat, they will form cartels where they swear to God they witnessed one another roll a set of 1,000,000,000:1 stats. Swallow the bitter point-buy pill.
Because I don't want them to argue about what the party composition is going to be when we should be playing. Show up to the table ready to play. If your stats are bullshit you're going to fix them while we start.
Sadly it is true, I let players roll for stats and all but one got a 1/36 outcome. Admittedly, I rigged against such an eventuallity by replacing one die with its average value, thus they don't have extremely high stats.
My dm made me roll using a utterly complex and bullshit method.
We rolled in order:
Strength
Dexterity
Constitution
Intelligence
Wisdom
Charisma
Each roll was a (10d10) /5.
We were allowed to reroll 2 stats if wanted, but we could only reroll an stat after we rolled it, and if we rolled an lower number we had to keep this number.
After rerolling some stat we needed pick some stat at random (can be a unrolled stat or the state you were roling) and roll (10d10) /5, the stat will be the smallest between (10d10) /5 and the roll you made (or will make)
Yes, the 10.5 average for 3d6 is unacceptable, roll 10 fricking d10s and then divide by 5 for that extra .5 boost. Thanks DM! Did the group even stay together past this completely unnecessarily character creation step?
>Yes, the 10.5 average for 3d6 is unacceptable, roll 10 fricking d10s and then divide by 5 for that extra .5 boost. Thanks DM! Did the group even stay together past this completely unnecessarily character creation step?
It was even worse, at one point he wanted to make us roll ((10d9)/5)+1 but we said "come on"
Roll 4d6 keep best three, do this three times each stat and write it down as a set. Ex, 13, 17, 7
Assign this set to any stat you want and choose any value from the set you want. Your next two characters, including cohorts will use the either of the other values in that exact same stat.
Ex. STR: 17, next two characters will have 13 and 7 strength.
If the players want all the best stats on their first character I let them, they usually end up with useless sidekick or backup character.
I recently had an npc named Richard Slapp and it took until an hour after the session that introduced him for a player to message me on Discord about finally realizing it.
Richard <name> jokes aren't common enough for the layman to immediately see anymore
FR or Dragonlance setting: 4d6 drop lowest reroll 1s
Greyhawk/Mystara/1-shots: 3d6 x7, drop lowest single roll, assign as desired.
Any of the old 1e/2e modules, even if updated: 3d6 in order, then pick class. Roll up a 2nd character while in at it because 1st one is going to die in a few sessions.
any D&D variant is as follows
4d6 drop the lowest repeat and add the remaining three, repeat 7 times,
drop the lowest and allocate based on your needs.
Rerolls 1's however you want because 'fun'
any other ruleset I tend to go based on how the book tells me.
Roll 24d6 all at once remove 6 lowest dice.
take remaining dice and put them in groups of three however you like. I found it gives my players more control of creating their character and it takes half the time of rolling them one at a time.
Characters who roll poorly have a Noble Fate (as rolled on the Wyrd table from Wolves of God). Characters who roll well have a Tragic Fate. Those in the middle have neither. Stat increases are present and also randomized, usually by rerolls at an XP cost.
This system actually encourages rolling shitty because rerolls will be worth it later in order to get good stats while dodging a Tragic Fate (usually something like "my comrades abandon me" or "My skills fail me in my times of need" and etc.)
This preserves randomness while also making it far less punishing and more dynamic all around.
I've learned to stop fricking around with creative or "fair" methods of stat distribution in my games. I just use the primary recommended stat distribution that the book uses, because typically that's the one that the devs used when designing the system, and therefore the one that makes the game fall apart the least when used.
This has been the most obvious to me with CoC. The sanity system straight-up doesn't work with characters starting below 30 SAN. None of the sample characters come with less than average POW, which determines starting SAN. In fact, none of them use rolled stats as the rules suggest, but a standard array.
Thing is, you can't even properly use point buy or standard array in CoC, because two of the attributes are more useful than all the others for every type of investigator.
Roll 3d6 once. The numbers are +1 mod to each stat:
1. STR
2. DEX
3. CON
4. INT
5. WIS
6. CHA
For example you roll 3, 3, 5
That means you get +2 CON (stat number 3) and +1 WIS (stat number 5)
The rest have 0 mods
Much faster than 3d6 times six
3d6, in order, twice, taking the preferred stat in each attribute pairing. So:
10/13
8/15
11/9
13/7
4/10
16/9
...would end up as a
Str 13
Dex 15
Con 11
Int 13
Wis 10
Cha 16
Two caveats: you can reroll two "1" results, total, during the process, which must be rerolled before moving on to the next stat. You get a complete mulligan if *either* complete rollset would produce a character which qualifies for no character class.
I rarely play systems with random stat generation now. But I absolutely prefer rolling stats to arrays and point buy, and if rolling is the option - I always roll.
WFRP2e/4e/DH1/RT/DW/BC/OW: roll stats, reroll one stat if needed, distribute results as I see fit.
DH2: roll 2 sets of stats in order, reroll 1 stat if needed, take the best one
DnD 3.5/PF1/5e: 6x4d6 drop lowest, distribute as I wish
When I'm GMing I'm more lenient. I usually run games for 2-4 players, and I prefer the PCs to be more heroic. So they could roll up to 3 sets of stats and choose the best one.
>d&d
4d6 in order, then I usually use central casting to see the backstory and choose whatever class makes sense >Call of Cthulhu
The standard, 2d6+6 for the important stats, 3d6 for the rest, in order
With dice
I don't, we use points or arrays
This. Without exception, no matter how old they are players are not mature enough to play with randomized stats for any prolonged amount of time. They will whine, they will cheat, they will form cartels where they swear to God they witnessed one another roll a set of 1,000,000,000:1 stats. Swallow the bitter point-buy pill.
Why are your players coming to the table with already made characters?
Because I don't want them to argue about what the party composition is going to be when we should be playing. Show up to the table ready to play. If your stats are bullshit you're going to fix them while we start.
Sadly it is true, I let players roll for stats and all but one got a 1/36 outcome. Admittedly, I rigged against such an eventuallity by replacing one die with its average value, thus they don't have extremely high stats.
Depends on the game. Though I vastly prefer point buy.
Preset Numbers from one of three options.
Bal:12,12,14,14,16,16
Foc:10,12,14,14,16,18
VFoc:8,10,14,14,18,20
My dm made me roll using a utterly complex and bullshit method.
We rolled in order:
Strength
Dexterity
Constitution
Intelligence
Wisdom
Charisma
Each roll was a (10d10) /5.
We were allowed to reroll 2 stats if wanted, but we could only reroll an stat after we rolled it, and if we rolled an lower number we had to keep this number.
After rerolling some stat we needed pick some stat at random (can be a unrolled stat or the state you were roling) and roll (10d10) /5, the stat will be the smallest between (10d10) /5 and the roll you made (or will make)
Yes, the 10.5 average for 3d6 is unacceptable, roll 10 fricking d10s and then divide by 5 for that extra .5 boost. Thanks DM! Did the group even stay together past this completely unnecessarily character creation step?
>Yes, the 10.5 average for 3d6 is unacceptable, roll 10 fricking d10s and then divide by 5 for that extra .5 boost. Thanks DM! Did the group even stay together past this completely unnecessarily character creation step?
It was even worse, at one point he wanted to make us roll ((10d9)/5)+1 but we said "come on"
>9 sided die
Gonna need pics anon
>Gonna need pics anon
We would use a 10 sided dice and reroll if a 9, we complained about and he didnt done that shit
>roll 10 fricking d10s and then divide by 5
Just fricking flip 10 coins
Standard array, randomly shuffled. Unpredictability, but balance remains.
Why is this the only good stat rolling system in the thread?
Roll 4d6 keep best three, do this three times each stat and write it down as a set. Ex, 13, 17, 7
Assign this set to any stat you want and choose any value from the set you want. Your next two characters, including cohorts will use the either of the other values in that exact same stat.
Ex. STR: 17, next two characters will have 13 and 7 strength.
If the players want all the best stats on their first character I let them, they usually end up with useless sidekick or backup character.
No one's gonna talk about how this guy's name is Dick Tongue, huh
I recently had an npc named Richard Slapp and it took until an hour after the session that introduced him for a player to message me on Discord about finally realizing it.
Richard <name> jokes aren't common enough for the layman to immediately see anymore
Lifepaths.
Still have to roll stats, though.
DM has 20-30 pregens reaxy to play. Pick one. Or several, this is a high fatality setting.
I avoid playing D&D whenever possible.
Everybody has straight 10 across all four attributes unless they buy them up.
FR or Dragonlance setting: 4d6 drop lowest reroll 1s
Greyhawk/Mystara/1-shots: 3d6 x7, drop lowest single roll, assign as desired.
Any of the old 1e/2e modules, even if updated: 3d6 in order, then pick class. Roll up a 2nd character while in at it because 1st one is going to die in a few sessions.
any D&D variant is as follows
4d6 drop the lowest repeat and add the remaining three, repeat 7 times,
drop the lowest and allocate based on your needs.
Rerolls 1's however you want because 'fun'
any other ruleset I tend to go based on how the book tells me.
>All 18s again, Sweet!
cool, remember we're using milestone leveling
Roll 24d6 all at once remove 6 lowest dice.
take remaining dice and put them in groups of three however you like. I found it gives my players more control of creating their character and it takes half the time of rolling them one at a time.
Characters who roll poorly have a Noble Fate (as rolled on the Wyrd table from Wolves of God). Characters who roll well have a Tragic Fate. Those in the middle have neither. Stat increases are present and also randomized, usually by rerolls at an XP cost.
This system actually encourages rolling shitty because rerolls will be worth it later in order to get good stats while dodging a Tragic Fate (usually something like "my comrades abandon me" or "My skills fail me in my times of need" and etc.)
This preserves randomness while also making it far less punishing and more dynamic all around.
What are your cutoffs for 'poor' and 'well'
We roll a 1d6 6 times and divide the numbers randomly between what we call the 'BULLET' system:
>Belief
>Utility
>Learning
>Leaping and Jumping
>Endurance
>Toughness
It's a fast and effective way to build robust, 3 dimensional characters from scratch. Inspired by the SPECIAL system from fallout, of course.
I've learned to stop fricking around with creative or "fair" methods of stat distribution in my games. I just use the primary recommended stat distribution that the book uses, because typically that's the one that the devs used when designing the system, and therefore the one that makes the game fall apart the least when used.
You exhibit a lot more trust than I do toward the games' dev. The main reason I homebrew is systems falling apart with no reason but game design...
Played a bit too much WotC.
This has been the most obvious to me with CoC. The sanity system straight-up doesn't work with characters starting below 30 SAN. None of the sample characters come with less than average POW, which determines starting SAN. In fact, none of them use rolled stats as the rules suggest, but a standard array.
Thing is, you can't even properly use point buy or standard array in CoC, because two of the attributes are more useful than all the others for every type of investigator.
Roll 3d6 once. The numbers are +1 mod to each stat:
1. STR
2. DEX
3. CON
4. INT
5. WIS
6. CHA
For example you roll 3, 3, 5
That means you get +2 CON (stat number 3) and +1 WIS (stat number 5)
The rest have 0 mods
Much faster than 3d6 times six
Playing OSR, or at latest AD&D 2e:
3d6, in order, twice, taking the preferred stat in each attribute pairing. So:
10/13
8/15
11/9
13/7
4/10
16/9
...would end up as a
Str 13
Dex 15
Con 11
Int 13
Wis 10
Cha 16
Two caveats: you can reroll two "1" results, total, during the process, which must be rerolled before moving on to the next stat. You get a complete mulligan if *either* complete rollset would produce a character which qualifies for no character class.
Why even roll if you've got so many fail-safes against having downsides?
https://anydice.com/program/29d44
Because it’s fun, anon.
I rarely play systems with random stat generation now. But I absolutely prefer rolling stats to arrays and point buy, and if rolling is the option - I always roll.
WFRP2e/4e/DH1/RT/DW/BC/OW: roll stats, reroll one stat if needed, distribute results as I see fit.
DH2: roll 2 sets of stats in order, reroll 1 stat if needed, take the best one
DnD 3.5/PF1/5e: 6x4d6 drop lowest, distribute as I wish
When I'm GMing I'm more lenient. I usually run games for 2-4 players, and I prefer the PCs to be more heroic. So they could roll up to 3 sets of stats and choose the best one.
>d&d
4d6 in order, then I usually use central casting to see the backstory and choose whatever class makes sense
>Call of Cthulhu
The standard, 2d6+6 for the important stats, 3d6 for the rest, in order
>How do you roll your characters?
With dice, I assume.
a fighter i guess
>6 CON
You start with rope, right?
umm thief class
Roll 3d6 two times to each stat in order and pick the highest.
I like to simplfy stuff: 1d10+5