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Eloel
2008-12-09, 05:14 PM
What are the methods everyone uses to generate stats? I want to make a list of all of them, for future uses.
My latest usage was;
1- Roll 24d6
2- Reroll 1s as you roll
3- Drop worst 6
4- Go to step 1 if total is below 80
5- Group them in 3s in order (first 3 rolls' total gives a stat, 2nd 3 gives another, etc.)
6- Enjoy your random, yet balanced (with other players) rolls.

Warning: Use at caution, high stats are generated with this method.

Lord Iames Osari
2008-12-09, 05:54 PM
I usually use point buy with 34 points these days. With rolling, I roll 4d6 6 times, rerolling 1s and dropping the lowest number.

Mercenary Pen
2008-12-09, 06:05 PM
I use 4e 22-point-buy...
More complicated than I want to go into right at the moment, but you can get the Open Beta version of the D&D 4e Character Builder at the moment and find out for yourself.

Tingel
2008-12-09, 07:19 PM
3d6 per stat. No mulligans.

SurlySeraph
2008-12-10, 01:44 AM
32 point buy has always served me well. For an unbalanced but often fun old-school feel, 3d6 in order.

KKL
2008-12-10, 01:59 AM
3.5e was 28/32 Point Buy, and one game with an online diceroller had 1d9+9, which was hilariously GOOD statwise.

4e's 22 pointbuy has served me well enough.

mikeejimbo
2008-12-10, 02:04 AM
4d6, reroll 6s, drop the highest.

OK, that was just for one quest. I had a bard with a 3 Cha after the Orc racial modifiers. Good times, good times.

Glooble Glistencrist
2008-12-10, 12:00 PM
We play nice.

4d6, drop the lowest, reroll anything below an 8. Roll seven stats total and drop the lowest (The 'floating reroll')

Satyr
2008-12-10, 01:16 PM
There are three fixed settings of ability scores for player characters. Every player chose one of the settings and distribute the scores as ever he wants.
Score one "standard": 16, 16, 14, 14, 12 10
Score two "focused": 18, 16, 14, 12, 10, 8
Score three "universalist": 14,14, 14, 14, 14, 14
Ability modifiers per species or trait are distributed afterwards.
As you can see, we are lazy,like high ability scores and dislike arbitrary ability determination.

Nefarion Xid
2008-12-10, 01:32 PM
4E 22 point buy or "You may select any of these non-optimized stat arrays which total to slightly more than 22 points"

Or 4d6 drop 1. Roll 6 times and produce 3 different arrays. Pick one. Person with the highest stats sets the new point-buy limit and everyone gets to fudge their stats within a few points of the high array.

Person_Man
2008-12-10, 03:15 PM
You have 80 total stat points, prior to racial adjustments. You may allocate these stat points however you like, to a minimum of 3 (after racial adjustments) and maximum of 18 (prior to racial adjustments). For example, a Dwarf must put at least 5 points into Cha, and could max out Con to 18, and end up with stats of:

Str 18
Dex 16
Con 18+2 = 20
Int 13
Wis 10
Cha 5-2 = 3

Total = 80

You are warned that the DM enjoys using ability damage and penalties. He also thoroughly enjoys Skill checks, and will make every player make these checks (especially social Skills, Spot, Listen, and random Knowledge tests) throughout the campaign. When roleplaying, you must make a good faith attempt to roleplay your stats. Thus, Cha 3 means that you are barely capable of expressing yourself.

I've used this method on and off for a long time, and its been my experience that players tend to end up with stats around 18, 18, 10, 10, 8, 16, with the 20 and 18 in their primary stats. If the player has a desire to play a non-caster, non-ToB, MAD build, higher stats can be negotiated.

The key is that all characters should be created at the same time, at the same table, and that the characters should be roughly balanced in power compared to each other. The stats themselves are not really important. What's important is that no one player is much more powerful then the the other players, and thus dominates combat.

FMArthur
2008-12-10, 03:25 PM
I had one game where we made a fixed array with 6 rolls of 4d6 drop lowest that the whole party used, and it was pretty fun. But I still prefer point buy.

arguskos
2008-12-10, 04:12 PM
I tend to use 4d6 best 3, reroll all 1's, if you get to your last number and don't have a 17 or 18 yet, you get a free 18. Roll three sets of stats (6 numbers each), and pick your favorite.