What was your best stat rolled?

[joaber]

I just had the best rolled of my life for the new character. Using 4d6, discarding lowester, 6 rolls I got 18/16/16/16/10/8. First I would make a Sorc X / warlock 3, but now I really don't know what to do. Even if I stick with the plan, I'm thinking in don't get a race that add more Charisma. So:

- what was the best rolls of your life?

- any suggestion what to do with this? Will be a Underdark campaing.

[RickAllison]

I just had the best rolled of my life for the new character. Using 4d6, discarding lowester, 6 rolls I got 18/16/16/16/10/8. First I would make a Sorc X / warlock 3, but now I really don't know what to do. Even if I stick with the plan, I'm thinking in don't get a race that add more Charisma. So:

- what was the best rolls of your life?

- any suggestion what to do with this? Will be a Underdark campaing.

My last two were both fantastic, but for very different reasons. My rogue had an excellent skill monkey roll: 16/15/15/14/14/8. Not as nice as yours, but it worked for his build really well. My monk had a more polarized roll: 18/18/14/11/7/7. As an Aarakocra, that means he got a 20 in DEX immediately and finished his 20 in WIS at lvl 4 with Observant. With that, he has an AC of 20 unarmored at level 4, which is fantastic. INT and CHA were dumped, but it was worth it for a class who normally has a problem in picking up feats due to needing two maxed stats. Plus, his passive Perception is at 24, so it is very difficult to sneak up on him!

As for your character, he should definitely devote 16s to dexterity and constitution, but you don't need me to tell you that. You have fantastic stats for multiclassing; a Sorc/Wizard would give you lots of spells and the Metamagics to power them. If you decided to do that, you could grab Deep Gnome from EE. INT+2, DEX+1, Superior Darkvision, advantage on three saving throws against magic, and you can grab 4 nice spells from Svirfneblin Magic. For a stealthier feel, Rogue (Arcane Trickster) would let you wreak all kinds of mayhem. If you wanted some independence at the cost of optimization, Monk (Shadow) 6 would let you teleport around in lower light levels, which is great for Underdark. Rogue (Assassin)/Monk (Shadow) would be a radical departure from your plan, but it would mesh well with the darkness and complements your stats (Dex 18, Wis 16, distribute others as you deem necessary to mesh well down there. A species with darkvision would serve you well at that point: Half-elf is pretty decent, Possibly rock or deep gnome, vuman and especially with skulker, drow (naturally) or another elf, hill dwarf, air or water genasi, aarakocra (that last one might be personal bias...).

[Mr.Moron]

I think my best array was something like 18/17/15/15/14/12 , though that was back for 3.5.

[LaserFace]

In a 3.5 game I once got 16/15/15/15/15/15 and played a Wizard. We started at first level, so my offensive spells didn't always work, leaving me to frequently (and successfully) rely on whacking things with a staff and hurling rocks.

[DanyBallon]

It's not a full array, but I remember rolling once an 18/00 with 3d6, I felt pretty lucky at that time.

[RickAllison]

It's not a full array, but I remember rolling once an 18/00 with 3d6, I felt pretty lucky at that time.

The odds of that with 3d6 are 0.46%, for those who are curious.

[MaxWilson]

I just had the best rolled of my life for the new character. Using 4d6, discarding lowester, 6 rolls I got 18/16/16/16/10/8. First I would make a Sorc X / warlock 3, but now I really don't know what to do. Even if I stick with the plan, I'm thinking in don't get a race that add more Charisma. So:

- what was the best rolls of your life?

- any suggestion what to do with this? Will be a Underdark campaing.

The best rolls of my life so far:

6 7 8 7 4 9

I turned him into a plate armor-wearing Necromancer. Unfortunately have yet to play him, but I'm eager to do so.

[joaber]

My last two were both fantastic, but for very different reasons. My rogue had an excellent skill monkey roll: 16/15/15/14/14/8. Not as nice as yours, but it worked for his build really well. My monk had a more polarized roll: 18/18/14/11/7/7. As an Aarakocra, that means he got a 20 in DEX immediately and finished his 20 in WIS at lvl 4 with Observant. With that, he has an AC of 20 unarmored at level 4, which is fantastic. INT and CHA were dumped, but it was worth it for a class who normally has a problem in picking up feats due to needing two maxed stats. Plus, his passive Perception is at 24, so it is very difficult to sneak up on him!

As for your character, he should definitely devote 16s to dexterity and constitution, but you don't need me to tell you that. You have fantastic stats for multiclassing; a Sorc/Wizard would give you lots of spells and the Metamagics to power them. If you decided to do that, you could grab Deep Gnome from EE. INT+2, DEX+1, Superior Darkvision, advantage on three saving throws against magic, and you can grab 4 nice spells from Svirfneblin Magic. For a stealthier feel, Rogue (Arcane Trickster) would let you wreak all kinds of mayhem. If you wanted some independence at the cost of optimization, Monk (Shadow) 6 would let you teleport around in lower light levels, which is great for Underdark. Rogue (Assassin)/Monk (Shadow) would be a radical departure from your plan, but it would mesh well with the darkness and complements your stats (Dex 18, Wis 16, distribute others as you deem necessary to mesh well down there. A species with darkvision would serve you well at that point: Half-elf is pretty decent, Possibly rock or deep gnome, vuman and especially with skulker, drow (naturally) or another elf, hill dwarf, air or water genasi, aarakocra (that last one might be personal bias...).


I was thinking about deep gnome indeed. human v paladin (will multiclass later) tunnel fighter + polearm master + sentinel + mounted combatant + GWM crossed to my mind, since I almost doesn't need to buff the stats.

[thepsyker]

Not my roll or for a 5ed campaign, but the best I have ever seen was 18/18/18/18/18/18 on 4d6dL for a 1ed game. Needless to say he went with a paladin.

[MaxWilson]

Not my roll or for a 5ed campaign, but the best I have ever seen was 18/18/18/18/18/18 on 4d6dL for a 1ed game. Needless to say he went with a paladin.

What did he roll on exceptional strength? I'll laugh if it was 18/13 or something.

[thepsyker]

Can't remember off the top of my head, but it was decent.

[RickAllison]

I was thinking about deep gnome indeed. human v paladin (will multiclass later) tunnel fighter + polearm master + sentinel + mounted combatant + GWM crossed to my mind, since I almost doesn't need to buff the stats.

That is a ridiculous-sounding build, and I love it. It would go well with the stats, too. 18 for strength, 16 for dexterity, constitution, and whichever stat was casting for them. I really like the image of facing a horde of weaker enemies, taking them to half as they enter your space, then finishing them off with this grotesquely long series of attacks thanks to GWM. You might consider Mobile if you have a spare feat down the road after any ASIs, but I'm clueless on paladins so take that with a grain of salt.

[MaxWilson]

That is a ridiculous-sounding build, and I love it. It would go well with the stats, too. 18 for strength, 16 for dexterity, constitution, and whichever stat was casting for them. I really like the image of facing a horde of weaker enemies, taking them to half as they enter your space, then finishing them off with this grotesquely long series of attacks thanks to GWM. You might consider Mobile if you have a spare feat down the road after any ASIs, but I'm clueless on paladins so take that with a grain of salt.

And that is why a good DM will make you fight the occasional horde of mooks, instead of sticking purely to high-CR demons/dragons/etc.

[RickAllison]

And that is why a good DM will make you fight the occasional horde of mooks, instead of sticking purely to high-CR demons/dragons/etc.

Note: the same enemies that his build would dominate would also potentially eviscerate pure casters due to sheer numbers.

[joaber]

yup, the DM will hate this PC.

Unfortunately I don't think I have space for mobile, but the mount can desingage or dash.

[RickAllison]

yup, the DM will hate this PC.

Unfortunately I don't think I have space for mobile, but the mount can desingage or dash.

Oh, then you'll be fine. I was considering a Fighter build like that for my campaign, but my DM prefers open spaces so that makes it harder to defend all 7 casters.

I must be really tired, I almost used "seriously" twice in that last sentence when it didn't need either...

[joaber]

Oh, then you'll be fine. I was considering a Fighter build like that for my campaign, but my DM prefers open spaces so that makes it harder to defend all 7 casters.

I must be really tired, I almost used "seriously" twice in that last sentence when it didn't need either...

In that case the campaing will be in underdark, so the DM will need a good excuse if the scenario start to grow.

[Hudsonian]

I'm not familiar with Pally, but it seems to me like Fight X/Barb 1or2 could be a lot of fun. Dump Wis and CHA.

It's not necessarily optimized, but I really like the idea of a naked goliath rampaging through the Underdark. Maybe take magic initiate for some RP fun? Prestidigitation cantrip? maybe firebolts out of the arse?

Edit: I'm still pretty new, but one of my party roll 18/15/14/13/13/12 pre-racial.

[darkrose50]

We once made characters for The One Ring RPG (?). You roll randomly for attributes, then roll randomly to get more points. My buddy Josh ended up with maximum everything. We never ended up playing as the GM never got around to it.

[Laserlight]

The character I'm about to play, 4d6dL gave 18 18 14 14 11 11. But back in the early 80s, I rolled 3d6 for something like 18 18 18 17 16 16. A paladin, of course, named Eshiel Fire-of-God. He died heroically, saving our dying elf by using Lay on Hands on her while throwing himself in the path of a magic missile that would have killed the elf (and did kill Eshiel). There was a discussion about "Yeah, it's guaranteed to hit, but hit who? You rolled randomly to see who it was targeting. Can I take the hit?"). The elf converted to the paladin's religion, carried the body out of the dungeon, and built a shrine to honor him

[RickAllison]

The character I'm about to play, 4d6dL gave 18 18 14 14 11 11. But back in the early 80s, I rolled 3d6 for something like 18 18 18 17 16 16. A paladin, of course, named Eshiel Fire-of-God. He died heroically, saving our dying elf by using Lay on Hands on her while throwing himself in the path of a magic missile that would have killed the elf (and did kill Eshiel). There was a discussion about "Yeah, it's guaranteed to hit, but hit who? You rolled randomly to see who it was targeting. Can I take the hit?"). The elf converted to the paladin's religion, carried the body out of the dungeon, and built a shrine to honor him

That's actually really beautiful.

[MaxWilson]

I'm not familiar with Pally, but it seems to me like Fight X/Barb 1or2 could be a lot of fun. Dump Wis and CHA.


Barb 3/Fiendlock X with GWM and PM and Thirsting Blade is quite fun if you have stats that can support MAD. All the fun of a raging barbarian, plus loads of temp HP and spells. Take Barb levels at 1, 7, and 11 or 15.

Unlike a normal barbarian you have only three rages per day, but otherwise you're basically a full barb+.

Rage plus Armor of Agathys is a great combo, and EB mitigates the barb weakness at range. Lifedrinker is good too, makes up for the reduced rage bonus.

[DracoKnight]

My best roll was on my very first character: 18/16/18/12/16/17. I decided to put them straight down and make a Dragonborn Fighter. (Recently, though, my DM let me rebuild him as a Paladin.) I could increase CON and CHA at some point, but for now, my plan is to mainly pick up feats. At 8th level, I'm planning on picking up Warcaster (We're 7th level).

[Christian]

It's not a full array, but I remember rolling once an 18/00 with 3d6, I felt pretty lucky at that time.
The odds of that with 3d6 are 0.46%, for those who are curious.
That's the odds of an 18 on 3d6. For the 18/00, it's 0.0046%, or more precisely, 1 in 21,600. (Well, that's the odds with 3d6 and 1d100. With just 3d6, it's 0%, since you need percentile dice to roll the percentile strength. :smallbiggrin: )


Not my roll or for a 5ed campaign, but the best I have ever seen was 18/18/18/18/18/18 on 4d6dL for a 1ed game. Needless to say he went with a paladin.

You were snookered. Whoever you saw roll that was using loaded dice or some other such trickery.

The chance of rolling an 18 on 4d6 is 21 in 1296, or 1.6%. Doing it six times in a row happens once in 180 billion tries. This compares unfavorably to the chance of winning the Powerball grand prize on a single play, a paltry 1 in 292 million. It's not, strictly speaking, impossible, but the chances that skullduggery was involved far outweigh those odds.

That guy's paladin is very disappointed in him.

[Naanomi]

Back in my 2e 'roll stats down the list' days, I had an evoker with 4/8/16/3/16/18+18 comliness... I was pretty impressed by the swingyness both ways

[Christian]

Back in my 2e 'roll stats down the list' days, I had an evoker with 4/8/16/3/16/18+18 comliness... I was pretty impressed by the swingyness both ways
Heh. A player in a 1st Edition game I ran in college was rolling up a monk using the notorious Method V from Unearthed Arcana. (9d6 best 3/8d6 best 3/ ... 3d6 best three, for the seven stats in a set order based on the class you'd chosen, for those unfamiliar with it.) The result: Str 18, Int 17, Wis 18, Dex 18, Con 17, Cha 10, Com 9.

We both stared at that for a minute, then she looked at me and said, and I quote: "I'm not very good-looking, am I?"

I told her she was welcome to reroll the whole set if she wasn't happy, but she decided to fight through it.

[ShikomeKidoMi]

I don't know about the absolute best, but my personal favorite set of character creation rolls was 14, 15, 15, 15, 04, 15 in that order, before racial modifiers. This was on 4d6, pick 3.

I played that character as a genius savant wizard with no common sense or observational ability, but a certain befuddled charm. I didn't even switch the attributes around, despite having the option, I left them in order. Because really WIS 04 sounds like someone who sets out to raid ancient monster infested ruins for a living to me.

[WickerNipple]

It's not a full array, but I remember rolling once an 18/00 with 3d6, I felt pretty lucky at that time.

I rolled an 18/01 once. Everyone laughed at me.

Same odds, exact opposite feeling!

[2D8HP]

Not by me (if I ever averaged twelve's I counted myself lucky) but right before my eyes (this would be in the late 70's or early 80's) my little brother using 3D6 in order, rolled 18's for everything except Strength and then chose to make that character a fighter!
Well back then it kind of made sense, 1st level Magic Users could only cast one spell a day, Clerics didn't have any spells till 2nd level, and thieves didn't have as many hit points! Man was I envious!

[Taejang]

I had a wizard with an 18, 17, and no stat lower than 12. Don't remember the middle numbers. Felt pretty boss to make a dragonborn wizard who wasn't gimped by his race.

[Belac93]

Just now for a PbP. In order:
Str 14, Dex 17, Con 17, Int 15, Wis 15, Cha 12.
And then I decided.
"Gnome fighter. With Altimeters."

[Sitri]

It's not a full array, but I remember rolling once an 18/00 with 3d6, I felt pretty lucky at that time.

I did this one time too, verbatim. But my d*ckhole DM, actually my best friend at the time, said I couldn't use them because some rationalization from Dragonlance Novels and nerfed it to 18/50. We were about 14 then.

I really hate rolled stats, pretty much every time I do them I get lower than point buy but someone who rolls them at home or posts them online gets "OMG I can't believe I rolled this well" stats.

[MaxWilson]

I did this one time too, verbatim. But my d*ckhole DM, actually my best friend at the time, said I couldn't use them because some rationalization from Dragonlance Novels and nerfed it to 18/50. We were about 14 then.

I really hate rolled stats, pretty much every time I do them I get lower than point buy but someone who rolls them at home or posts them online gets [suspiciously amazing] stats.

I like rolled stats but I hate playing with cheaters. When using rolled stats I prefer to have the DM roll them up and tell me what they are so there is no doubt as to their reality.

I'm ambivalent about some things in 5E--I'm not always sure I like it as much as AD&D--but one of its unambiguous successes is that 5E makes even mediocre stats fun and worthwhile. (AD&D was sometimes fun with mediocre stats, especially for non-fighters, but 5E is more fun because the bonuses start at 12 instead of 15 or 16.)