Never herd of this rule on d&d 3.5

[ArtikSnow]

My dm says after your done rolling for your stats you take your lowest roll total and turn it into a 18. I have never herd of this rule is it hombrew or official?

[Blackhawk748]

My dm says after your done rolling for your stats you take your lowest roll total and turn it into a 18. I have never herd of this rule is it hombrew or official?

Its homebrew, though its not a terrible rule as the GM obviously wants you guys to have at least one great stat.

[ArtikSnow]

Its homebrew, though its not a terrible rule as the GM obviously wants you guys to have at least one great stat. That's what I thought thank you for confirming.

[KillianHawkeye]

Even the rulebooks will tell you that there are many different ways to determine your ability scores, and each method has different options for how many dice or how many points to use. Ultimately, your DM will determine what method they prefer to use.

[Calthropstu]

Even the rulebooks will tell you that there are many different ways to determine your ability scores, and each method has different options for how many dice or how many points to use. Ultimately, your DM will determine what method they prefer to use.

I am still looking for a gm that will let me generate my stats using baldurs gate's character generator.

[weckar]

You mean reroll until you have a 100+ total?

[Crake]

You mean reroll until you have a 100+ total?

nah, he means use the cheat to just get 18s across the board :smalltongue:

I think I remember seeing that tippy's table uses 18's across the board. Personally though, if you want to play such a pinnacle of humanity (or whatever race you want to play) pick a different system, like exalted or something.

What I like to do is roll an array of stats using 4d6 drop 1, then use that as the point buy, or 32 point buy, whichever is highest. I ended up rolling 35 point buy, and have been using that ever since. It's close to 32 point buy, but you can bump a 16 to a 17 and have something to look forward to at level 4 when you bump an attribute up by 1.

[MisterKaws]

I once went with "reroll anything lower than 14." Not my greatest idea, honestly.

[Calthropstu]

I once went with "reroll anything lower than 14." Not my greatest idea, honestly.

Mine is 4d6 drop the lowest, reroll 1s must have at least 1 14 or higher.

[Darth_Versity]

Mine is 4d6 drop the lowest, reroll 1s must have at least 1 14 or higher.

I've always enjoyed 2D6+6 from the Starship Troopers RPG. It tends towards a slightly higher average than 4D6 and creates a much more diverse range of ability scores.

With 4D6 I've rolled characters with every stat as a 12, 13 or 14. With 2D6+6 I've had 18, 17, 17, 16, 16, 14. Now that was a great character to play.

[lylsyly]

group I am playing in uses 10+1d8, arranged to suit. I assure you it is still way possible to roll a mediocre character with this. One thing the DM does is that your total bonuses must equal +8 or you can reroll.

[Âmesang]

My longest-running 3rd Edition character was actually built using a Pathfinder point buy just 'cause I wanted to dump Strength down to 7 just to look different. :smalltongue:

My current 5th Edition character was hastily made so I just went with the elite array (really would have liked that house rule!), while prior characters were built via 3d6 in order (with my gold dwarf cleric turning out surprisingly well).

[Malimar]

You're all wrong, the One True Way to roll an ability score is 1d20.

[Bucky]

If you don't want Point Buy for some reason, I recommend the nd6+7 method: roll n d6s, your strength is 7 plus the number of 1s, your dex is 7 plus the number of 2s etc. Points over 18 are reassigned to one of your bottom three stats (your choice or use 1d6/2).

[MisterKaws]

You're all wrong, the One True Way to roll an ability score is 1d20.

I heard of some people who used a d20 to roll THAT extra stat created by THAT third party book. It'd actually explain why so many PCs end up wielding humongous greatswords...

[thoroughlyS]

What book are you talking about?

[Malimar]

What book are you talking about?

I assume he speaks of the Attractiveness Appearance stat from Book of Erotic Fantasy.

[bookkeeping guy]

On the plus side...it sounds like he likes you!

This is a very good sign he's not one of those type that try to kill their players! Thumbs up! XD

[GnomishPride]

I assume he speaks of the Attractiveness stat from Book of Erotic Fantasy.

I'm pretty sure he means the Comeliness stat from the 1e AD&D Unearthed Arcana. By far the best stat ever conceived. :smalltongue:

[KillianHawkeye]

If you don't want Point Buy for some reason, I recommend the nd6+7 method: roll n d6s, your strength is 7 plus the number of 1s, your dex is 7 plus the number of 2s etc. Points over 18 are reassigned to one of your bottom three stats (your choice or use 1d6/2).

This looks like quite an interesting way to go about it! I'm curious, do you have any recommendations (as a baseline) for the number of d6s to roll? I could see it being quite a lot.

[Extra Anchovies]

My favorite ability score set is the Advanced Elite Array (not my creation, but I forget where I learned it from). The stats in the elite array are 2/2/2/2/1/0 points higher than the stats in the non-elite array. Applying those same bonuses to the elite array gets 17/16/15/14/11/8, which I think is good for a mid- to high-power game.


This looks like quite an interesting way to go about it! I'm curious, do you have any recommendations (as a baseline) for the number of d6s to roll? I could see it being quite a lot.

Getting six 10s requires 18d6. Non-elite array requires 21d6. Elite array requires 30d6. Advanced elite array requires 39d6. So yeah, you'd need quite a few dice.

[CasualViking]

Randomly rolled stats and the "funnel" paradigm go together. Using one without the other is just straight-up grognarded.

(The "funnel" is the gamestyle where you slap a character together in 5 minutes and throw him into the meatgrinder, only getting attached to characters who manage to survive, level up and get some sweet loot).

[Powerdork]

Meanwhile, with 39 dice (+3 if you're including a seventh score), you can use Enhanced Method V: Assign 9 dice to one ability score, then 8 dice to the next, 7 to a third and so on. Pick the best three dice for each group.
This method has its roots in old-style D&D, introduced for humans in Unearthed Arcana, along with the Comeliness score. Dice amounts were set by class (such that paladins were likely to get high Charisma, fighters high Constitution, and such). It makes spectacularly bad rolls possible but increasingly unlikely for your priority scores, while not boosting every score to racial paragon levels.
It's suggested to let players share rolls with this one, as with any other Xd6 method.

[Extra Anchovies]

Meanwhile, with 39 dice (+3 if you're including a seventh score), you can use Enhanced Method V: Assign 9 dice to one ability score, then 8 dice to the next, 7 to a third and so on. Pick the best three dice for each group.
This method has its roots in old-style D&D, introduced for humans in Unearthed Arcana, along with the Comeliness score. Dice amounts were set by class (such that paladins were likely to get high Charisma, fighters high Constitution, and such). It makes spectacularly bad rolls possible but increasingly unlikely for your priority scores, while not boosting every score to racial paragon levels.
It's suggested to let players share rolls with this one, as with any other Xd6 method.

Oh, wow. Most likely results for each of 9/8/7/6/5/4 are 16/16/16/15/14/13. Here's an anydice link (http://anydice.com/program/99a0) if anyone wants to look at a more complete analysis.

[illyahr]

That's close to what I do. If I want to roll up a character in a hurry, I use 16/15/14/13/13/12. It has worked for me.

[Bucky]

This looks like quite an interesting way to go about it! I'm curious, do you have any recommendations (as a baseline) for the number of d6s to roll? I could see it being quite a lot.

If you want the average stat to be 11, it's 24 dice - the same as the popular 4d6 drop 1. The elite array is a 30-die spread (avg. 12), so I'd aim slightly higher with between a 33-die spread (avg. 12.5) and a 42-die spread (avg. 14).

If number of dice is an issue, you can halve the number of dice by randomly assigning three +1s to different stats and then having any further dice operate as +2 increments. However, this approach tends to yield a rougher distribution.

Finally, although the actual dice take more time to roll, the actual process isn't too much slower because you're sorting and counting the rolls instead of adding them.

[Powerdork]

Oh, wow. Most likely results for each of 9/8/7/6/5/4 are 16/16/16/15/14/13. Here's an anydice link (http://anydice.com/program/99a0) if anyone wants to look at a more complete analysis.

Huh, neat, but the most likely result is not the true average result, in an example of the difference between mode (your listed most-occurring results, which run the equivalent of 45 points Pathfinder/49 points 3.5) and mean (see the 'summary' tab for averages; truncated, those are 15/15/14/14/13/12, which runs the equivalent of 29 points Pathfinder/37 points 3.5). Of course, since so many dice are in play, there's no guarantee either of those results will be close to what comes up.

[jdizzlean]

that's a total homebrew, and while it's a gift, it also negates some roleplaying and is a bit min/max on top of that.

[Powerdork]

that's a total homebrew, and while it's a gift, it also negates some roleplaying and is a bit min/max on top of that.

Please explain how it 'negates roleplaying', and how it's min/max, bearing in mind the source of the rule is the GM, who no doubt has their reasons for it.

[weckar]

One of my GMs really likes 2d6+8. Because what penalties?

(No, seriously, negative numbers give him a headache)

[Eldan]

I tried telling my players that 10 is average, not terrible and that no, a wizard with a 14 in his casting stat is perfectly viable, and that I personally rather like having a 6 or two so I have a weakness to roleplay around... and then just gave up.

My current method is "write whatever you want for your stats. No rolling, just write them down. All 16-18? Fine."

[jdizzlean]

Please explain how it 'negates roleplaying', and how it's min/max, bearing in mind the source of the rule is the GM, who no doubt has their reasons for it.

it negates roleplaying as you can ignore a 10 or 11 or lower score and instantly makes it an excellent one. so instead of having to play a weak, or awkward, or dumb character (etc), you now only really have to figure out 5 rolls as one will automatically be "maxed out at 18". I personally don't like it, but I'm not in that game.

In that same vein, you now only have to worry about 5 rolls for stats as again one is going to go from the minimum to a max stat.

of course I'm assuming that the OP is rolling the 6 stats and THEN assigning them to a stat, if it was roll it and it's stuck in that stat, and THEN make the lowest one a 18, my arguement is invalidated, but i doubt that's the case.

[Extra Anchovies]

I tried telling my players that 10 is average, not terrible and that no, a wizard with a 14 in his casting stat is perfectly viable, and that I personally rather like having a 6 or two so I have a weakness to roleplay around... and then just gave up.

My current method is "write whatever you want for your stats. No rolling, just write them down. All 16-18? Fine."

D&D starts being a superhero game by 6th level or so. At that point, being average at something is a weakness.

[Mordaedil]

In our running game my DM allowed me to roll two blocks and keep the one I liked the most. The first one was entirely average, but I hated how it gave me kind of a subpar charisma, so I looked at the second block and... I could get 15 charisma at the cost of 5 wisdom.

We're now running with madness rules. This is an awful idea.

[Esprit15]

One group I'm in does 40 point buy. The DM likes giving people nice things, because that means he can throw nastier stuff at us.

The other does 7 sets of 4d6b3, drop lowest, then roll again, and pick your favorite. Had one character with a 17 16 16 16 16 15 set.