Alternative for random stats.

[Hakon]

Hi all, i would like to share an alternative method for character stats i invented for my games.


Roll 3d6
and you have a pool of numbers
6,5,4,3,2,2

after you roll your 6 stats you can swap out an individual number you dislike for a better one.

i will now do an example

roll 1
6,6,3 (15)

roll 2
5,3,2 (10)

roll 3
5,1,1 (7)

roll 4
5,3,1 (9)

roll 5
6,5,3 (14)

roll6
6,4,3 (13)

this is a very average character below that of a points buy (common with 3d6 method) however i can substitute individual dice.
i will swap the 3 for a 6 in the first roll, the 2 for a 4 in the second roll, the the 1 for a 2 and the other 1 for a 3 in the 3rd roll, the 1 for a 2 in the 4th roll and the 3 for a 5 in the 5th roll.

now i have gone from 15,10,7,9,14,13 to 18,12,10,10,16,13 which is a much more even set of stats

the beauty of this method is the numbers handed out for swaps can be increased or lowered to suit the campaign of high end and low end.

eg for low end the dm might offer only 6,5,4
or maybe he wants more average stats and offers 4,4,4

for high end he may offer 6,6,5,4,3,2


I find it the perfect blend of points buy and rolling.
hopefully someone else will see this idea and have use of it as well.

[Fishyninja]

the beauty of this method is the numbers handed out for swaps can be increased or lowered to suit the campaign of high end and low end.

I've always used 4d6 systems or Point Buy but the above sentence about swapped out numbers, what is stopping people replacing 1 number from each roll with a 6?

[Belac93]

I've always used 4d6 systems or Point Buy but the above sentence about swapped out numbers, what is stopping people replacing 1 number from each roll with a 6?

At the beginning, OP mentions you have 6,5,4,3,2,2. So you cannot swap out 6, 5, 4, and 3 more than once, and you can swap out 2s twice.

[Hakon]

At the beginning, OP mentions you have 6,5,4,3,2,2. So you cannot swap out 6, 5, 4, and 3 more than once, and you can swap out 2s twice.

correct

effectively what this does is the following:

the average of 3d6 is 10.5 (1d6 average is 3.5)

so since 3.5 occurs because we add opposite pairs together and half them (1 and 6, 2 and 5, 3 and 4) we can assume our players will always go for an increase

rolling a d6 18 times should result in 3 occurrences of each number on average.

so our 2's replace 1's so our pair of 1 and 6 is now 2 and 6 resulting in a 4
our 3 replaces at the final 1 so thats a 3 and 6 averaging to a 4.5
our 4 replaces a 2, that's 4 and 5 for a 4.5 average
5 replaces a 2, thats a 5 and 5 for a 5 average
and 6 replaces a 2 thats a 6 and 5 for a 5.5 average

so where the average of 3d6 results in an average stat line of 10.5, 10.5, 10.5, 10.5, 10.5, 10.5, (10.5 total average)
ours will generally be 11,11,11.5,11.5,12,12.5 (11.6 total average)

this system also prevent a stat of 3 ruining an otherwise nice roll
as they could bump that to a 7 using the 2 2's and a 3 or even to a 16 using a 4, 5 and 6.

[Fishyninja]

At the beginning, OP mentions you have 6,5,4,3,2,2. So you cannot swap out 6, 5, 4, and 3 more than once, and you can swap out 2s twice.

Just re-read the OP and spotted it. My apologies first read this at just after midnight so was not running on all cylinders so to speak.

[Capn Charlie]

My method uses modified baccarat rules.

Grab a standard 52 card deck of playing cards, and get ready to deal some high stakes baccarat. Using this method deal out two cards for each ability score, and decide which of these totals are high enough to suit your adventurousness, and which you need to up. You may deal up to three more cards into each ability score, counting all totals like blackjack but only paying attention to the one’s place (the 5 in 25, the 4 in 34) and add this to a base ability score of 6.