Good 'elite array'?

[Naanomi]

I'm prepping a new campaign in the summer (splitting into two groups to cut down the party size of my social-skill group DnD sessions). We've done standard array and point-buy in general; but I was thinking of making the next story a bit more 'epic' with a 'heroes of prophecy' vibe. One way I was going to emphasize this point is with a beefier starting stat array.

My first instinct was 18/16/14/13/12/9... thoughts?

[Specter]

Why not?

I went for 18/16/14/12/10/10 for an epic one-shot, but that's not much of a change. You could also maximize their HP (not using class averages).

[Chronicler]

I typically try to have at least two odd numbers in a starting array, since variant humans are usually a popular choice.

17/16/15/14/12/10 is my go-to elite array.

[DragonSorcererX]

I have never thought of this, and it is awesome!

[Naanomi]

I typically try to have at least two odd numbers in a starting array, since variant humans are usually a popular choice.

17/16/15/14/12/10 is my go-to elite array.
My original take had two (a 13 and a 9) for basically variant Humans and Half Elves (sorry Tritions)

I know I wanted an 18 on there, and I put in a 9 so a player can still choose to be 'stupid Barbarian' or 'weak wizard' with some justification if they want to do so. It is that middle four I keep waffling on.

My two main plans are:
18/16/14/13/12/9 (for an optimized 20/16/14/14 stat spread)
Or a slightly stronger 18/16/15/14/12/9 (for an optimized 20/16/16/14 spread)

[Laserlight]

My two main plans are:
18/16/14/13/12/9 (for an optimized 20/16/14/14 stat spread)
Or a slightly stronger 18/16/15/14/12/9 (for an optimized 20/16/16/14 spread)

I'd go with the 20 16 14 14. That way the player has to decide which is his secondary stat and which is tertiary. The tertiary is still high enough to multiclass with.

[Corran]

My original take had two (a 13 and a 9) for basically variant Humans and Half Elves (sorry Tritions)

I know I wanted an 18 on there, and I put in a 9 so a player can still choose to be 'stupid Barbarian' or 'weak wizard' with some justification if they want to do so. It is that middle four I keep waffling on.

My two main plans are:
18/16/14/13/12/9 (for an optimized 20/16/14/14 stat spread)
Or a slightly stronger 18/16/15/14/12/9 (for an optimized 20/16/16/14 spread)
I'm with Chronicler: 17, 16, 15, 14, 12, 10.
This serves the variant human and the halfelf just fine, allowing them even to use their boosts with their good scores instead of with a 13.
I dont like the 9 in the starting array. Epic heroes (even the ones in the making) shouldn't have dump stats.

[Citan]

I'm prepping a new campaign in the summer (splitting into two groups to cut down the party size of my social-skill group DnD sessions). We've done standard array and point-buy in general; but I was thinking of making the next story a bit more 'epic' with a 'heroes of prophecy' vibe. One way I was going to emphasize this point is with a beefier starting stat array.

My first instinct was 18/16/14/13/12/9... thoughts?


Why not?

I went for 18/16/14/12/10/10 for an epic one-shot, but that's not much of a change. You could also maximize their HP (not using class averages).

Hi!
I'd be more partial to Specter proposition.
Reason behind being that for me, Elite should not mean "great nearly everywhere" but "at least good everywhere, and very great in a few fields".
Which translates by having no negative modifier.

Otherwise, my own suggestion (taken of how some of my players distributed their stats including racial with houserule "30 point buy", "starting 16 allowed".
16 / 16 / 14 / 12 / 10 / 10
Meaning nearly same as Specter, difference is that your players will get the Elite feeling thanks to the (probable) +2 racial they will put in primary to get a 18.
Why not use directly Specter's array then? Personally, I would feel weird allowing starting characters with maxed primary stat, even for elite ones. I like the idea that they still have some space to improve.

If you can't find an array that really suits you or you are afraid of too similar stats on players just make a point-buy with "nothing below 10 or above 18 post-racial" and 35 points. People will have much leeway between "specialized array" and "good all-around".


I typically try to have at least two odd numbers in a starting array, since variant humans are usually a popular choice.

17/16/15/14/12/10 is my go-to elite array.
This is usually a good idea but, since we are talking about people starting with "unusually" high stats, the need for ASI should be lesser. So even if you start with odd stats because of racial +1, it should be not difficult to take feats that even then later. ;)
I agree that at least one odd stat could be nice though.

[hymer]

thoughts?

You don't have to limit it to one array. You could have two or more. That way you could let people start with 8 or 9, but they don't have to, and they don't need to prop up such a score with racial bonuses to avoid it.
I echo the sentiment of having some (several) uneven scores, also among the higher scores of the array. They make for more interesting decisions.

[McNinja]

If the standard is 15/14/13/12/10/8

Then a good "elite" would be 17/15/14/13/10/9 - good enough to make a character better than average, but still requires thought.

You could also do a few different styles of rolling that deliver more elite stats:
- classic 4d6 drop the lowest.
- 5d4
- lastly, you could do 10d6*, drop one of the highest and the 6 lowest. That usually turns out good results.


*Just fyi, if you have an android phone, an app called Adventuresmith has a dope dice roller that you can customize. That's how I came up with these ridiculous rolls.

[Biggstick]

I don't allow for quite as powerful of a set-up, but it still feels pretty good to me.

Improved Standard Array (8, 10, 12, 14, 15, 16), or 34 point buy. 16's can be purchased for 12 points.

Standard Racial Ability Score bonuses. Races other than Mountain Dwarf, Human Variant, and Half Elf have three +1's instead of their natural ability score bonuses that can be placed into any ability score. They can be spread out to three different ability scores, or stacked to a maximum of +2 in one ability score and +1 in another ability score. Human variants are stuck as is with two +1's and a feat. Half Elves and Mountain Dwarves can elect to instead take the three +1's if they'd prefer.
My Players really like it, as it allows for any race/class combination to start with an 18 in it's primary stat, a 16 in it's secondary stat, and whatever else they're looking for stat wise.