How do y'all get your stats ?

[Keeganwilson]

Do you use the standard 4d6 drop the lowest or point buy? Do you have some sort of modified system of that? I'd love to hear all the methods the forumites use.

[Ogre Mage]

The large majority of the time it is point buy. I have done everything from 27 pts. to 32 pts. for a high power campaign.

[Keeganwilson]

For the 32 points do you allow them to go over the stat cap or under it ?

[Ogre Mage]

For the 32 points do you allow them to go over the stat cap or under it ?

I didn't allow anything because I was a player in the games. But our DM said we had to stick to the stat cap of 15 before racial modifiers.

[DataNinja]

The method that my groups have used so far is everyone rolls 4d6 best 3, 6 times. Everyone's able to use any of the arrays that anyone's rolled. It does end up being higher power than normal, but it gives a bunch of options, and makes sure that nobody is going to be screwed over unduly compared to others at character creation.

[Stygofthedump]

We found that characters were too powerful so we decided on 6x3d6 and only only one chance to discard and reroll. It’s great having some weak stats and having to seriously consider whether you can afford that feat instead of asi.

[Foxydono]

I've used the following methods:
- 4d6 drop lowest (and also variant, do it three times and pick)
- 5d6 drop 2 lowest (also the above variant)
- Standard array
- Everything in between 27-32 point buy. Maximum varied between 15 and 18.
- 27 point buy and starting feat (also with variant no 'power feats', GWM, elven accuracy etc).
- 3d6 and also with gritty realism variant, were you can't switch stats. For example, you pick fighter and then roll 3d6 for your Strength score. It's pretty brutal.

Anyway, I like 27 point buy with free feat (no power feat) best for 5e. Rolling all stats 5d6 three times was insane, with nothing below 14 and two 18's. Can be fun for a one shot :)

[elyktsorb]

Point Buy, since I'd hate to be the guy who's doing the best just because his rolled stats are good. But to that end I also prefer if groups start out with higher stats as default since otherwise you always spend like the first 8 levels pumping ability scores and that's just boring to me

[Expected]

Do you use the standard 4d6 drop the lowest or point buy? Do you have some sort of modified system of that? I'd love to hear all the methods the forumites use.

Point buy. Rolling is too random and it can cause disparities in power between PC's. We used 4d6 and drop the lowest on my first campaign and I rolled well. I did a little research and built an optimized Sharpshooter+CBX Battle Master Fighter and completely outshined the other players who had rolled poorly and did not optimize.

Point buy also makes it easier for the DM to plan encounters because everyone starts with the same possibilities but different power depending on how you allocate it. There's something so satisfying about breaking combat within the confines of RAI/RAW.

[Assenzio]

We use a fixed array: 17 16 13 11 11 9

Surely high power, but encounters match that power and we have more room for feats.

[Fnissalot]

I usually go with the (1) standard array or (2) 4d6 drop 1 and place freely. I want to try the (3) Colville classic of it 4d6 drop 1 but place in order but reroll if not two stats are 15 or higher as it creates inspiration for the person making a character, or the (4) Justisaur's 27-25-23 since it looks like a more random but still balanced standard array.

[LentilNinja]

I usually go with the (1) standard array or (2) 4d6 drop 1 and place freely. I want to try the (3) Colville classic of it 4d6 drop 1 but place in order but reroll if not two stats are 15 or higher as it creates inspiration for the person making a character, or the (4) Justisaur's 27-25-23 since it looks like a more random but still balanced standard array.

We use a method found in a 3rd party book for the 13th Age system:

Name 6d6 from A to F. Roll the 6d6, then calculate your stats as follows:

13 + Dice A - Dice B
13 + B - C
13 + C - D
13 + D - E
13 + E - F
13 + F - A

The houserule we then apply is if you don't roll anything higher than a 16, you reroll. Usually this ends up with characters around a 32-34 PB, but everyone's around the same points. It also guarantees if you roll a 6 for one stat, thus getting a high result, your next roll is taking a -6.

[Porcupinata]

Standard Array

Rolling leads to too much random disparity between characters, and point buy encourages min-maxing. Standard Array is simple, fair, and produces balanced characters.

[MaxWilson]

Do you use the standard 4d6 drop the lowest or point buy? Do you have some sort of modified system of that? I'd love to hear all the methods the forumites use.

Standard 4d6 drop lowest usually. Sometimes 3d6 in order.

As a DM I allow players to fall back to point buy if they want to but as a player I find point buy extremely samey and too rewarding for min-maxers. Point buy reminds me of IWD2, the CRPG. Internet discussions reinforce that impression--you see all of these posters with Int 8, defending the idea that Int 8 isn't really very stupid at all, but the real problem is that point buy is allowing you to minimize Int in exchange for e.g. more HP (higher Con), and everybody is taking the low Int but they don't want the downsides of roleplaying a low Int. I'd rather just avoid the dilemma by rolling dice instead. You can still deprioritize Int but you can't directly trade it away, like you can under point buy.

Also I like how rolling inspires my creativity. Sometimes you look at an 3d6-in-order array like 10 11 17 8 9 11 and see the "shape" of a character in the rolls: Myrtle the Turtle, who isn't particularly outstanding at anything except surviving, so let's make that a Mobile human Diviner with a phobia of water, and yes I realize he's got Int 8. He got into adventuring because he likes to eat well and live well but he can't hold a steady job, and he's a physical coward, but he's a coward who's desperate for gold so he does it anyway. Ergo he's jumpy and a bit paranoid, hence the affinity for Divination magic.

I'd never come up with Myrtle the Turtle under point buy.

[Aimeryan]

Standard Array

Rolling leads to too much random disparity between characters, and point buy encourages min-maxing. Standard Array is simple, fair, and produces balanced characters.

Is min-maxing actually a problem? I agree that 15, 8, 15, 8, 15, 8 is a very extreme individual, however, it also has more player agency than a static array. You'll usually find that the player will not want three 15s anyway due to the racial bonus - for example, one will be +2'd so 14 is generally no different to 15, another will be +1'd so 15 is fine there sure, the last will have no bonus and so 14 is generally no different to a 15. The result tends to be something like 8, 15, 14, 14, 12, 8 before race - which is not that different from a standard array but feels a lot better to the player.

Worse case, you limit it to one score as minimum of 8, which leads to something like 10, 15, 14, 14, 10, 8. This actually seems like a more probable individual than standard array; three strengths, two averages, one weakness vs. four strengths, one average, one weakness of standard array.

[Randomthom]

My main objection to standard array is feats are fun but you feel like you're gimping your character by not getting your main stat to 18-20 early.

Just creating a custom array with some higher stats in seems like a good compromise.

My recent game started everyone with a 16 then 5x 4d6 drop lowest.

[Petrocorus]

There shall not be random generation at my table.

For now, i use 27 point buy. I allow 1 single ability at 16 before racial mods. 15 to 16 cost 2 points.
And i give a bonus feat at first level.

It is a bit higher than normal in terms of power, but my players are not really good at optimizing. And i tend to pump up the foes a bit.

[GlenSmash!]

All my DMs have done point buy. I like it since I play a lot of MAD characters that are easier to do with point buy than Standard array.

[Demonslayer666]

I highly prefer 4d6, drop the lowest, and assign anywhere. Once in a while you get a character that has several really good stats.

I don't like in order assignment, it makes picking a class difficult, and makes strange combos that don't make sense.

Point buy is ok, but I prefer higher points, or adding a random bit to vary it up.

I dislike standard set very much. It makes for very little variation between characters of the same class.

[Talsin]

Everyone rolls 3d6 x 6, then calculates back into point buy for each player. Then everyone gets to use the point-buy that was highest -or- picked by the DM because sometimes the number is too high.

[Aimeryan]

There shall not be random generation at my table.

For now, i use 27 point buy. I allow 1 single ability at 16 before racial mods. 15 to 16 cost 2 points.
And i give a bonus feat at first level.

It is a bit higher than normal in terms of power, but my players are not really good at optimizing. And i tend to pump up the foes a bit.

I too prefer to start players with higher stats in the strengths, lower in the weaknesses. The alternative is to mostly rely on the overly random nature of a d20 with a small modifier - the difference for being a specialist is far too subtle for my liking in such a case.

The thing is, power is not a problem if all of the players are similarly empowered*; you just up the difficulty of the encounter to match. If everyone played with all 8s in their scores you would put them against lesser threats than if everyone played with all 20s in their scores, but the game would function fine either way. The major difference comes from having say a 10 in one stat and an 18 in another stat - it makes what the player is good at and weak at more noticeable, more impactful.

Also, ability score increases are so much more boring than feats. A higher starting score in the primary stats of a character means taking less ASIs and more feats.

*I too dislike random generation for stats; too easy to start with wildly different character power.

[HappyDaze]

Standard Array

Rolling leads to too much random disparity between characters, and point buy encourages min-maxing. Standard Array is simple, fair, and produces balanced characters.

This exactly matches my answer and rationale as well.

[MaxWilson]

The major difference in PC power is rarely due to stats--it happens when one player is really good at the game and another is bad at it. A guy with no stat higher than 14 can often outplay a guy with three 16s and an 18, if the second guy makes poor decisions and the first guy makes good decisions. Having +4 to INT means only means +2 to DC, which is the difference between 6/10 orcs failing a save vs. Evard's Black Tentacles or only 5/10. But a player who makes poor decisions will cast an inappropriate spell like Lightning Bolt instead, taking out 1 or 2 orcs.

In terms of effect on outcomes, variance in player skill absolutely swamps variance in stats. Stat variance is mostly only an issue IME if players are looking at either other's character sheets and developing number envy--it's not something that tends to matter much during the actual gameplay.

Therefore, it can be perfectly fun and rewarding to play with substandard stats. A 12, 11, 9, 6, 8, 10 Moon Druid is not weak, so even if you roll crummy stats you will always have good character options--it's just that rolling good stats can unlock more unusual character options that you rarely get to play, like a Defensive Duelist Elemonk-lock, if you happen to roll crazy-high Wis/Dex/Cha. (Also, rolling some really low stats is also an opportunity to unlock RP opportunities, like a low-Wisdom low-Charisma crazed paranoiac who is still useful to the party because he's also a high-Str Barbarian tank.)

[Pixel_Kitsune]

Both of the DMs (My being one) prefer the PCs to be fairly high powered and tend to play to that.

In that light, we start off above the standard.

Roll 4d6, reroll 1's, keep the best 3. Giving a stat between 6-18 with a tilt towards higher numbers.

After your first four stats you get a choice, either roll the last two the same, or designate the last two as 18 and 6.

This means the option is there to always have at least your primary stat be maxed, albeit that guaruntee means you take a solid penalty in something.

[Verble]

My DM does 4d6 drop lowest, rolled three times, with some minor bumps or minuses if the point totals are too high.

Those who do a bonus feat at first level, can you take an ASI instead?

[Arcturus]

We recently tried 4d6 drop 1 with a cap of 16, and if you’d rolled 5 stats and didn’t have a 16 yet your final stat was automatically 16. This gave interesting variance between characters while ensuring that everyone had a good score in their key stat and could do their job well.

[rel]

point buy.
Keeps things balanced. Keeps things fair. Removes perverse incentives like killing off your character to get a better roll on stats.

[Kane0]

15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10 for a high fantasy game and 14, 13, 12, 10, 9, 8 for a gritty one.

[ImperiousLeader]

Standard Array

Rolling leads to too much random disparity between characters, and point buy encourages min-maxing. Standard Array is simple, fair, and produces balanced characters.

This. Though the current adventure I'm running, because it was a short one, I allowed Rolling stats.

That said, I will confess that it does mean, since I prefer playing casters, if I can't get a starting 16 in my casting stat, I'm not playing that particular race/class combo. And that is a little bit of a bummer, I sometimes felt 4e was more forgiving, even if you didn't get a bonus in your primary stat, a bonus to your secondary made it viable.

[Kane0]

If my group wants rolled stats we share the array, everyone rolls one 4d6 drop 1 set and if we have less than six players the DM rolls the rest to make up all six stats

[JNAProductions]

I've been letting my players just pick their stats. Still has to be 3-18 before racials, and any array anyone makes is open to everyone to use.

[Vessyra]

Our group uses 4d6 drop the lowest, and assign those stats however you want. However, we also have a house rule where we roll two batches of stats, in pick which one we want to use. So we don't have massive stats, but we still have slightly above-average. (Typically, a player will have highest stat of 17 with this system, and a 15 or 16 as next highest)

[Luccan]

For a commoners game I was going to use 18 point buy, changing the at-creation ability cap to 13 (before racial bonus)

[LordCdrMilitant]

Do you use the standard 4d6 drop the lowest or point buy? Do you have some sort of modified system of that? I'd love to hear all the methods the forumites use.

Points buy, basically always as the GM.

I don't see value in rolling for stats anymore, and I definitely don't subscribe to the idea that rolling is important for "playing with the hand that you're dealt" given that each new rolling scheme I've been introduced to seems engineered to produce increasingly higher and customized stats, and almost always guarantee a stat that's 16+. It's basically just picking your stats yourself.

We'll stick to point buy, this way there's a structure and limit on self-selecting stats, and we're not beating around the bush about it.


I've been letting my players just pick their stats. Still has to be 3-18 before racials, and any array anyone makes is open to everyone to use.

I've done this before too. This is how I figured out that rolling for stat's was just a show to posture and play let's pretend about not being power-gamey.

The end result was that arrays, before racial modifiers, were along the lines of 16+, 15, 14, 12, 10, 8, which was striking because it looked basically very much like rolled arrays, especially rolled arrays rolled out of GM supervision. Beyond just being around 32 points buy rather than 27 points buy, the 16+ is the most important part, I surmised. Especially because, when we rolled for characters, especially when I wasn't watching, there was always at least a 16, 17, or they petitioned for a re-roll or adjustment.

I came to the conclusion that I should just use points buy in the future and that rolling with all the schemes of re-rolls and drop-lowests and the likes was basically just a cover for shooting for better stats to be a more efficient build. Perhaps I should have come to the conclusion that my players think they'll have the most fun with a better stat array with a 16+ in it, and will pick an otherwise reasonable looking array.

[Eldariel]

Last game I was given the choice between point buy and rolling and I ended up rolling since with PB there was no way to play the character. I wanted to play a Roguish Wizard, which required 1 good and 4 decent scores, but the pb simply wouldn't budge so I went with the hail mary and ended up rolling barely enough to play the character (although with a ton of uneven scores, but Variant Human and feats fix that up nicely). Normally I hate rolling since it gives me no control over whether I get to play what I want to play but the fact that you can roll but not buy 18 and that you can roll more good stats than you can reasonably buy sometimes makes me pick it as the lesser of two evils (when it happens to suit the character). Though when rolling, it's really hard to get a horrible stat either. I like one 4-7 range stat to really highlight a clear weakness but this time the worst I got was a 9 for instance. Indeed, I rolled 9/17/13/13/11/12, which is by all accounts an excellent roll and after V. Human and a feat we're looking at a more reasonable 9/18/14/14/11/12. Probably not worth the effort to buy the last points to even scores.

This just highlights why I prefer high enough pb or potentially arrays (but arrays are not customizable, so I'd rather prefer a range of arrays to support MAD, SAD and DAD characters).

[Petrocorus]

I don't see value in rolling for stats anymore, and I definitely don't subscribe to the idea that rolling is important for "playing with the hand that you're dealt" given that each new rolling scheme I've been introduced to seems engineered to produce increasingly higher and customized stats, and almost always guarantee a stat that's 16+. It's basically just picking your stats yourself.

Completely agree.
I noticed the same thing in almost every thread on this subject.

[AvatarVecna]

Mostly point-buy for 5e. Sometimes rolls with point-buy as a safety net. Game I recently signed up for did a weird thing where it was 3d6 6 times, and then you can reroll 6 dice somewhere in those 18. Works out to very slightly better than 4d6b3, but not that much better.

[birdboye713]

Personally I'm a fan of point buy, but in my most recent campaign I let my players choose and they went for the 27-25-23 method.

[micahaphone]

Point buy, but if people really wanna roll, then everyone uses the same array / could use each other's rolls. I care far more about the players having stats relatively equal to each other rather than how powerful or weak their stat line is.

[ZorroGames]

Having played 00D&D with rolled in order and 3D6 I love the flexibility of point buy. Not being a strong min-max player when character role play is a starting factor (always) I prefer the combination of flexibility and bell curve character creation.

Example from 1973 - fighter where high stat was 12 and second highest was 10 lowest was a 3 and a 6.

Edit: died around 4th level IIRC and not intentionally.

[Petrocorus]

Having played 00D&D with rolled in order and 3D6 I love the flexibility of point buy. Not being a strong min-max player when character role play is a starting factor (always) I prefer the combination of flexibility and bell curve character creation.


Oh yeah, i started with this kind of character creation. Hated this.

[MaxWilson]

One interesting idea, which I will probably never use but potentially could if players were jealous of each other's stats, is to have everybody roll a 4d6k3 array, and then bid on who gets to use what arrays. The person who's willing to start their PC at 1st level gets first pick, then the guy who's willing to start at 2nd level gets the next pick, and so on. If there's a tie (everybody wants the same array) then the price goes up (more +levels, or +magic items at the DM's discretion) until only one guy is left.

Would you rather be a 1st level guy with stat array 18 17 15 13 12 12, or an Nth level guy with stats 15 14 11 10 9 6? In the end nobody can complain because they all had the same chance, but you'll get to see who can do more with what they have.

But I have yet to run a group where people care enough about each other's stats that this would be necessary.

[Yunru]

The table rolls 64 4d6k3 filling out an 8x8 grid in order.
Players can then pick any line of 6, forwards or backwards, to use (in order) as their stats.

Or just point buy.

[J-H]

27 point buy. Keeps everyone at similar power levels.

[Petrocorus]

Would you rather be a 1st level guy with stat array 18 17 15 13 12 12, or an Nth level guy with stats 15 14 11 10 9 6? In the end nobody can complain because they all had the same chance, but you'll get to see who can do more with what they have.

I will choose the first one any day. Because i will reach 4th level before the guy who started at 4th reach the 5th.

Yes, the survivability may be a problem, but if this is a party made of one 1st level, one 2nd level, one 3rd level and one 4th level PC, the DM is not going to put CR 4 enemies on every encounter.

[MaxWilson]

I will choose the first one any day. Because i will reach 4th level before the guy who started at 4th reach the 5th.

Yes, the survivability may be a problem, but if there is a party for one 1st level, one 2nd level, one 3rd level and one 4th level PC, the DM is not going to put CR 4 enemies on every encounter.

You're assuming N = 4, but I bet there would be someone in your group who would make the opposite choice, so you'd both have reason to be happy with what you got. (In fact I've seen players willing to rolling 3d6-in-order in order to start at 5th level.) Otherwise, keep raising N (or adding magic items) until everyone but one person drops out.

Would you still pick the first-level guy if N = 9? How about 15? 20? (I'd be very, very surprised if it ever got to 20.)

[Petrocorus]

You're assuming N = 4, but I bet there would be someone in your group who would make the opposite choice, so you'd both have reason to be happy with what you got. (In fact I've seen players willing to rolling 3d6-in-order in order to start at 5th level.) Otherwise, keep raising N (or adding magic items) until everyone but one person drops out.

Would you still pick the first-level guy if N = 9? How about 15? 20? (I'd be very, very surprised if it ever got to 20.)

I'm assuming the campaign is designed for a certain tier, and if N goes beyond this, the campaign would be trivialised. So i'm assuming the DM has set a maximum N for the prepared campaign. And probably a minimum.

The XP per level is a bit wonky in this edition (i always wondered why), but the cost to go from N to N+1 still tend to be higher than the cost to go from N-4 to N-2 or even N-1. The exact numbers are less and less true as the level goes higher, but the principle remains true.

[MaxWilson]

I'm assuming the campaign is designed for a certain tier, and if N goes beyond this, the campaign would be trivialised. So i'm assuming the DM has set a maximum N for the prepared campaign. And probably a minimum.

Nope, not really. I don't typically design campaigns as adventure paths with a fixed plot, just (dynamic) sandboxes and modular adventures, and if the players go for the adventures it's up to the players to pick which adventure hooks they pursue (and I'll give them information in advance such as "Bucky Dangerstar is an urban mystery with some combat. Low treasure, high XP, difficulty 7/20", or "The Mines of Moria are a dungeon crawl, high treasure, high XP, difficulty 1/20 up to 11/20 depending on how deep you go"). A campaign is a series of adventures all featuring the same characters, or else it's just the adventurers pursuing their own goals in the sandbox independently of DM-presented adventures, e.g. trying to avoid becoming a casualty of the Blood War which has spilled over into the Prime Material Plane, while researching cool necromancy spells and becoming more powerful.

Anyway, I have plenty of experience running level 3 PCs and level 13 PCs in the same party at the same time. As you say, the low-level guys tend to level up pretty fast anyway.

If there were two players who were both absolutely determined to have a certain set of stats, I'd probably offer a bid progression something like:

Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Level 5
Level 6
Level 4 with a Horn of Valhalla (yes, I know it's very powerful)
Level 7
Level 8
Level 6 with a Greatsword +1
Level 6 with a Horn of Valhalla

and after that point I'd start soliciting ideas from players for other bids, treating it something like Poker I guess. At some point someone is going to accept an offer that the other guy won't accept. I'd steal from the cake-cutting problem (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_cake-cutting) solution and say that if you make a suggestion ("how about 9th level and a Vorpal Sword?") the other guy gets first pick, and you only get it if he still wants the level 1 dude with high stats.

[FaerieGodfather]

I've experimented with a lot of rolling methods over the years. My current favorite is to have players follow the default point buy for whatever edition we're playing, and then roll 4d6k3 against each ability in order.

But what I really want is a semi-randomized system that takes class and race into account, like the ones in Alternity's Gamemaster Guide. Definitely turning the wheels on that one.

[Balyano]

I'm a fan of 2d6+6

[JumboWheat01]

I've always used the Standard Array for building my characters. Allows for decent power, generally a feat, maybe two, gives me definitive low points and high points. Can it be problematic when I'm going with an unoptimized race/class combo? Sure, but I still get where I want in the end.

[Sindeloke]

Everyone starts with a 15, a 14, and a 13 that they can put in any attributes they want. Once those are picked, they roll 3d6 (anything < 8 becomes 8) and put those in any of the remaining three attributes, however they please.

It's a good blend of "you're guaranteed a usable primary and secondary stat" and "you can get non-stereotypical Strong Wizards or Smart Barbarians and character stats don't all look the same across classes."

[MaxWilson]

Everyone starts with a 15, a 14, and a 13 that they can put in any attributes they want. Once those are picked, they roll 3d6 (anything < 8 becomes 8) and put those in any of the remaining three attributes, however they please.

It's a good blend of "you're guaranteed a usable primary and secondary stat" and "you can get non-stereotypical Strong Wizards or Smart Barbarians and character stats don't all look the same across classes."

That seems fairly gameable. Let's see: if I do Wis 13, Con 15, Dex 14, then roll... [rolls] 10, 18, 10 (really!), I can now plug that high stat into whatever I feel like (Int for wizards, Cha for sorlocks/etc.) and I can still take a cleric dip for heavy armor if I want to. I can't be a Dex 20 Con 16 Shadar Kai Sharpshooter because I already committed to Dex 14, but I could be a Paladorc. If I had instead rolled [rolls] 14, 17, 9, that's too similar to the previous so I'll try again looking for lower rolls... [rolls] 9, 13, 3 I can still be something reasonably fun like an Int 14 Enchanter X/Forge Cleric 1 with the Mobile feat to offset my weak Str 9 (then Cha 3), or I could lean on my Dex 14 and go Sharpshooter/Crossbow Expert after all and just use ASIs to boost my Dex.

Seems like a reasonable method, but I would not put any of those fixed stats in my intended primary stat. Fixed stats would go to stables that almost every character wants high no matter what.

Wis 13, Con 14, Dex 15 + [rolls] 12, 6, 4, let's make that a human Sharpshooter Fighter (EK) with Str 4 Dex 16 (15) Con 14 Int 6 Wis 13 (12) Cha 4, and I'll plan on multiclassing him to Shepherd Druid to wind up an EK 5/Shepherd Druid 6 at 11th level.

Yep, this method is a lot more satisfying than point buy, although I still prefer 4d6k3 or 3d6-in-order. But not bad!

[Sindeloke]

Yeah, it definitely makes a difference if you generally know what you want to play in terms of class/race before you roll (as my players usually do) or if you go into it in traditional attribute->class->race order. My favorite result of this system so far is my guy who was Going To Play A Wizard, gambled on getting a roll higher than 15, and ended up with nothing better than 11. So he played an 11 Int 15 Dex wizard. He did a lot of buffing and summoning and used a magic dagger as his combat filler instead of casting damaging cantrips. Would have been much less memorable if he decided to switch to rogue, like a sensible person.

[ad_hoc]

Our table uses the Standard Array.

[Sindal]

All my characters were rolled 4d6s

When I dm, I give the standard array. If they're new players, i change the 15 to a 16

[MaxWilson]

Yeah, it definitely makes a difference if you generally know what you want to play in terms of class/race before you roll (as my players usually do) or if you go into it in traditional attribute->class->race order. My favorite result of this system so far is my guy who was Going To Play A Wizard, gambled on getting a roll higher than 15, and ended up with nothing better than 11. So he played an 11 Int 15 Dex wizard. He did a lot of buffing and summoning and used a magic dagger as his combat filler instead of casting damaging cantrips. Would have been much less memorable if he decided to switch to rogue, like a sensible person.

One of my players played a Cha 9 Hobgoblin Sorcerer for a while. I felt bad for him because I think he genuinely didn't realize what he was getting into, since he wanted to be a blaster but his accuracy was low. He lasted a couple of levels and then I can't remember if the character retired officially or just spent the rest of the campaign offscreen (I use Darksun-style character trees).

I'm glad your player had better luck. I'm sure it helps that wizards have a better spell list, but it takes some skill to do what he did. Hats off to him!