Pick your own stats

[Quietus]

Let's say your DM said "Alright guys, I'm trying something different this time. Roll new characters, but don't bother rolling stats. Pick whatever you feel suits your character." Would you abuse this, or would you use it to create exactly the character you had in mind, with all their weaknesses AND strengths?

[KillianHawkeye]

I'd like to say I wouldn't give myself a character that was too twinked out, but the temptation may be too great. Realistically, I doubt I'd give myself anything lower than a 12 unless I came up with a great character idea that incorporated having any lower stats.

[AslanCross]

I'd probably go for something like 18, 16, 16, 14, 14, 10 or 18, 16, 14, 14, 12, 10. I don't want to make a Mary Sue. On the other hand, I'd rather not be gimped in any one stat.

[loopy]

Well I have a habit of rolling so well the DM won't even let me roll my own stats any more, even if I'm rolling with someone elses dice in front of him.

Seriously, my last character rolled 18, 18, 16, 16, 16, 15 in a 4d6b3 roll.

EDIT: Way to tangent, loopy.

As I was saying, my character would probably have one or two 18's, a couple of 16's, a 12, and a 'low'. Seems balanced. *shrugs*

[EndlessWrath]

Well I have a habit of rolling so well the DM won't even let me roll my own stats any more, even if I'm rolling with someone elses dice in front of him.

Seriously, my last character rolled 18, 18, 16, 16, 16, 15 in a 4d6b3 roll.

EDIT: Way to tangent, loopy.

As I was saying, my character would probably have one or two 18's, a couple of 16's, a 12, and a 'low'. Seems balanced. *shrugs*

Yeah i got the same problem loopy, except it also happens a lot with combat and spot checks.
Got 3 triple crits in a row one combat, the DM decided he's rolling for me from now on.

Anyways, since my stats usually come out 18, 18, 17, 16, 16,14... I'd try to be a little more fair. I actually DM a lot of short dungeon crawls, and since building characters is time consuming, and since people roll differently and its usually not balanced. i usually do one of two things.
1) give every player an 18
2) all stats are consistent 18, 16, 14, 14, 12, 10.

I'd take number two and just build a character with a background suited for him. Although i have toyed with the idea of playing a commoner named brian who's abilities are 18, 9, 8, 7, 8,7 Brian wasn't ever really good at anything.

[Haven]

I think my line of thought would be something like "Well, I don't want my character to have 18s in everything, obviously," then I'd look around at the rest of the group and think "Wait, that's everyone else's first thought too! So actually giving myself 18s in everything would be GROUND BREAKING and REVOLUTIONARITY", then I'd finish making my character the whole way, look back over it, realize that having all 18s is dumb, and go with two 18s, three 14s and a 6, probably.

[Salt_Crow]

Playing D&D (or any other RPGs for that matter) shouldn't be about testing how *honest* I am. To me, it's all about having fun together :)

So I'd consult other players and find out what kind of a campaign they'd like to play in. Do they want to play a full-on, over-the-top action? Or do they want to play a "farm-boy/girl-becomes-a-hero/ine" kind of a game, in which the protagonists would have pretty average scores overall.

We'd have plenty of fun just talking about it too, being D&D geeks that we are ;)

[Weimann]

Well, it'd be hard for me not to maximize at last the main stats of my character. I think most people are a sufficient amount power gamer to have a hard time passing up the opportunity to make a twink character.

[grautry]

I'd probably go for something along the lines of 18/18/16/14/10/8. Strong in virtually every area but has some flaws as well.

[Kurald Galain]

Let's say your DM said "Alright guys, I'm trying something different this time. Roll new characters, but don't bother rolling stats.

I don't see what's so new or different about that. The last time any DM asked me to roll for stats was fifteen years ago.

[mikeejimbo]

Man people who would give themselves all 18s surprise me.

Why stop at 18? All 24s, baby

[FinalJustice]

I'd probably get an all-18 once, just because I can. Then, I'd pick stats apropriate to my characters (Which are usually high =P). I'd probably still would not resist the temptation of giving 18's to the two most relevant stats for a while, though...

[Eldariel]

It'd depend on the character I make. It wouldn't likely differ much from the point buy I usually use (32pb), but I always feel it stupid to have even numbers in every stat and having to dump two stats so I'd:
1) Ensure I've got at least 11 in every stat (unless I was intentionally making a guy with a very clear fundamental weakness).
2) Probably have 1 18. Or I'd make a Monk and give myself 3 18s to be slightly competent (ok, I'd just rather play Unarmed Swordsage still).

[mikej]

I'd probably go for something along the lines of 18/18/16/14/10/8. Strong in virtually every area but has some flaws as well.

Same here, I put forth the idea awhile ago to my DM. I personally like to have high starting stats, but can live with what I get though. Just after a few times seeing other players scratching thier roles because they wanted to have 16-18s when they played the Rogue. They just kept on doing that, soo I was like, " why not just give high stats?"

[Riffington]

I would ask the other players (either conspire with them separately, or else just peek off their sheets). If I had to pick myself, my main question would be "what is everyone else going to pick". That is probably a bit unfortunate, but I think it's true for me.

[Llama231]

I would do the stats based on the character, with good ones and bad one.

Unless it was a monk, in which case every stat will be 20.

[Tempest Fennac]

I'd probably just add the stats up so they were worth a 32 Point Buy (that's my prefered stat generation method, and I don't think it would be too strong).

[ghost_warlock]

I'd probably use the opportunity to play a character with a cool concept but one that doesn't synergy well stat-wise; something with some harsh MAD.

I think my first choice would be a swordsage/shadowmage (my own homebrew, in sig), focusing on Shadow Hand maneuvers/stances; requires high stats in Dex, Wis, & Cha as well as a solid Int and Con (for melee survivability & Concentration checks). Would be especially awesome in a gestalt game.

[Sstoopidtallkid]

Depends on my class, but I'd have one or 2 18s, one or 2 16s, a 14, and 2 somewhere between 12 and 8. Add a point to the Con score, and there we go. I'd never go intentionally low. I had fun playing my priest with Down, but never again.

[kyoten]

If I was to stat myself:

Str - 12
Dex - 16
Con - 12
Int - 16
Wis - 14
Cha - 9

Desired character:

Str - 14
Dex - 18
Con - 10
Int - 16
Wis - 12
Cha - 8

[TheThan]

If there are no limitations on stats, why stop at one or two 18s, or for that matter why stop at 18. 25s give you +7 to your ability scores. if you dump that into a casting stat, it lets you cast two additional 1st, 2nd and 3rd level spells.

[daggaz]

Honestly, I would take all 18's, make him a human fighter to start with, take the leadership feat, and name him Alexander. Who knows where he would end up..

[Hadrian_Emrys]

32 point buy has been the standard in games I've run for years. I've never had a complaint.

[Quietus]

To those saying "Why stop at 18's?"... I'd say that it's not unreasonable for a DM to slap a player who puts down all 25's and says "Well, you said ANYTHING.."

Lots of interesting responses, though. The reason I ask this is because one of my buddies is getting married sometime in the next year, and we've started a tradition of sorts, where whenever one of us gets married, we throw a three-day D&D party for the bachelor party. We're not really into strippers.. though it's tempting to get a few who will come and play "D&D with DD's" with us, just for the amusement factor. Of course, the actual bachelor wouldn't be nearly as amused.....

Anyway. I've been toying with this idea, because I think having a blow-out-the-roof style game would be a blast. I'd still start everyone at lower level just to keep the game somewhat sane, probably around level 3 or so (Since we have lots of weapon-finesse-rogue-players), so that the basics of everyone's builds can be in place. The "Pick your own stats" thing is just... it seems like a fun thing to pull out.

If I were to do this, and say "Okay guys, pick your own stats, but I want to keep this at a medium power level game", do you guys think that would be reasonable? Would that change any of your stat arrays?

For the record, I agree a lot with the crowd who're picking one or two 18's, several mid-range scores, and a couple hovering around the 8-12 area. All 18's is just too much... although I admit, it would be a lot of fun to play someone who is the epitome of what their race could be, and acts like it.

[Hadrian_Emrys]

Quietus: That's a brilliant game idea! All base 18 + racial and templates.

[Sstoopidtallkid]

New idea. Take straight 18s and play a Lightning Warrior. The high stats will offset the inherrant weakness and MAD of that class.

[chiasaur11]

I might go with all 18s, but only to do an ACE RIMMER (what a guy!) style character. I mean, full on teeth gleam when he smiles, women swooning, villians mustache twirling, the works.

Otherwise, one or two 18s in primary stats, other wise 12s or 14s.

[Hadrian_Emrys]

It just dawned on me that all 18s could make the monk almost playable.

[Berserk Monk]

I would do all 18's, but that's far too obvious. I'd instead do 18, 16, 16, 14, 14, 12. Broken, yes and pretty obvious, but at least I can make a decent argument. Say that my character never slacked off and trained hard. Besides, anyone says anything, I'll just say the DM said it was okay.

[togapika]

Oooooh! Take all 18's be a human Warblade/Bloodstorm Blade
Captain America!!!