Best Character Generation Method YOU Don't Know About
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ก.ย. 2024
- Standard array? Point buy? Roll 4d6, keep the three highest? How about none of the above. This week I reveal the BEST character generation method YOU don't know about!
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The next time I make a character I'm going to try the TicTacToe method, I don't remember where I saw it originally or I would give credit.
Draw out your grid, then roll one die at a time placing the number you roll anywhere you want on your grid. Once your grid is full each vertical, horizontal, and diagonal line can be used once to denote an attribute.
It ends up giving you 8 combinations, drop the lowest (or keep them for RP reasons, up to you) and there you go.
4|3|2
---------
6|2|4
---------
5|6|1
432 is 9
421 is 7
465 is 15
561 is 12
326 is 11
624 is 12
225 is 9
241 is 7
So I would take for my array:
15, 12, 12, 11, 9, 9
Honestly, I love this! It's a mini game *and* Seems to be reasonably balanced. I think I might try this :)
I have to try this out!
This is cool. You can game the system a bit though since not all positions are of equal value. The center position is part of 4 number combinations, so you want to put a 6 there. The four corners are in 3 combinations (put next highest rolls there), leaving the north, south, east, west positions as the least valuable (each is only part of 2 combinations, so dump your 2's and 1's there).
Taking the same rolls and placing them differently, you could have ended up with:
4|2|5
2|6|3
4|1|6
425 = 11
466 = 16
424=10
263 = 11
261 = 9
416 = 11
465 = 15
635 = 14
So, 16, 15, 14, 11, 10, 9
Assuming I did all the math right.
6:43 - Here's an alternative rule to a reroll in case of a really bad roll: If you have one or more triples that are below 6 (or any other threshold you find appropriate), you may take out one die from your worst triple and replace it with one of the two high dice that you took out in the beginning. In the example above, that would turn the 3 into an 8 by replacing one of the 1s with one of the two 6es you took out.
i love that you dont know immediately, its really interesting to wait to discover what you got. its like opening a present!
Yes! I can tell you the players love that!
Thank you so much! I’ve been trying to come up with a method of determining stats that combines randomness with determination. Your method gave me some ideas.
First place 1-6 on your stats in the order you choose. Using each number once.
Then go down the line rolling 1d6 for each stat. Resulting in between 2 and 12 for each stat.
You then get from 3 to 6 points determined randomly with 4 being most likely to add as you please.
You are able to increase stats through play based on how you advance ie. class and skills. Your starting class also adds points to their prime attributes.
I might need to fudge around with how many points you get to add as you please. 5-10 with 6 being most likely. And another 2 points from class and a possible 2 more points from concept unless you spend them on different aspects of your character.
After crunching the numbers on a spreadsheet an array of 7.5,4,4,4,3 in any order you want then roll a d6 for each attribute. With the 4 to 10 extra points you can strengthen your best attributes or shore up some of the weaker ones.
I use my own custom method at my table I thought I'd post, I roll 24d6 and drop 6 and give the pool of dice to my players to assign them how they want as long as no stat is below 4 that way everyone has the same total "points" but has vastly different scores after assigning them.
i tried this method, and was trying to find it in any of my and books I think someone mentioned it's in Unearthed Arcana.
anyways my first batch of rolls, I got 3, 4, 6, 10, 14, 15. not too bad so I tried a 2nd batch and much better! 9, 10, 12, 14, 15, 18! lots of fun with this Method!
Wow! I was super jazzed when I came across this vid. It's nice to see people unafraid to engage in badassery! This is like my MegaMinMax method. 21d6 drop 3 lowest arrange as desired.
I love this method! Never heard it before and been gaming for decades (albeit not D&D). Makes me want to start up a B/X game just to use this! 🙂
I remember coming across this version either in an issue of "Dragon" magazine, or in a write up of a homebrew 2nd ed. campaign years ago. Never used it, because it fit up with vets at the time more than newbies.
IIRC the reason for this method was a statistical analysis of the various methods and likelihood of 1ed and/or 2nd ed (it's been decades) high stat requirement classes. He ended up with something that like almost a doubled chance for a paladin over other methods. The purpose was so that the player had a higher chance to play the character they wanted to play. (Paladins were very popular in both systems. But hard to pull off even with "sort how you want".) It was the kind of article that results when you allow a mathematician to study the old RPGA Network games, statistics, and polling with some programming knowledge to run the numbers. And he wants to write a paper he might actually want to get seriously considered by an academic journal. There's a chance I ran across it there also. Maybe in Discover or Scientific American? I just remember his grid of percentages, and thinking... "Interesting. Just not quite right for the players I have." :P
Use the method as described, but add another step:
You may exchange a die from one set of three with another die from a different set of three. The resulting values are now the final fixed numbers for those two sets. This exchange can then be done using another pair of sets until all sets of dice have exchanged 1 die. (ie. 0-3 exchanges)
This will allow the player some agency in combination with the randomness of rolling dice, and mitigate having a really low score of 3 (by exchanging a "1" with a higher die from another set), at a cost of the other set dropping to compensate for raising the low value. This exchange could even be used as inspiration for character background, numerically showing how the character worked to overcome the shortcoming of one stat at the cost of another (and that it might still be a work in progress).
Out of all the suggestions to modifying this method people have made, this is the only one I think I would adopt.
@@captcorajus I found the "move one die each between stats" worked quite well over the years, but I still used the roll each stat method (3d6 or 4d6). I really like this "roll all 24 dice at once, remove the four lowest & two highest, & arrange in ascending order into six sets of three dice" method a lot. Coincidentally, - weirdly enough - I had recently bought 50d6 dice packs (for use in wargaming to mark position facing and movement modifiers) and so had bunches of d6s handy for this method of attribute generation!
Edit: and it seems so obvious and player-interaction friendly that I had a "I could've had a V8/why didn't I think of that?" moment.
I like to do the 4d6, drop the lowest die method, but a bonus, if player is not happy with the lowest roll, they can reroll that on, BUT, must accept that new role, adds some chaos, causes player to really think if they wanna gamble that low role.
I use this method to generate -1 (8) to +3 (16) results with an average +1 (12) - DD3+ style :)
- You roll 12d6, you group them by number, reroll so as to have max of 4 times the same face value.
- Then every die with a face value one gives a +1 to STR, every die with a face value of 2 gives a +1 to DEX and so forth.
- Remove a -1 to all groups and read back to your equivalent ability score.
Example :
1, 1 -> STR 12
2, -> DEX 10
3, 3, 3, 3 -> CON 16
- -> INT 8
5, 5 -> WIS 12
6,6,6 -> CHA 14
Nice, this is my favourite from all the suggestions here.
It took me a moment to work out the instructions :) Another way to describe it would be to say...
Each of the six Abilities start at 8.
Each matching die adds 2 to it's appropriate Ability.
@@yotelex Yes, i could feel my instructions were confusing, that is why i ended up giving an example. I like mods over scores, that was why i think backwards. Happy you liked it and hello from Nice my hometown 😀
@@amatostano3936 I'm glad you did give the example :) Now I understand your method, your description works fine but the example ensured I was on the right track. Many thanks for the suggestion and a hello from the UK!
This looks like it would be a great idea to roll a bunch of characters for a funnel scenario.
I started playing D&D back in 83 but this is a method that I have never seen before. Definitely seems cool and I will be trying it out. On a side note was you still planning doing your review on the Isle of the Ape? I have been eagerly waiting for the review since you mentioned it quite a while ago, because I wanted to hear your thoughts on it.
Me too. I hereby second this man's request.
A cool idea. It's not to my taste because I don't like all of the fighters being stupid and the mages being weak (etc) but, as always, your videos are great!
Very interesting way to do it.
I have the players roll 4d6 and reroll 1s
If we have one player with great stats I’ll allow the others to add to their totals
Thanks for making me think
A suggested modification: give players the options to swap one die from the lowest and highest arrays.
You could also modify this method slightly by allowing the player to combine the dice into sets of 3 however they wish. They still end up with the same number of points to distribute but they'll have to make a decision about where they want those points to go. Do they favor more mid-range stats overall, or do they tank certain stats in favor of boosting others? Cheers!
I did the maths and the results aren't as good as you may think.
This method generates a multimodal distribution that's pretty horrible and not so random. I guess 5 of the 6 attributes are going to be {6,9,12,15,18} so just use these as fixed values.
There are better ways to make heavy-tailed distributions which I think was your pourpose.
If the math can be checked with online tools please provide links, may get people into math :)
I wrote about it in my blog but it's in Spanish and posting links is considered spam.
You can find the url in my channel's description if you mind, though.
@@edkalrio yep, i'll have a look, thanks
No problem reading your explanations in spanish and the r script. Thanks 😁
I do
15,14,13,12,10,8
Have player roll 3d6 add points where they like
Max 18 before race mods
I use 2d6+6 down the line for my BECMI game. Stat spread of 8 - 18.
The approach provided is optimal forcing a large range of scores, since it sorts the results.
I have seen something like this before but it was 20 dice and you pair them up however you want. Minimum 3 for the 6 stats.
this is interesting, i like it, gonna try it out
The range with the method is too high. The most average roll would result in an array of 17,15,12,10,8,6, with an 18 or 5 occurring fairly frequently. Additionally, the whole array tends to move up and down together.
For example, if the second highest roll is 16, then the highest must be 18, as the top set must have all 6's for a 6 to be in the second stat. In fact, if a stat is 3N+1, where N is a whole number, the next highest stat must be at least 3N+3. (I.e. is the bottom stat is 7 or 8, the second bottom stat must be 9). That also means that stats can not repeat, unless they are a multiple of 3. So, the standard array of 15,14,13,12,10,8 would be impossible, as 14 can not precede 13.
You'll generally tend toward having high or low arrays: the first two rolls you did show that: the first array of 18,16,15,10,9,6 is better at every point than 15,12,9,8,6,3. (And the difference between the two is 3,3,6,2,3,3.) Comparing the first and third arrays (17,15,15,10,9,8), we do see that the first range has somewhat better high stats and worse low stats, but both the top two stats of the first array are better, as a 17,16... array is impossible. Some variation is possible (The difference between your third array & the average array is 0,0,3,0,1,2), but the correlations between stats results in either generally good or generally bad stats. You can't have a "good" second stat without also having a excellent first stat.
Your 1st and 3rd arrays have the same average, but having a 18 vs a 17 in your primary stat and a 16 vs a 15 in your secondary stat more than makes up for a weaker dump stat.
The roll and assign methods also have this issue. Suppose you roll 15,14,12,10,8 on your first five 4d6 drop-lowest rolls. If your final roll is a 16, your array is now 16,15,14,12,10,8. If, however, you roll a 7, your array is now 15,14,12,10,8,7. The difference is 1,1,2,2,2,1. The final roll affects every point in the array, and in fact can more influence on the middle stats than on the outlier stat itself. But, it is still possible to get a 18,14,13,12,10,7, as each number is not corelated with each other.
With all the things in this comment section you guys should just make up the damn stats how you want. Something I've done is this: 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13 put em where you want. Now your a hero with no negatives but not to over powered.
WOW! I am going to use thing in my next campaign!
Thanks for the heart, Captcorajus. Thanks for the like to whomever.
I think not arranging the used dice into sets via a rule but instead building sets the player wants to using them might be interesting.
.
I think you'll find that skews the results of the method too far to the high side or results in near averages.
@@captcorajus Perhaps but I still think it would be worth experimenting with, and would work better in systems that limit class choice based on ability scores.
@@captcorajus out would possibly result in more average scores but it would be player choice. Of course it would lend itself to endless tinkering with optimizing bonuses which would suck.
This is very fun! But alas, I need 12 more d6! Off to the hobby shop!
I specifically got that set in the video when I learned about this method. lol
roll 6d20, keep the scores in the order they came out
This method is better than all those ones that have a bunch of fail safes against underpowered characters, but it shares one major flaw: allowing the player to put the scores wherever they want. I just don't see the point in rolling dice if we're not letting the dice determine the outcome.
I feel you here. I developed a method that fixes the stats where they are rolled but gives PCs a shot at improving them if they want. I like the idea of a fighter with a high Intelligence Wisdom or Charisma to add some depth. Or a Magic User with an exceptional Con.
That's really a matter of taste. This method doesn't work if you want to have the dice force the character choice on the player. This method is phenomenal if player wants to choose what kind of character they'll be playing for the next potentially several years. I'm a DM that favors player agency.
Yeah...but if say...someone wants to play a 1st edition monk...he's not going to be too happy if he can't play one because of poor rolls.
@@guyfrattallone6029 Nobody said it was gonna be easy.
@@guyfrattallone6029 The solution there is easy. Orde the scores as desired and then raise the appropriate scores to the minimum in that ability for the class. Done. :).
Interesting
While everybody is being pedantic and arguing about which generation method is best, why not try this one: just give yourself whatever scores you want. If you want all 18’s, give yourself all 18’s. If you want all 3’s, give yourself all 3’s. Do what you want!
Pretty sure 6e will work like that ;-)
3d6 down the line, swap one.
Negative ghost rider. Check the video!
@@captcorajus I've done lots of different things over the years, even the dreaded point buy or standard array. I've settled on the standard 3d6 swap one, but it has to be a viable character or they can start over. It is simple, doesn't take a lot of time, and easy for everyone to do, as everyone has at least 3d6.
Some of the most fun role-play I've experienced has been of characters with one or two randomly unexpected really low scores.
swap one? you mean any two I suppose .. what do you swap one with?
@@markhill3858 swap str with wis, dex for cha, con for int, etc.
Method shown at 4:00 in
Love this.
I will say I'd be tempted to just use 18 dice with this to get more extreme results....but your have to play with it.
I'm about to start a new campaign I think I'm going to have them roll characters using this style love the variety!
I think you're players will enjoy it. I know mine do. You get a nice variety, everyone isn't the same, but also some great stats AND mediocre as well.
@@captcorajus Just had my players roll characters last night they loved using this style. I had a player get stats from as low as a 5 all the way to an 18. Way more varied!
Cap, have you ever thought of telling the most funny campaign war stories in your history of rpg gaming?
YES, and I'm working on it. My daughter was like.... "Dad, you need to tell these stories on your youtube channel." I have some dozies brother! Coming soon!
@@captcorajus looking forward to hearing! Thank you. 😎👍👍
That is cool!
Brilliant idea
Thanks a lot
eh, It did not buy me.
Ok, upon reviewing my Gmail I see I had already responded to this video before today after all. Sorry for the awkwardness, Captcorajus and anyone else reading this. I'm done here.
Nice...
1d16+2
cool :)
DM guide gives the only acceptable methods of rolling for scores. PERIOD. Sorry, but there's just proper ways of doing things. Besides, no matter your scores, stupid players or uncooperative parties will just perish. Happy gaming.
The DM is a 'GUIDE' as in 'Guidelines'. Ability score rolls are absolutely ripe for tweeking.
No, this is legitimately awful. It's time consuming, a ridiculous amount of dice, and I don't believe you analyzed the statistics here. It trends towards the same numbers every time, changing the number of high and low you take away doesn't actually impact the results as much as you think it does here, and because of how predictably it trends towards the same values, you might as well be using a standard array and save yourself 10 minutes.
Its AWESOME!! Every word you said is wrong. Have a nice day. 🤣🤣🤣
@@captcorajus it can’t be wrong, it’s my opinion. Maybe you like it, and it works for your table. I very much dislike it, won’t be using it, and told you why I don’t like it. Do with that whatever you will
@@kaylaa2204 You're first statement was, "No, this is legitimately awful." That's not an "opinion statement", that's a blanket statement. If you don't like it, great.
Awful
Awesome!
Straight 3d6 imo. Everything else is cheating.
DMs don't cheat....players...well...
@@guyfrattallone6029 yeah, but I was just pretending to be hardcore.
No stats. Everything is zero. Characters start dead. Game over. Who brought pizza?
@@DoctorTurdmidget sounds good!
I've got a method I haven't seen anywhere else. It gets marginally higher than average results and reduces 3's and it's quick. You roll 3d6 in order for each stat using 2d6 of one colour and 1d6 of a different colour, this is your lucky die. When rolling your 3d6's for a particular stat, should the lucky die result in a 1 it can be rerolled. If the the reroll is a one the lucky die cannot be rerolled again. The lucky die can be rolled once per stat roll.
I roll 24d6, drop the 6 lowest, and the rest is combined into a large total number called a “stat pool”. Players can draw as many as 18 points from the stat pool and assign it to an ability, making sure at the end it all adds back up to the total. This methods keeps the tailoring of a point buy system with the variability of dice.
I like this very much.
3d6 down the line, as Crom intended! (DCC is my main rpg.)
I once saw one that is a standard array but generated by the party. Each player rolls 4d6 one time drop lowest. Assuming you have 6 players, take those results and put them in the stats you want for your character. I like it because:
1) it’s still random
2) avoids the sour grapes of widely varying results
3) puts all the players in the same boat
Love the idea of sharing rolls so everyone gets the same stats for parity. I think I will add that too this 24d6 method for next campaign.
Best method is to use their most recent report card. All stats start at 12 and they trade in their grades for modifiers. A = +3, B= +1, C = -1, D = -3, F = stop playing D&D and study more.
Lol.
But I'm hooked good sir. Daddy needs his D&D fix!
No...my players would NEVER go for that. I would let them put the dice rolled numbers however they wanted after extracting the weaker die rolls. Remember that the players should have at least two scores at 15+. Read the Players Handbook 1st ed. (I think it's on the strength section or just before it). At least Gary thought that players should be somewhat heroic.
And don't worry DMs...all characters will usually fail a saving throw, or stick their neck out too far eventually (traps/poison/undead) and kill themselves despite their 'great' scores! Have a good time!
I agree to a point. That would allow a decent chance of 2-3 18's though...
Nice. My question is what is the 2d6 stat equivalent for Traveller?
Roll 15D6; drop 2 low dice and one high die?
@@barbarian_bunny that looks about right. Just have to tey it out.
Best method: 3d6 (in order). Eliminates min-maxing (... mostly) and you build a character through RP and the assignment of the stats. Potentially lots of flaws (muscle wizard... intelligent barbarian? Non-charismatic paladin.. the opportunities abound!)
While I appreciate the comment, I couldn't disagree with your assessment strong enough. IMHO the BEST method is one that creates a nice range of scores, is FUN for the players and allows them to create characters they want to play. In my experience 3d6 down the line results in a narrow range of mediocre scores and players rarely appreciate the method or end up with characters they want to play.
The method I described in my video address every one of those issues.
@@captcorajus Not disagreeing with you. I just think players should at least try an older method that makes them think outside the box, or play outside their comfort zone.
Just because you rolled average Joe doesn't mean you can't still have fun. Ever since 3e (that I know of) most players just want crazy high scores and be OP or what have you.
Your method is fine too, was just offering an alternative that I thought was "best" for me. :)
@@lordvalinar774 In my opinion, the biggest issue with 3d6 is it makes it very, very difficult to generate stats that allow for classes outside fighter, cleric, magic user, thief. In my experience, players just want the opportunity to make the class they really care about and ability requirements make that difficult if using the 3d6 method.
@@0ptikGhost Untrue. Technically speaking you can be any class with any ability scores, it's only if wanting to multiclass, that it becomes an issue.
If someone wants to play a wizard, even if the "in order" method gives them a 7 in intelligence. It could make for an amazing backstory/RP of an underdog who wants to achieve their dreams despite limitations.
I find in my experience that a majority of players either 1.) Want to power game or 2.) Been in campaigns where all they do is fight so they have that mentality to build the most OP char they can to survive.
@@captcorajus While I allow my players to use any method mentioned in the Player's Handbook, I do give them an option to do 3d6 down the line, and if they do it, they come in at 2nd level, full hit points, with a common or maybe uncommon magic item (of my choice, appropriate for their character) to entice them. One game I ran all the players did this. Nearly everyone was playing against their type, and it was a blast.
I don't like any system where you drop dice - it defeats the purpose of rolling them
I like roll 18d6 - make six sets of 3 dice however you like.
the purpose of rolling more dice is increasing the chances of getting better numbers since you drop the 6 lowest dice.
Is it roll all the dice you would normally use for the 3d6 method together and make sets of three out of all available dice for each attribute?
EDIT: I was close, except you simulate dropping lowest and line all the dice up in sets by value. But why force high and low stats instead of just letting players make their own sets out of what's left?
The players don't get to 'make their own sets'. The method only works right if you order the dice from lowest to highest as shown in the video.
Great idea Captain!
Personally for my players I have them roll 4d6 six times and take best 3. However the total cannot be below 70. If they roll badly initially they have to complete all six rolls before starting over completely.
Neat method
This is fun!
Thanks.
well, i really didn't know about that. here's another one (source: 3e dmg)
players have a pool of 24 die and distribute those to abilities as desired. then they roll those sub-pools and take the highest 3. for example if i'm gonna be a fighter i'd give 6d6 to STR, 5d6 to CON, 4d6 to DEX and 3d6 each to rest. this way i'd have a much higher score on STR *in theory*
I saw a similar one. 20d6. Remove the lowest two. Then take the die and arrange them in any order you like until you get six sets of three. You want an 18? You got it, but your other stats will likely suffer.
It's similar in concept.
It's a great method, I've played once using it. Nowadays... Well, now I just distribute 72. Increase to 78 if you I have only 4 players, 84 if with 2-3 players, and 90 for solo campaigns.
dang... I really like this method... never seen it before, but very cool...
I expect a lot of 3 and 4 charisma characters wondering why they won't either get served at a tavern or even talked to by npcs...for long!
lol!
Charisma though is really important in games with reaction checks and henchmen.
@@paavohirn3728 ^ This. At low levels, Charisma is the uber stat.
#3CHA #ForeverAlone
Hey Captain have a look at White Lies over on drive through RPG. It is a White Box OSR Rpg
MIND BLOWN!!! This is, for me anyway, a game changer! Thank you Capt! Keeping the fun of rolling with the fun of probability. Sweet!
Another way is to borrow 13th Age's method:
Roll six d8, line them up, and assign a letter to each: A B C D E F. Calculate your stats using pairs of adjacent dice as follows:
11 + A - B
11 + B - C
11 + C - D
11 + D - E
11 + E - F
11 + F - A
The given array will always add up to 66, since each die is both added and subtracted from the total, with a range of 4 to 18 for each stat. The average will be 11 (0.5 higher than 3d6). A character will only have high stats if they also have low stats.
I tried it with 13+ using d6. Unfortunately it produces a bit too even distribution.
4d4+4 x 6 arrange in any order with a max of 18.
This came from Darksun and it creates higher than average characters. In fact, many PCs are way above average. Many players have 3-4 Stats at above 16. That's the system I've been using for a while now, but this system looks pretty awesome too. I'll give it a whirl.
This system is real good for 'old school' games, especially if you use a 'roll under' mechanic for ability score checks as it keeps abilities as reasonable levels. Its a lot of fun too!
I like it. No I've never seen it before.
We did sort of the same thing, but we just used 18 dice and arranged the dice any way we wanted but still need to have six scores from 3-18. Sometimes we had a 7th score for Appearance and rolled the 21 dice.
Like this better than my usual 4d6 drop the lowest. First try: 5,8,11,15,15,16. Then second try: 5,8,12,13,15,18. Both very playable with quirks and epic potential
Yes, exactly! My results are also typical of yours which is why I switched to this method. My players really like it too.
Great video... Again.
Using this method, the average character will have 17, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6.
That seems about right.
Dude, dont put them in # order. Allow the person to create their stats in 5e.
No
I find with one shots people like to get started fast with a character they themselves pre created and for campaigns they want an element of 'fairness' (no one got more then them), this i find can only be achieved with standard arrays.
Or, the method in the video. Lol.. I've run a tone of one shots with the method described. Its fast, quick and a lot more fun than 'an array that everyone else also got." :)
I might try having my players roll 18d6 assigning the dice in any order they want with no roll overs .
So they can pick any 3 d6 for the score in the ability they want
I like this method a lot! I'd say also if you re-roll then I change how many high dice I take to 3/3 and so forth with each re-roll.
I love the 3d6 grid matrix. It's a table of 6 rows and 6 columns. Take any one row in order, reading it forwards, backwards, up, down, or taking one of the cross-cutting diagonals. It's like a fingerprint, it can tell you more about the character than just their core abilities. it also tells me where the NPC resides from the 14 different line-array positions, therefore randomly populating 14 different towns in the campaign.
I like all stats start at a base of 8.
roll 6D4. assign one D4 per stat.
add to base.
Range of 9 to 12.
18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13. Assign as you wish. I prefer heroes from the start.
I used a method for years to create some memorable characters. 4d6 and drop lowest. Write the prevailing scores down as a column, generate three columns. Take the best score from each prevailing line across. Arrange to suit character race and class. Kept the Min/Max and power gamers happy, works for young players. More experienced gamers will arrange to be tactically flexible and dramatically appropriate. These days I tailor character generation methods to suit the overall power of play. Average to low for high risk/high reward and deadly campaigns. Higher powered heroes for more of a high heroic and comic book type of feel.
Really like this, did you come up with it? Also, have you've ever tried this method, but allowing to swap dice, say a 6 from one tier for a three in another tier?
I've always done 4d6, drop lowest, assign as desired.
I didn't come up with it. I saw it in a FB Meme like ONE time.. I captured it
I"ve used the exact method in the video for my last two campaigns with success. The scores were varied and the players enjoyed the method. Its tried and tested. I'm not about fiddling with something that works if you know what I'm saying. lol
For many years of GMing my campaigns, I've fallen back on the character creation Method V outlined on p.74 of Unearthed Arcana (1985). I realize that the system specifically states "...for human characters", but I have my players use the system regardless of what race they choose to play.
The system permits players to roll more/less dice depending on the prevailing attributes of that particular character class, allowing players to create truly heroic characters.
We used this for a long time too but 'certain' players got upset when nine die6 wouldn't give them an 18. I've come up with many systems since then...its been fun.
I used that when I specifically wanted a particular NPC to be taken seriously.
Tried this and ended up with 6, 8, 9, 9, 10 and 12.
Yep, going back to point buy.
Roll again. lol. out of hundreds of rolls from players and myself, never ended up with anything like that.. hmmm
@@captcorajus Maybe I am just very unlucky :D
I've been using 4d6 dtl but switch two scores once. I love the randomness of dtl which gives surprising arrays but you can still get your best score where you want it. As a DM i would also let a player reroll a bad set of the player wishes.
We just rolled two characters per person for a two player game and i allowed first choosing which set goes to which character. Gives a nice extra flexibility. Could work if you have every player roll an extra character in case of death or such.
Oh and I don't give xp bonuses or penalties for prime requisites.
Roll 18d6 and allow players to assign any 3 to each stat. The only downside to this method is that you’re likely to get a lot of very low wis and cha characters I.e. the ‘dump stat’ problem.
Roll 20 d6 - combine any values into numbers between 8 and 16.
Captain, I like this method for providing I wide range of abilities the go from concerning to exceptional.
I have a method developed (mind you this is for a modified version of 1e that has bonus level stats all starting at 14) where the players roll 3d6 for each ability in order and setting aside each roll as you have but at the end they roll another 5d6 and select the top 3 of those and replace individual dice in the original rolls. The results tend to skew towards good to very good average stats but with rolled 17s and 18s being uncommon. Note that racial bumps can still bring those up. This method “solves” the cookie-cutter character issue of certain classes having standard abilities and dump stats. The goal is to have characters reveal their PC through the stats then build them from there.
Ha ha, I love the 'concerning' to exceptional. That gave me a chuckle. Honestly, I like this method, especially for old school games. Yours looks fun too. Thank for sharing!
Roll 3d6 in order. If any of the dice come up with a '1', reroll that die. Generates scores from 6-18 with this method without very little score inflation (12 instead of 10.5). Sorted. Originator: "Finarvyn" the OD&D Discussion Board admin and Swords & Wizardry WhiteBox author. I think I like your method more though but with the AD&D rule Gary Gygax gave of minimum of two 15+ and reroll on any 6 or lower at the player's discretion.
Great method Captain, thank you for sharing.
You are very welcome!
lousy method. Several tests have come up with terrible stats. Standard array is still my preferred method for the build it as you go character.
“This is a short little video…” he says 1.5 minutes in. Spends 4 full minutes in preamble before explaining the method. Then he doesn't explain it clearly & also messes up the method.
Roll 24 dice, remove the four lowest & two highest dice, then arrange them in sets of three, lowest to highest. Assign them to ability stats as you like. Two of the demos result in characters with a 6 stat and a 3 stat, & the “good” roll still has one 8 stat & no 18.
Thanks for watching!
I did watch this video you suggested to me. I think I said to you I would watch it over the weekend. Then I did watch it and I completely forgot to mention it again until right now, Captcorajus. I think this method is great, it's like Christmas morning. Thank you.