5d6, throw out the lowest two...

Tetsubo · December 29, 2017, 10:29:00 AM

I bought some six sided dice the other day at a thrift shop. Five of them for $3. They're big, chunky ones in bright colors. Sort of Playmobil style. Back in the days when we rolled dice for stats we always rolled 5d6 and tossed the lowest two. So being a good gamer the first thing I did was roll six D&D/PF stats. I got a 9, 14, 14, 15, 16, 17. A good set by any measure. Now I just need to build a character around them... So, what would you play with these rolls? Or roll your own and tell us what you picked.

Ulairi · December 29, 2017, 10:49:14 AM

Man...my group never did these funky rolling schemes. We have always done 3D6 down the line. I assume Pathfinder is like modern D&D where you get to place the stats? I'd run a Fighter with those stats.

fearsomepirate · December 29, 2017, 10:55:38 AM

If you're playing 5e, I'd go with a Variant Human Figher. You're starting with high enough DEX, CON, and STR that you can go the entire game without an ASI and just take feats.

Larsdangly · December 29, 2017, 12:14:10 PM

If you want to have your brain boiled by crazy grade inflation dice rolling mechanics, look at the suggested methods in 1E Unearthed Arcana. It is basically a recipe book for cheating your ass off to a set of 18's and then saying you played by the rules.

Willie the Duck · December 29, 2017, 02:22:01 PM

Quote from: Larsdangly;1016784If you want to have your brain boiled by crazy grade inflation dice rolling mechanics, look at the suggested methods in 1E Unearthed Arcana. It is basically a recipe book for cheating your ass off to a set of 18's and then saying you played by the rules.

If everyone is playing by the same rules and the DM adjusts the difficulty accordingly, it literally doesn't do anything except mess with the variance of the distribution.

But, then again, it literally doesn't do anything. Those mostly 14-18s are just the new 8-12s.

Anyways, if it were 3.5 and core+psionics, I'd do a psychic warrior. 5 good stats means you can have all 3 physical stats decent while also having a decent Wisdom (and either Int of Cha, depending on your character concept).

Omega · December 29, 2017, 02:53:17 PM

Using that method you'll get alot of 12, 14 15, 16 rolls. Peaking on 14. 3-6 will allmost never be seen.

I just did a quick roll and got 17, 17, 15, 13, 10, 15

You can see how the spread skews with http://anydice.com/ and entering

output [highest 3 of 5d6]

In 3e or PF with the stats you rolled you could really forge off about any direction strikes your fancy.

Would I play with an r5h3 method? Probably not. It tends to create characters with no real weaknesses, or at least vanishingly few. I prefer either r4h3 which still generates some bad rolls often enough. Or r3 and shuffle points as in O or BX D&D

TJS · December 29, 2017, 04:07:24 PM

Quote from: Willie the Duck;1016803If everyone is playing by the same rules and the DM adjusts the difficulty accordingly, it literally doesn't do anything except mess with the variance of the distribution.

But, then again, it literally doesn't do anything. Those mostly 14-18s are just the new 8-12s.

Anyways, if it were 3.5 and core+psionics, I'd do a psychic warrior. 5 good stats means you can have all 3 physical stats decent while also having a decent Wisdom (and either Int of Cha, depending on your character concept).

Well presumably it matters if the 3-18 bell curve actually represents something, such as the general spread of ability in the human population.

Gronan of Simmerya · December 29, 2017, 04:30:58 PM

10d6, throw out the bottom 2, the top 2, and 3 in the middle.

Honestly, if somebody actually said they wanted to use some of these methods in my game I'd say "Fuck it, just put down any damn numbers you want if it's that fucking important to you."

Of course, I think the "stat bonus adds into every godsdamned thing you do" is one of the stupidest decisions in later editions of D&D precisely for the reason it leads to pants-shitting over stats.

Dumarest · December 29, 2017, 07:00:02 PM

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;101681910d6, throw out the bottom 2, the top 2, and 3 in the middle.

Honestly, if somebody actually said they wanted to use some of these methods in my game I'd say "Fuck it, just put down any damn numbers you want if it's that fucking important to you."

Of course, I think the "stat bonus adds into every godsdamned thing you do" is one of the stupidest decisions in later editions of D&D precisely for the reason it leads to pants-shitting over stats.

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Gronan of Simmerya · December 29, 2017, 07:26:17 PM

* bows * Thenkew, thenkew, we'll be here all week. Try the lamb stew, it was great Tuesday. Tip your servers, those kids work hard and tuition is going up.

Gronan of Simmerya · December 29, 2017, 07:29:12 PM

Will used to complain about that and I didn't really understand until I started playing Pathfinder; if it's not one of your strong points, there's no point in even trying to do something. If my fighter Hassan, with a CHA of 8, ever gets trapped alone in a place where he needs to talk his way out, he's hosed. Not "it will be difficult for him" -- he's just toast. Now, played for COMEDY that could be wonderful beyond belief, but if not, he is TOTALLY helpless in that situation.

It wasn't as bad in Star Wars d20 because you could burn Force points to get a bonus. And I did, like a sumbitch.

joriandrake · December 29, 2017, 07:38:22 PM

Quote from: Ulairi;1016762Man...my group never did these funky rolling schemes. We have always done 3D6 down the line. I assume Pathfinder is like modern D&D where you get to place the stats? I'd run a Fighter with those stats.

Never really bothered what rules some D&D edition suggested. Since I began to play (my group was almost always the same) 80% of the time we rolled 7 x 3d6 and removed the worst result, this is how the original GM who introduced us to AD&D did it. The remaining 20% was usually 6 x 4d6 (remove worst dice in each roll) or using pregenerated characters, or point buy.

We did however always decide where we want the stats/numbers be placed, except a local RPG game M.A.G.U.S. where it was in the order from top to bottom whatever the result was.

Kyle Aaron · December 29, 2017, 10:31:55 PM

For combat and saving throws I'm roll 5d20, keep the best 1.

At work we could ask our boss to just consider the most productive day we had this week when looking at pay rises. Don't look at the days we didn't come in, or came but just stared into space.

Headless · December 29, 2017, 11:28:13 PM

I did a 5d6 drop the lowest 2, or was it 4d6 re roll 1s. Anyway it was high school 2nd ed. We still got clobbered.

With those rolls I would play What ever I wanted, I always do.

TJS · December 30, 2017, 12:21:46 AM

I think if I was writing my own version of D&D I'd probably just remove stats entirely.

I'm sick to death of them, no matter how they're derived. You want your character to be smart? Play him like he's smart.