Comments on: Stat generation

By: House Rules, Part 1 « Defenders Of The Core

House Rules, Part 1 « Defenders Of The Core — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 11:31:19 +0000

[...] a little more heroic than usual, so I’ll probably let them use a system like that espoused by Scott Martin over at Gnome Stew. It’s really quite the interesting [...]

By: Joey’s Musings » From Those Other Guys - 08/15/2008

Joey’s Musings » From Those Other Guys - 08/15/2008 — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 04:16:12 +0000

[...] Gnome Stew - Stat generation An article about a new system that will even out your player stat scores a little bit. I know I am going to try it out. [...]

By: Joey

Joey — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 05:36:06 +0000

Hmm..Interesting I could have used that the last cmapign I ran where I had on player whou couldn't get a get a total of 6 rolling 4 dice for all his stats and the one guy who rolled nothing lower then a 16. THe next adventure I run I amy try it out

By: Scott Martin

Scott Martin — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 21:39:36 +0000

Cole: Sometime I'll tell the fully story, but in short: poorly. A lot of avoidance until someone blew.

By: Cole

Cole — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 20:12:50 +0000

@Scott: Thank you for the reply. Maybe you can share sometime with us how you dealt with the cheater on your group.

By: Scott Martin

Scott Martin — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 18:44:03 +0000

Softnum: As written you only get 1/2 the difference for smoothing, much as you propose. I feel your pain about having an "all around average" character and questing with demigods. Cole: I agree; I'm much happier with a weaker or less effective character for a one shot than week after week. And you're right about groups resenting cheaters and suspected cheaters; it was an issue for a group of mine six or seven years ago.

By: Raindog

Raindog — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 18:16:25 +0000

I really like this method. Recently, my group was rolling up characters. One member rolled well, the others rolled repeatedly low, if not terrible. Your method would have been an instant solution to bolster bad scores and, at the same time, allows characters to control their stats. Cheers, RD

By: Cole

Cole — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 17:57:27 +0000

Random stat generation in great depending on what type of game and what what type of players you have at the table. If you play in a campaign where character death is a constant, than random generation is great, otherwise it creates several problems for the party and for the GM. The players also way heavy when choosing random generation. If you have even one cheater in the group, you would either end up with a seriously unbalanced character, or a large potential for a fight between everyone else and the cheater.

By: cooperflood

cooperflood — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 03:55:35 +0000

Auction can increase competition between players, which can be a problem for less mature groups. But for the most part I think it just encourages players to play more unique builds. Once it even encourage player cooperation. My players all got together before the game and decided who was going to get what stats and only bid on the stat they wanted, talk about collusion. But if competition is really a problem just do a silent auction where everyone has to submit a bid on every stat.

By: SoftNum

SoftNum — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 02:23:39 +0000

I think the score smoothing would be better if they only got say.. 3/4th or 1/2 the distance in stats. Then they're given a leg up, but you haven't lost anything for going random. Because effectively what you have is a points buy system where one person's stats are locked in. I'm against random generation in general, because for every person that will embrace an character with low stats, you have at least one (and in my experience 2 or 3) who have expectations, and will vow before the campaign begins to not have fun if you don't let them re-roll (I need at least 1 16+. If the stats don't add to 80 it's not worth it. Anything below 9 is horrible. etc. etc.) I find point buy neatly bypasses any of these issues. Oh, and I have played a campaign where I was the character with decidedly average stats, where the others were 'way' up there, and it is quite a handicap.

By: MadWilly

MadWilly — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 00:43:39 +0000

In my campaign, the players have 7 stats that they roll for, so I let them roll 8 sets of 3d6 and drop the lowest set, then assign them as they like. I also let them float 2 points around any way they like.

By: Tomcat1066

Tomcat1066 — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 22:57:47 +0000

True, I did. However, it’s important to have a couple of good stats in important places in order to make the character playable. However, the judicious use of low stats and oddball high stats make some interesting role play opportunities

By: Scott Martin

Scott Martin — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 20:55:11 +0000

There's really no end to the number of ways you can generate stats; each has a slightly different feel and end result. Heck, I was even musing about rolling a d10 and picking the PHB method 2 scores sets off the list. You'd have some variation [I got and 18, but my average is low, you have a pair of 16s and generally higher stats... who was luckier?] and balance in the end. Copperflood: I like auctions, ever since my Amber Diceless days. They do seem to encourage competition between players from the get-go-- has that been your experience? Or is the competition put aside at the end of the auction and play in the campaign is the same as normal? Tman: And PCs are supposed to stand out after all. I agree, but think, as Tomcat pointed out in his articles, that sometimes it's also fun to stand out for a low stat.

By: Kurt "Telas" Schneider

Kurt "Telas" Schneider — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 20:32:55 +0000

I can see both sides of the argument. One side allows for player control; the other sees Random as Fun. It really depends on the group, and the type of game you're going for. It's even possible to allow something like "4d6 drop lowest, or 25 point buy; decide before rolling". On average, the random side is slightly better. Or roll 5d4. (Yes, it's possible to get a 20, but the curve is very steep around 12-13.) And I've always wanted to do 3d6, roll in order, AND add one point to a desired stat at every level (including first). Sure, you can min-max it, but it really encourages the whole "zero to hero" vibe.

By: Tomcat1066

Tomcat1066 — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 19:59:01 +0000

Thanks for the shout-out Scott! I'm particularly proud of those two articles you linked to, partially because I think so few gamers really embrace quirks in their characters. I'm not sure how I feel about stat smoothing though. Definitely something to think about.