Stat arrays

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Longman
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Re: Stat arrays

Post by Longman »

minstrel wrote: Thu Jun 07, 2018 10:30 am We're planning to use a variant of 6 x 3d6 where you roll a 3d6, pick which stat to assign it to, roll another, etc. until you've filled every slot.

Kind of a nice middle ground between 3d6 straight down and 3d6 arrange to taste, where you get a little mini-game of "do I want that 14 in str, or hold out for a 15+?".
This sounds really good. Makes dump-stating much more of a gamble, for one thing.

When I first saw the thread title I figured this was going to be about a non-rolled array (for example 8, 10, 12, 12, 14, 16). The problem is, you can't do that with BF because the stats never go up at higher levels so unless you started with a really high array, no one would ever have 17s and 18s unless they used a Wish spell or something. BF characters really should be rolled.

I use 4d6 and drop lowest, arrange as desired. But I have found things like background, class features, spell, armour and weapon choice, companion animals, actual use of skills, etc, to be far more important during the game than a few ability bonuses here and there. Some players (kids especially) get fixated on the ability scores, but it's worth steering them away from that idea, if you can.
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cbarchuk
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Re: Stat arrays

Post by cbarchuk »

Longman wrote: Wed Jun 13, 2018 7:18 pm
minstrel wrote: Thu Jun 07, 2018 10:30 am We're planning to use a variant of 6 x 3d6 where you roll a 3d6, pick which stat to assign it to, roll another, etc. until you've filled every slot.

Kind of a nice middle ground between 3d6 straight down and 3d6 arrange to taste, where you get a little mini-game of "do I want that 14 in str, or hold out for a 15+?".
This sounds really good. Makes dump-stating much more of a gamble, for one thing.

When I first saw the thread title I figured this was going to be about a non-rolled array (for example 8, 10, 12, 12, 14, 16). The problem is, you can't do that with BF because the stats never go up at higher levels so unless you started with a really high array, no one would ever have 17s and 18s unless they used a Wish spell or something. BF characters really should be rolled.

I use 4d6 and drop lowest, arrange as desired. But I have found things like background, class features, spell, armour and weapon choice, companion animals, actual use of skills, etc, to be far more important during the game than a few ability bonuses here and there. Some players (kids especially) get fixated on the ability scores, but it's worth steering them away from that idea, if you can.
Yea the first person I need to steer from that idea is myself... :shock: :lol: I hate not having at least a 16 in the primary attribute of the class. It drives me bonkers. But I guess the first step is admitting you have a problem to begin with. :)
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Solomoriah
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Re: Stat arrays

Post by Solomoriah »

Since I thought up the inversion method, we've used nothing else. I've only once had to allow a player to roll three sets of stats... he actually managed to roll 9-12 for every stat the first time through. Generally one set of rolls gets it done.
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orobouros
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Re: Stat arrays

Post by orobouros »

I feel like I should dig up my old spreadsheets on stat arrays and the relative probability of different options. Looking at the 1-sigma confidence interval for +1 or +2 characters was surprising in some cases.
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