How do you roll stats

[themink]

Traveller Lite doesn't give any method so I figure people will problably be using D&D methods for a while.

What do you use to roll up characters. Suggests so far include:-

i) Roll 4D6 reroll 1s - choose the best 3 dice. Roll enough for 2 characters and pick the one you like most.

ii) 3D6 can reroll one or more of them (do the reroll at the same time - rather than as individuals) then assign it to a stat

 

[Bruce]

If i want my players to have BETTER than average character stats. I roll 4d6, ddrop the lowest..re-roll 1's...if you roll 3 1's, that is equalt to an 18...statisically it is...so they et twice as many chances of rolling an 18...but that's only if i want them to have good stats.

If I'm feeling mean, it's just 3d6, re roll 1's.

Bruce
The Man Behind The Curtain

 

[Liam Devlin]

I've settled in ADnD2 & 3e on just 4d6, take the highest three, re-rolling ones once. But thats me.

 

[DrSkull]

During playtest we rolled 4d6, drop lowest, but kept it in "organic" order: i.e., roll Strength first, Dex second etc.

For D&D3e I usually use point-buy method.

When I start an official T20 campaign, I'm thinking of using point-buy for Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, Cha, but roll 4d6 drop lowest for Edu and Soc.

For some characters I just see Wis, Cha, Edu and Soc all being "dump stats"

 

[Bruce]

if those stats are all dump stats for them..then start giving them situations where those stats are important. Have the Noble come in and muscle in on ttheir action with his noble command. Have those edu based skills become important.

There are ways to make the players use the stats they seem to think are dump stats.

I mean the noble alone using their SOC for a modifer instead of charisma or wisdom...whew...it could get ugly when they start throwing around that SOC.

But i digress. Point buy is ok, how many points you gonna let em spend?

Bruce
The Man Behind the Curtain

 

[GBoyett]

I use a 4d6 and 3d6 methods.

</font>

• Roll half the attributes with 4d6/Drop Lowest and other with straight 3d6.</font>
• Player gets to place the results in any order they want.</font>

I actually got some surprising results in that the 4d6 results was lower than the 3d6 results.

 

[Tom Schoene]

Originally posted by George Boyett:
I use a 4d6 and 3d6 methods.

</font>

• Roll half the attributes with 4d6/Drop Lowest and other with straight 3d6.</font>
• Player gets to place the results in any order they want.</font>

I actually got some surprising results in that the 4d6 results was lower than the 3d6 results.

That's got to be a statistical fluke. Over the long term, 4d6 choose 3 will certainly average higher than 3d6.
Me, I like 4d6 choose 3, arrange to suit. For some characters, SOC will be the low stat, but I also want to be able to choose to play a noble if I want to.

If I really had a problem with people min-maxing that, I might split it into two pools, one for phycial stats and one for mental/social stats.

 

[lord irial]

Same as in my D&D game: 28 points using the point-buy system, right out of the DMG. For npc's I roll 3d6, and take 'em as they fall, though I'll fudge if I have a specific type of npc in mind. You start with an 8 in each score, then pay points off the following table, then adjust for race and/or age:

COST SCORE MODIFIER
0 6 -2
0 7 -2
0 8 -1
1 9 -1
2 10 0
3 11 0
4 12 +1
5 13 +1
6 14 +2
8 15 +2
10 16 +3
13 17 +3
16 18 +4

I used to give extra points for a write-up of the character's background, having a miniature, a picture of the character, et al, but I dropped it. The prior carreer system takes care of much of the character's background, anyway.

(edited to make the columns come out better; didn't work, though. sorry.)

 

[s-feige]

Hello together, it is my first post here, so I hope I don't break any rules...

My Players get to roll three complete rows (2D6 per stat).

Then they get to choose :
Take the first and be allowed to rearrange the order,
or take one of the other two with the order as is.

 

[GBoyett]

Originally posted by Tom Schoene:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by George Boyett:
I actually got some surprising results in that the 4d6 results was lower than the 3d6 results.

That's got to be a statistical fluke. Over the long term, 4d6 choose 3 will certainly average higher than 3d6.
</font>[/QUOTE]That's my take. It does show that more dice doesn't always guaranty better stats.

Of course I can just have wacked out dice.

 

[phydaux]

I've done it this way since before D&D 2nd Ed.:

I tell the players to take out 3D6, paper and a pencil.

Then I tell them to put the dice away and write down these numbers:

18 16 14
12 12 10

Assign stats any way you want. I also let players adjust stats up/down (subtract from one to add to another) just so long as no stat is above 18 BEFORE racial mods.

For T20, I'd use these stats:

18 16 14
12 12 12
10 10

 

[Uncle Bob]

What I normally do on 3D6 games is allow 3D6 for each characteristic then allow the player to keep the rolls or subtract all his rools from 21 (i.e. a 7 becomes a 14, a 15 becomes a 6). This is an all or nothing deal, you can't chose to apply to only some of the characteristics.

This is less generous than the other options here, but I think that some of them seem kinda munchkin. YMMV

 

[Flynn]

Regarding the Point Buy method:

Since there are eight stats and PSI instead of the six normal stats, why not just multiply the Point Buy totals by 1.5 and round down?

Ex.:
Standard (25 X 1.5=) 37 points
Above Average (28 X 1.5=) 42 points
High Power (32 X 1.5=) 48 points

Just a thought,
Flynn

 

[lord irial]

Originally posted by Flynn:
Regarding the Point Buy method:

Since there are eight stats and PSI instead of the six normal stats, why not just multiply the Point Buy totals by 1.5 and round down?

Ex.:
Standard (25 X 1.5=) 37 points
Above Average (28 X 1.5=) 42 points
High Power (32 X 1.5=) 48 points

Just a thought,
Flynn

Yeah, that would make more sense- I'd forgotten the increased number of stats in T20. Still waiting for the book, the distributor for my FLGS keeps zeroing it out... Hopefully Hunter & company are busily having more printed.

 

[AllenS]

The official method is: roll 4d6, keep the best 3. Do this six times (or 8 in the case of T20) and put the stats where you want.

Lately I have allowed them to roll two extra times and drop the two lowest scores.

Allen

 

[Simon Jester]

Most of my AD&D/D&D3E and now T20 characters use the standard 4d6 six (or eight) times, dropping the lowest die from each, assign as desired.

On occassion, especially if we've got extra time, I will allow players to roll 4d6 (dropping lowest die, no rerolls) thirty-six times, arranging the results in a six-by-six grid. They then can choose any row or column and use those numbers as their characters' stats, assigning them as desired. It hasn't seemed to allow really high stats, and usually includes a fairly low one that's dealt with simply to gain a really high stat elsewhere. They then have to work with and around the result.

An example:
___A___B___C___D___E___F
a...14 / 13 / 10 / 16 / 05 / 14
b...12 / 11 / 11 / 15 / 18 / 06
c...15 / 12 / 09 / 11 / 14 / 12
d...12 / 11 / 17 / 16 / 11 / 10
e...12 / 16 / 15 / 11 / 17 / 09
f...12 / 14 / 17 / 04 / 11 / 18

None of these stats are exceptional, but they can all be worked into viable characters. Several don't have any really high stats, but they don't have any low ones, either. Column A, for example, doesn't have a single stat above 15, and only one of those, but all of the stats will give the PC a positive modifier. On the other side of the scale, both Column E and Row f have both an 18 and a 17, but they also have to deal with stats that will provide significant negative modifiers.

How the player chooses is up to them, although I do help them work out just the character concept they are looking for. And I get to keep the matrices that they rolled up, usually using the stats for NPCs later (hey, why let all that work go for naught?)

Simon Jester

 

[Borodin]

4d6 drop lowest die 9 times, drop lowest, arrange as desired. For DnD its 7 times, basically allowing 1 reroll this way. THo they have to keep the 1s in a roll. Rarely have a character with anything less than a 10 that way. Maybe I have some munchkin tendencies, but I'd rather have no good modifiers but no bad ones either than have some great and some lousy.

 

[gardclan]

I usually allow the players to roll as follows:

* Roll 4d6 per stat, re-roll any "1's" once, drop the low die, and write down on scratch paper.
* Roll one extra stat. Drop the low stat.
* Assign as desired.
* apply racial mods.

This produces characters that are consistantly above average in all stats, with one or two high stats on occasion. But then again, I favor a cinematic campaign style.

I have also considered using a modified point buy system. That works as follows:

* start with an "8" in each stat.
* take 36 points and use these to raise the stats as desired.
* no penalty for going over 16... all values are 1 point for 1 point.
* psi is handled normally
* apply racial mods last

This produces characters which are mostly average, but with one or two good stats. T20 chargen will often raise the stats when mustering out.

 

[plop101]

I've done it a couple different ways, depending on mood:

This is all CT/MT:

1. 2d6, 6 times, arrange as appropriate [not in order]

2. 12d6, arrange each die as appropriate [tends to average things out allot more].

3. 3d6, throw out the low number, arranged in order, ie ST, DX, End, etc.

 

[grendelttroll]

I don't have T2o yet, but my D&D 3e routine follows:

Roll 4d6, reroll 1's. If a "1" is rolled 3 times in a row, I take it as fate. You must use the die roll.

My players also have a choice:

Methood 1: Roll 7 sets. Take the best 6. Put the numbers where you want.

Methood 2: Take a free "18", but you only roll 5 more times. Put the numbers where you want.

I realise that T20 has 3 more stats to deal with (EDU, SOC, and PSI), I will figure out what I will do once I get the new rulebook.