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Post by geoffrey on Apr 23, 2016 18:48:10 GMT -6
You can find people who would habitually sit down and roll up dozens of characters and then pick the one they were going to use for the adventure tonight, arguing they had generated that character randomly and fairly. That was later codified and included as Method IV in the AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide.  |
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Post by increment on Apr 23, 2016 19:01:48 GMT -6
You can find people who would habitually sit down and roll up dozens of characters and then pick the one they were going to use for the adventure tonight, arguing they had generated that character randomly and fairly. That was later codified and included as Method IV in the AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide. Indeed, the DMG legitimized most of the techniques being discussed here. But what alternative did they have, when practically speaking everyone was already doing these things? |
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tog
Level 4 Theurgist
Detect Meal & What Kind
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Post by tog on May 21, 2016 8:05:48 GMT -6
The way you remember the proper order of stats in D&D is to recall the name of the old White Dwarf "Fiend Factory" monster - the Stinwicodech.  |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 21, 2016 12:05:26 GMT -6
There is 3d6 in order, and there are character generation methods for weaklings.
So speaketh Gronan of Simmerya, Lord of the Barbarian Lands and Lord High FKR.
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Post by Zenopus on May 21, 2016 12:13:23 GMT -6
The way you remember the proper order of stats in D&D is to recall the name of the old White Dwarf "Fiend Factory" monster - the Stinwicodech. I didn't realize that! I would have named it the Strintwiscondexcha.  |
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Post by tetramorph on May 21, 2016 12:30:34 GMT -6
I've gotten to the point now that, for first time players, I only hand out pregens.
My safeguards against kvetching include some of the following:
Completely pre generated characters
Including name
And equipment
Handed out on 3X5 cards
Like drawing from a deck
No one invests too much, so when they die it's just: pick a character, any character, and the game moves on.
I think that is pretty old school. Didn't Gygax hand out pregens?
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Post by talysman on May 21, 2016 15:11:20 GMT -6
The way you remember the order is: you don't care about a set order, just call out what you are rolling for before the roll. You say "I'm rolling for Strength" and roll the dice. That's Strength. Doesn't matter if you do Int or Dex next. Whichever one you say, that's what you roll for.
If a player at my table rolls the dice before saying what the roll is for, that roll is ignored. Too bad you missed that 18, bub!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 21, 2016 16:34:27 GMT -6
Gary may have handed out pregens at conventions or later on, but not in his original game.
My safeguard against kvetching is "Act like a grownup."
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Post by smubee on May 24, 2016 14:19:21 GMT -6
So my entire life I've been 3d6 in order, because I don't like to have any pre determined notion of what my character is going to be before I play. If I roll high STR, awesome I'll be a fighter of some sort. If I roll a high DEX, then I'll be an elf/thief, etc.
I still have a hard time rolling 4d6 and subtracting the lower.. It just doesn't feel right to me. Feels like cheating.
Anyways, I'm going to be introducing a friend of mine to D&D hopefully sometime this summer, and we'll be playing an earlier edition. Could be Holmes Basic, or could be OD&D without the supplements but I'm not sure yet
Since he's new, and since characters tend to not last long back in those early days, especially for Magic Users and the like, I thought of this for character creation. It's probably been done before, but I thought it was a good thing to do for a newcomer, opposed to rolling up 5 different characters :
Roll 3d6 a total of 6 times (for each ability score), and then place the scores in order as you see fit to create a total of 5 characters. You buy the gear for all of them, and then you play the one you think is most interesting. So say for example we roll the following -
13, 6, 9, 16, 5, 8
So we'll take this and plop it in order, getting :
STR 13
INT 6
WIS 9
CON 16
DEX 5
CHA 8
Then they can re-arrange the ability scores for 4 more characters.
STR 9
INT 6
WIS 16
CON 13
DEX 8
CHA 5
for example.
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Post by rastusburne on Oct 17, 2016 1:27:00 GMT -6
A bit of a thread necro here, but we do 3d6 in order. Lately, at the player's option, I have allowed 3d6 in order with the provision that two stats can be switched.
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Post by foxroe on Oct 17, 2016 3:14:26 GMT -6
Another twist on smubee's method is to roll up a few characters (3d6 in order, 1/2 or 1/3 point swaps per the rules) and pick the one you want. BUT, if your character dies/polymorphs/turns into a "marital aid" for a dryad, then you have to use one of the other characters you created. I call it the "stable" method (as in horses).
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Post by geoffrey on Oct 17, 2016 11:43:48 GMT -6
We've been playing AD&D, and we use the DMG's Method IV (roll up to 12 characters using 3d6 in order, pick the one you like). This is because AD&D has minimum ability score requirements for every class. 3d6 in order will sometimes not work for AD&D since it can generate a character who will not qualify for any class.
In practice, none of my players has ever rolled a dozen characters using Method IV. Instead, they typically roll 2 (occasionally only 1 and a few times 3--I don't remember anyone rolling 4 or more characters). Who wants to make enough rolls for a dozen characters?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 17, 2016 12:23:40 GMT -6
Who wants to make enough rolls for a dozen characters? I figure your first session is 3-4 hours and it will take two to three sessions to get a character to second level. That's 9+ hours of play. Who wouldn't want to spend an hour or so rolling up characters to insure that you have one that's more survivable? It seem like a no brainer as far as return on investment of time spent. Maybe an hour is a bit much but at least 30 minutes. If you're quick, you can get 50 characters to pick from in that time. One average, one of them should be playable. |
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raisin
Level 4 Theurgist
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Post by raisin on Nov 2, 2016 3:31:41 GMT -6
My players roll 3D6 seven times in order (the seventh roll being Gold), I write it down on their sheet which stays in my hands until the character is ready. This way, I'm sure there's no mistake and I remember most of the sheet for the first session. For online games, I fill out a .txt file and keep it at hand and up-to-date, and for live games, I offer the option to keep the character sheet. Most people I play with forget or lose their sheet between games, so it's easier for everyone.
I have to confess, if a player looks at me with sad eyes and asks very nicely, I will let him re-roll that INT 3 character.
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Post by geoffrey on Nov 2, 2016 10:03:15 GMT -6
I have to confess, if a player looks at me with sad eyes and asks very nicely, I will let him re-roll that INT 3 character. One of my favorite characters is my OD&D magic-user with an intelligence score of 3. He is dumb as a box of rocks except when it comes to magic spells, then he knows his stuff. It doesn't matter that he is illiterate, since spells are written in asemic characters anyway. |
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Post by foxroe on Nov 2, 2016 19:02:38 GMT -6
I have to confess, if a player looks at me with sad eyes and asks very nicely, I will let him re-roll that INT 3 character. One of my favorite characters is my OD&D magic-user with an intelligence score of 3. He is dumb as a box of rocks except when it comes to magic spells, then he knows his stuff. It doesn't matter that he is illiterate, since spells are written in asemic characters anyway. The Ultimate Idiot Savant! |
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spacelem
Level 1 Medium
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Post by spacelem on Nov 8, 2016 9:00:40 GMT -6
The way you remember the order is: you don't care about a set order, just call out what you are rolling for before the roll. You say "I'm rolling for Strength" and roll the dice. That's Strength. Doesn't matter if you do Int or Dex next. Whichever one you say, that's what you roll for. If a player at my table rolls the dice before saying what the roll is for, that roll is ignored. Too bad you missed that 18, bub! Ack, that would drive me nuts! I just tell everyone "write down the following stats ... now for each one in turn roll 3d6, and you can swap any two". If the player is used to a different stat order, then it's up to them how they're ordered, but I'm not going to sit and watch everyone roll to make sure they're not cheating. The kind of people I game with wouldn't cheat anyway, but if they're that set on a high stat in order to have fun, whatever, it's not going to break the game. I don't remember seeing an 18, but it was hilarious when my friend Alex rolled a 3 for Con, and decided to play "Lady Consumptia, the Thief with TB". |
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Post by distortedhumor on Dec 16, 2016 20:56:00 GMT -6
In other D&Ds, I prefer the 4d6 drop the lowest and sort to taste.
In OD&D/S&W White box, I much prefer the 3d6 in order.
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Post by geoffrey on Dec 16, 2016 21:06:47 GMT -6
3d6 in order is one of the joys of the game. Without it, I doubt that I ever would have played a magic-user with a 3 intelligence. As it was, I had decided on making a magic-user. 3d6 in order gave me a 3 intelligence. That wasn't going to stop me! A magic-user with a 3 intelligence it was. My favorite character. |
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Post by codeman123 on Jan 7, 2017 9:34:57 GMT -6
Back when i first started this is the only way we did it and that was not that long ago. For years i never knew any different. Now days most guys i play with have all kinds of wacky ways to generate scores. I tried this method again with a group and they went all up in arms about it instantly so i gave in and let them do 3d6 pick the scores method. Then again im the only old school guy in the group and they know when i dm its going to be old school some like it some hate it. I dont really care im the referee if you don't want to play and have fun get the hell away from my table.
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tec97
Level 4 Theurgist
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Post by tec97 on Jan 28, 2017 20:27:13 GMT -6
To me, in OD&D this is workable. When you start adding the supplements, it becomes less so. When you start getting bonuses beyond exp and +1 on rolls and stat requirements for classes/sub-classes, it becomes more of a 4d6, drop the lowest, arrange as desired game
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Post by hamurai on Jul 12, 2017 11:43:13 GMT -6
Usually 3d6 in order, sometimes we allow swapping two rolls to get a party we like to play. Back in the day (I think it was with AD&D, though) our GM allowed to roll 4d6-drop-lowest for the next score after we rolled a 7 or lower. Too bad if that was Charisma.
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Post by Scott Anderson on Jul 12, 2017 12:50:50 GMT -6
Hey man, charisma is the god stat in the old games. Henchmen are one great way to survive long enough!
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Post by sixdemonbag on Jul 12, 2017 13:03:48 GMT -6
Sometimes I compromise. 3d6 in order, ignore low score penalties. The minuses don't balance the bonuses. Giving NPCs and monsters the same bonuses does!
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Post by hamurai on Jul 12, 2017 13:55:15 GMT -6
Hey man, charisma is the god stat in the old games. Henchmen are one great way to survive long enough! True; what I meant was that when we rolled a low score on Charisma there was no next roll when we had the benefit of our house rule of rolling 4d6, dropping the lowest. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 12, 2017 14:47:05 GMT -6
The way you remember the proper order of stats in D&D is to recall the name of the old White Dwarf "Fiend Factory" monster - the Stinwicodech. That would be much tougher for me than just memorizing the order. |
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Post by murquhart72 on Jul 12, 2017 17:20:26 GMT -6
There is 3d6 in order, and there are character generation methods for weaklings. So speaketh Gronan of Simmerya, Lord of the Barbarian Lands and Lord High FKR. I'm a have to go with this actually. It's a game, not a novel or script. KISS |
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Post by foxroe on Jul 12, 2017 18:30:22 GMT -6
Hey man, charisma is the god stat in the old games. Henchmen are one great way to survive long enough! True; what I meant was that when we rolled a low score on Charisma there was no next roll when we had the benefit of our house rule of rolling 4d6, dropping the lowest. Next roll = Gold |
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Post by hamurai on Jul 13, 2017 0:55:19 GMT -6
Yes, but our DM didn't allow the house rule for gold. :/
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Post by Scott Anderson on Jul 13, 2017 6:26:25 GMT -6
Has anyone mentioned tic-tac-toe style? It is a nice way to balance randomness with player choice and avoid stat inflation.
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