4d6, dropped the lowest, arranged in the order rolled. The player may re-roll one stat, keeping whichever result is wanted.
Let's do ten of these (I was only going to do five, but I was having fun and decided half way through that further research was a good idea.) Not enough for a truly scientific study of the method, but, it might serve to give us a general idea of how it might go. We'll also have the results of the initial "arranged to order" rolls, and can play with 4d6, drop the lowest, arrange to taste, if we so wish. I'll be observing and commenting on the results based upon the AD&D PH, leaving UA info alone for now.
(My original gaming group had a long-standing superstition that you should only use d6's with pips for character creation. Never use a die with actual numbers. I've perpetuated this superstition over the years, because it amuses me to do so. We really did notice some very bad results using all numbered dice, but, I place no scientific reliance upon those observations. For the record, I am using three dice with pips, and one with numbers.)
1) S: 9 I: 16 W: 8 D: 11 C: 18 Ch: 14
Some nice initial stats, all in all. With both strength and wisdom low, there's no chance for a Monk, or Ranger. MU or elven F/MU looks pretty good. Let's Re-roll strength. S: Re-roll - 16.
2) S: 14 I: 13 W: 10 D: 14 C: 13 Ch: 14
Hm. No bonuses, here. Decent stats, though. It's rolls like this that drive players to play demi-humans. Let's re-roll wisdom, just to see what happens. W: Re-roll - 12.
3) S: 11 I: 11 W: 14 D: 11 C: 12 Ch: 12
(It has just become necessary to make a ruling on the fate of dropped dice. For the purposes of this experiment, dice dropped on the floor will be re-rolled.)
So far, this method seems to make things harder on our poor players, when compared to 4d6, drop the lowest, and arranged to plan. Let's re-roll Intelligence. I: Re-roll - 13.
4) S: 7 I: 15 W: 16 D: 14 C: 9 Ch: 16
Let's see, we qualify for Druid. Let's re-roll Strength. S: Re-roll - 9.
5) S: 13 I: 16 W: 15 D: 10 C: 17 Ch: 16
Very nice! We qualify for one of the PH "Special" classes, the Ranger. Hm.. Dex or Strength? S: Re-roll - 12.
6) S: 15 I: 17 W: 12 D: 8 C: 15 Ch: 8
MU or F/MU. Let's roll Dex over. D: Re-roll - 9.
7) S: 11 I: 9 W: 13 D: 17 C: 11 Ch: 11
We might as well issue him some Leather Armor and write "I Steal Shit," at the top of the character sheet.
S: Re-roll - 8.
8) S: 12 I: 15 W: 13 D: 14 C: 15 Ch: 13
Ooh, we qualify for Assassin! S: Re-roll - 13.
9) S: 12 I: 8 W: 14 D: 12 C: 9 Ch: 12
What to do with this guy? W: Re-roll - 16. Cleric, it is.
10) S: 14 I: 16 W: 14 D: 12 C: 12 Ch: 13
Let's re-roll Charisma. We might qualify for Paladin or Druid. These are some nice stats, regardless; there are several good possibilities, here. Ch: Re-roll - 15. Hey, we can be a Druid!
There were several instances of the re-roll making a minor difference, a few times it was truly helpful. If we had five players, and assigned the first five rolls to them, our party might look like this:
1. S: 16 I: 16 W: 8 D: 12 C: 17 Ch:14 Elven F/MU.
2. S: 14 I: 13 W: 12 D: 15 C: 12 Ch: 14 Elven MU/T (Yes, we're being a little min/maxy, but "arrange as rolled" IS a bit restrictive.)
3. S: 11 I: 13 W: 14 D: 11 C: 12 Ch: 12 Human Cleric.
4. S: 9 I: 15 W: 16 D: 14 C: 9 Ch: 16 Human Druid.
5. S: 13 I: 15 W: 16 D: 10 C: 17 Ch: 16 Human Ranger.
Hmm. Two Fighters, two MU's, a Thief, a Cleric and a Druid. The party actually turned out nicely.
On a final note, the numbered die performed no differently than the pip dice; but, it's possible that the "bad luck" would only manifest if all or mostly numbered dice were used.
No comments:
Post a Comment