- 5e

Standard Array

Two things I love about Standard Array and both points have to deal with the 13 stat.

  1. This gives characters looking to multiclass a "throw away" stat for multiclassing. A cleric/wizard multiclass can use their 13 for either WIS or INT, focus on their primary stat with the 15 and put 14 in CON, and be good to go.
  2. The 13 puts a ton of emphasis on using an early feat to shore up the second odd stat. I find myself wanting to put 13 in CON or DEX and spend an early ASI (often times my 4th level ASI) for Resilient. When I do point buy, I often just go 15/14/14 and never worry about shoring up a secondary stat with Resilient event though it's probably a good idea.

Besides the two points above, I have an unnecessary disdain for 15/15/15/8/8/8 distributions that are comomon with MAD classes (especially with paladins, rangers, and monks). That said, standard array or other point arrays like this can be punishing to MAD classes.

Variations

Dungeon Dudes - 17/15/13/12/10/8 https://twitter.com/dungeon_dudes/status/1225562072181854210?lang=en

I like seeing a variant of standard array like the Dungeon Dudes run in their campaigns but this particular array breaks down pretty hard with Custom Lineage (introduced in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything). Most players that are given this particular array would probably chose Custom Lineage, put +2 into their primary stat and grab a half feat to start level one at 20 of that stat; then take either an ASI at level 4 or a half-feat at levels 4 and 8 to shore up the 15 and 13.

Mine? - 16/16/13/12/10/8 As I mentioned previously with standard array, an array like this is still somewhat punishing to MAD classes and I'd be curious how a 16/16/13/12/10/8 array would work out (since that fixes the max primary at level one problem). One interesting point about this particular array is how much better classes with CON saving throw profiencies are and how much the 13 value is used for DEX with Resilient (DEX).

Point Buy

https://www.reddit.com/r/criticalrole/comments/485lss/comment/d1ueiub/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

Variation

Up to 17, down to 6

Score Cost 3 -14 4 -10 5 -7 6 -4 7 -2 8 0 9 1 10 2 11 3 12 4 13 5 14 7 15 9 16 12 17 15 18 19

Rolling

https://anydice.com/articles/4d6-drop-lowest/ https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/4d6-drop-lowest-vs-4d6-reroll-1s-drop-lowest-and-other-stat-gen-shenanigans.793608/

Matthew Colville

Roll for stats you normally would, but you always roll in order. This helps players build characters to those stats instead of having to come to the game with certain ideas/biases (and also sets up for interesting decisions if certain stats, like Constitution, are low -- what if you rolled high in Strength but low in Constitution?). Colville only uses this for the first player they make for the campaign... If a player character (PC) dies, they are allowed to roll stats normally.

A good variation for rolling stats... either as the DM, roll roll the stats once and all players get that array or have the players as a group, roll the 6 options together. This randomly rolled array will be used for all characters during the campaign (deaths/rerolls use these stats as well)

https://www.reddit.com/r/dndnext/comments/xar9pb/if_your_dm_presented_these_rules_to_you_during/

Critical Role - https://www.critrolestats.com/blog/2017/2/20/rolling-stats

Update: As @dasbif pointed out to us, Matt confirmed that all players roll stats (allowing a reroll if all together the stats are fewer than 70).

https://www.reddit.com/r/criticalrole/comments/485lss/deleted_by_user/

Aye, 4d6 (drop the lowest) six times, arrange as desired. Re-roll the whole lot if they don't add up to at least 70. That's how I generally do it. Allows for some decent stats, and the possibility of a low stat (weakness), which I find is RP MONEY that Point-buy doesn't lean into.

https://www.reddit.com/r/dndnext/comments/xar9pb/if_your_dm_presented_these_rules_to_you_during/

We use CR style rolling for stats. Reroll if the point total is sub 70, as soon as it’s 70+ that’s your stats unless you want to reroll because every stat is high (83+ usually, average stat pre racials at about 14). I’m ok with this primarily because they’re not min maxers so it’s fine if they’re pretty strong plus they won’t ever be super weak with them still usually having 1 low stat. Honestly most of them like to rp and prefer to have a weak stat somewhere.

https://www.reddit.com/r/criticalrole/comments/485lss/comment/d1i9aex/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

A Socialist Variant of the 4d6 drop lowest that I am testing is to do a "group roll" where everyone rolls six times, but rather than assign the results to their attributes, they are pooled, listed from highest to lowest, and then distributed to the players in a serpentine order, where the point allocation reverses each round. I got the idea from how fantasy sport/movie/voice actor leagues are typically set up. OK, I made up that last one, but it should be a thing. :) For example, if there are 4 PCs, there are 24 total rolls, listed highest to lowest. PC1 gets the highest, PC2 the 2nd, PC3 the 3rd, PC4 the 4th. The order is then reversed with PC4 getting the 5th highest, PC3 the 6th, etc. until all scores are distributed, with PC1 receiving both the highest and the lowest dice roll. This group roll still allows for variation in some high and low attributes, and some of that chaotic dice rolling (HUZZAH!) without unbalancing the party, as the attribute sums tend to be within 2 to 4 points from high to low. It can also start a bit of some goofy team building and interest as players encourage the rolls of each others right at the start.

https://www.reddit.com/r/criticalrole/comments/485lss/comment/d1ueiub/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

All the following scores were run for 4 players over 1,000,000 iterations. A set of stats for each of the 4 players was calculated each iteration, the point-buy costs of those stats calculated for each player and the average cost in the party and the largest difference in costs between party members was then found. These were then averaged over all the iterations. 4d6 drop lowest Mean Party Value = 30.8394955 Mean Party Range = 23.34608 Serpentine Socialism Mean Party Value = 30.8418615 Mean Party Range = 5.362475 As you can see, both offer an average value greater than normal point-buy (which is 27 points) but the difference between the two methods is negligible. However, the range of values within a party is a lot more compact in Serpentine Socialism; on average the highest scoring party member would only have 5 more points worth than the lowest scoring. This method is much fairer at producing a balanced party!

https://mykindofmeeple.com/how-to-use-point-buy-5e-dnd-pros-cons/

3d6 rolls in order 4d6, drop the lowest.. choose the order

most interesting and fun... unbalanced for players (some players are stronger than others)

27 point buy fair, quick not very exciting

standard array just worse than point buy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIzzzuKNw7Q