Recent content by CleverNickName

More comparisons of the three methods (Standard Array, Point-Buy, and 4d6.) Let's talk about ability score modifiers. With the Standard Array, you have the following stats: 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, and 8. The modifiers for these stats are +2, +2, +1, +1, +0, and -1, respectively. And if we add...

I mean, people have all sorts of reasons for liking the things they like; I'm not out to change anyone's mind. I was focusing on the math alone and whether point-buy is balanced with the other methods. I think it is.

No argument here. Rerolling your stats is a house-rule (in 5E, anyway... it might be different in other editions.) The criteria for rerolling, if any, is up to your group. In my opinion, if you're capping the 4d6 results at the low end, you should cap them at the upper end also. Otherwise...

That might be why some people feel the 4d6 method generates higher stats than point-buy does. On average the 4d6 method will give you 72 points, which is about same as the standard array--but most people who use point-buy will choose an array with fewer points.

He was hoping for a tip?

That first histogram looked strange to me--I expected to see a smooth bell curve, and there were these really weird gaps in it. So to better see what was happening, I ran it again---and this time I pushed Excel even harder to generate over twenty thousand iterations. And this is what I got...

I decided to model this in Excel, to see if it's a math thing or a perception thing (or a cheating thing). Using the Standard Array (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8), you end up with a total of 72. For the Point-Buy Method, I pulled up a complete list of all 65 valid ability scores that you can get...

Yikes. Is this a real concern?

The rules give us three different methods to generate stats...everything else is a house-rule. There isn't a rule that tell us which method is "best," and there's no rule that says all players must use the same method.

The only way I can see this becoming a real problem is if you find yourself in a situation where you would rather everyone start out on equal footing as you said, but everyone else likes the mismatched characters they rolled. And at that point, I don't think it's really a problem with stat...

I mean, there's no negative argument either. For some people and some playstyles, that might be a feature instead of a bug. (shrug) My two cents: I think it's simply a matter of preference: some people prefer to roll their stats, and some people don't. I think the game developers knew...