Recent content by Lakesidefantasy

Yes, this is true. I don't know about the 50th Anniversary edition, but the 5th edition leaves us with three methods that all encourage dumping scores, but there are different ways to generate scores that don't encourage dumping, minimize it, or eliminate it all together. You know, Point Buy...

You don't have to roll all 18s, the same would be true if you rolled all 13s or all 4s. It's true that both the Standard method and the Point Buy method encourage score dumping. The difference though is that with the Standard method you're not making a 27-point cookie. You're unlikely to roll...

Yes, because of Arrangement both the Standard method and Point Buy have the Dump Score problem. However, I would say that most Point Buy characters with a low intelligence (or any other low score) have it because there were no points left to spend on it. It seems that our cookies have a top...

For once? We don't need high scores to be superheroes in this game. It's the default.

Yeah, you're right. Now I'm going to have to do some real math. Just multiplying them won't work. Maybe I shouldn't have gone out and bought so many lottery tickets. 🙃

How about this as an idea. The Player rolls a d20 in front of the screen and the Dungeon Master rolls a d20 behind the screen. Then the Dungeon Master adds their roll to the Player's roll but you roll over the count back to 1 if if the sum is more than 20. Examples: Player = 1, DM = 6...

It would seem that 41% of people on these boards Roll with Dice, 31% Buy with Points, and 25% use the Standard Array.

I doubt it. Have you made 66 Point Buy characters? Then you are guaranteed to have made two identical sets of arrays. But you probably don't have to make that many characters. I think there are fewer than 20 arrays we end up with; particularly if we apply optimization guidelines to our score...

That balance comes through sacrificing diversity. With the Standard method we would never roll the same set of scores twice in our lifetimes. I suspect 25% to 50% of the time we build the same set of scores with Point Buy.

FIGHT CLUB!!! There 54,264 different combinations off ability scores. So I think the probability of two people rolling the same set of scores would be a 1/54264 chance multiplied (?) by another 1/54264. If my math is correct then the chance of two people rolling the same set of scores is...

Hmm, interesting.🤔

Checks benefit from consequences and time pressures, etc., but I think this misses the point. Players often see an opportunity to throw more dice at a problem, or throwing their best modifiers at it in order to succeed. We can blame this on the Dungeon Masters poor design choices (and frankly...

This is why I focus on "dump" scores rather than low scores.

This is true, they both have the same problem. But we don't talk about Flight Club here.° Point Buy tacitly promises us that we can make whatever Character we want by allowing us full control over Score placement. But that promise falls short when we are forced to "dump" lower and lower Scores...

I'm interested in reining-in the Chimera. I see this sometimes with skills like Deception and Persuasion. For instance when one character is quite clearly having a conversation with a non player character and we determine that Deception is being employed so we call for a check. They fail and the...