Rolling your stats vs point buy in classical fantasy tabletop roleplaying games.

The argument goes which is better, rolling random or point buy? Here’s the catch. Character creation for Dungeons & Dragons or other D20 clones and Dragonbane have over a dozen methods for generating six basic stats between 3 (awful) and 18 (awesome sauce.) Let’s go down the list:

  • 3d6 down the line no exceptions or exchanges.
  • 3d6 down the line exchange how ever many the Game Master decides.
  • 3d6 reroll 1s assign as desired.
  • 4d6 drop the lowest.
  • 4d6 reroll 1s drop the lowest.
  • 4d6 reroll 1s, drop the lowest, and assign as desired.
  • 4d6 reroll 1s, drop the lowest, exchange any two scores. (Dragonbane.)
  • 4d6 drop the lowest, put 6 lines by 6 lines of stats on paper, choose horizontal or vertical. (Me.) Yes, I make six characters at a time on average. Swap any two stats on the character.
  • Roll 5d6 or more dropping the lowest, etc.
  • Roll a heap of d6 (9-12) and assign to a base of 8 as desired.
  • Base 8 + 1d10 for each stat. (assign as desired in some cases.)
  • Base array. No rolling. Distribute six numbers as determined by the GM wherever you want them. Some GMs allow borrowing from one stat and donating to the others.
  • Point Buy. You have (blay) many points to put into any given attribute. Min/Max holiday.

There have been countless other methods discussed over the years. Different sizes of dice, numbers of d6s, base stats, rerolls, swapping stats, bribing the GM for more points, etc. (Maybe not the bribery as much.) There are as many combinations as there are D20 TTRPGs out there and then some.

You can well imagine how this might cause fistfights on TTRPG social media when we can’t even agree on pizza toppings most of the time. We generally take any excuse to fight over anything. Theatre of the Mind vs Miniatures, which we’ll cover again soon I’m sure is a really harsh one where people get heated.

Disclaimer: Statements expressed in this article are strictly my opinion. If you disagree or have a different opinion, that’s okay. I’m not an expert on everything. I’m not always right. I’m just writing from my experience as I know it. Your mileage may vary.

Old School Rules As Written vs Everybody.

Sometimes we roll low.

3d6 down the line. No exceptions or exchanges. If you roll a bunch of 4s and 6s, your character can barely lift their own hair and is one stairstep away from the grave, not too smart or charismatic. Congratulations, you’re a Fighter with a stick because you can’t wear armor (too heavy) or wield a significant weapon. Spellcasting is usually right out for low Intelligence and Wisdom characters. It’s characters like that who are absolutely fearless because the player wants to roll up a new character and will try to get into the graveyard as soon as possible.

That’s how we did it back in the old days and we “liked” it. I only ever made a few characters like that. I once rolled almost straight 18s out of a shaker cup, no sleight of hand, right in front of my whole group. My lowest score was a 17 on that character. The crowd went wild. No one else even came close. We had to start over. I used different dice, and my luck changed a little bit. Otherwise we let people lower one or two stats to raise another or some other convoluted method.

Please do what works best for you as a Game Master and your group. What works for me at my table may not work for yours and vice versa. The main focus is to have fun. There is no right or wrong way to roleplay.

Since the dawn of Third Edition Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Masters have become more lenient. Various other methods such as Standard Array and Point Buy became popular. I think my 6×6 Matrix actually showed up around that time. I think we all became less picky as a TTRPG culture about that time with some obvious holdouts from a prior era. To each his own.

It doesn’t really matter how we accomplish getting numbers to paper for our characters as long as the character is playable. (No more than one attribute below 7.) I like characters with a few flaws. I’ve played both ends of the spectrum and I honestly enjoy the middle nowadays. Just get a character you’re happy with.

Thank you for being here with me today. I appreciate you. Keep it real, but please strive for positivity, too. Please embrace the things that bring you the most joy in your life.