One of the most controversial rules inDungeons & Dragonshistory has caused factions to form, wars fought in Reddit communities, friends lost, and campaigns withered. Rolling for ability scores is a simple game of rolling dice to determine your base stats for your character, which can be as sacred as it is arbitrary.
Depending on the type of campaign, character starting level, and overall expectations for the table, there can be an infinite number of ways to roll for these scores. Whether you want the party to be entirely unique, nearly identical, over or underpowered, and everything in between, there is a formula that can help you obtain it.
9Quick, Clean, Fair, And Balanced
Surprisingly not the default when rolling for stats in D&D, 2d6+6 offers the most fair and balanced way to roll for each of your stats without having to default to rerolls and extremely low numbers. Instead of your lowest possibly being three, it is instead eight, which is common for both the standard array and point buy.
You also don’t get a number above 18, which feels balanced for a starting characterjust beginning their journey. Although this can still lead to extreme scenarios, such as only having eights across the board, but those odds are extremely low compared to standard rolling.
you’re able to also allow rolling seven times and dropping the lowest score if the table is especially averse to low stats.
8Chaos Mode
Sometimes standard D&D can get stale and rolling for stats for your hundredth character can make them start to feel a bit samey, especially if you use scores to help roleplay. One way to force characters to become extremely unique is by having each score be a random number between one and twenty.
This can lead to superhumanly strong characters with starting scores of twenty, or characters who have such low Intelligence that they cannot speak properly, if at all. If you want this to become especially chaotic, have each roll be made in sequence, rather than placing the scores wherever you want.
7Slow, Clean, Fair, And Balanced
While slower than just rolling 2d6 and adding six, by instead rolling all the dice separately, you can then start to make strategic decisions as to how to manage your rolls. Do you just add the highest rolls together and create an unbalanced character, or try to mix the high and low rolls together to make something fair?
This gives you much more control over your character’s stats while forcing you to make balancing decisions that could affect the game much later on. If you don’t mind adding extra time to character creation, this is close to an ideal way to roll for stats that usually result in at least one starting score of 18.
6Subtracting Rolls
Overall, this way of rolling for scores is only loosely different from rolling 2d6+6, as you will end up with the same highs and lows, except with a unique twist. This way of rolling can have a psychological component that is perfect for certain characters or for preparing you for a beginning adventurer.
With each score dropped from its max, you feel like you areintentionally weakening the characterwhile preparing you for what you could achieve in the future. Also, this makes rolling low numbers more exciting, which is a fun twist on the normal expectations of D&D.
5Overly Complicated Standard Rules
While the standard rules allow for some randomness in generating player scores, for some tables it becomes far too random, or even unfair, putting some players way ahead of others at the very start. With these rules, you can get the closest to a standard array while maintaining unique character scores.
This can also still allow players to end up with a low score of seven, which adds an interesting roleplaying dynamic, but is unlikely to happen more than once. With this format, if you end up with a score that doesn’t need rerolling, you won’t have an egregiously low score that most players want to avoid.
4Chaos Mode Plus
This format is another way to get entirely unique stat rolls that lead to incredibly strong ability scores or disgustingly low ones that make your character the least charismatic bard in Faerûn. Compared to total chaos mode, these rolls give your character a little boost by making it more likely to round up to a higher stat total.
Also, this means you have a slightly higher chance of getting a stat at 20, as there is a one-number difference between getting a one or 20. This, unfortunately, does involve more complex math, likely requiring a calculator unless you are above average at fractions, but is also a reason to dust off those percentile dice.
3Unique Standard Array
The biggest problem with the standard array is that it sort of gives each character at the table the same basic statline, which can make it harder for them to be unique from one another. It also has an underwhelming total, and a low maximum, which is ideal for some campaigns but not for others.
By giving the option to reroll one of the values, players suddenly have more power in differentiating their character while stillkeeping a balanced party. This also has a high risk and reward. Do you attempt to save your lowest stat from holding you back, or hope that you may raise your highest to become especially powerful?
2Custom Point Buy Table
The Point Buy table also suffers from the same problems as the standard array, although to a lesser extent, giving each player the same number to start with and making the buy system a bit formulaic. With custom point buy totals, each player can make custom decisions that affect their playstyle individually.
This format also gives players the potential to roll higher than the traditional point buy, making higher rolls more exciting and still having power against low rolls. If you want to stretch this further, consider adding the option to buy an ability score of 16, costing 11 points to obtain.
Allowing players to buy even higher levels, a 17 would cost 13 points, and an 18 would cost 15.
1THE GRID
Perhaps the most gamefying way to roll for ability scores, the Grid offers a unique way to choose the best score for your character while also being forced into randomness. As you fill in the grid, you will start to find routes that seem optimal, leading you towards a couple of rows or columns with high rewards.
You can also set up a potential flaw by having fairly low numbers next to high ones, or just striking gold with straight 18s all the way down. This is perhaps the most fun way to roll for stats, and can even allow each player to roll in turn, all using the same grid to pick their ability scores from.
