Rolling stats

[haveahappy]

I know this has been discussed a lot on 1e, but I haven't seen it for 2e yet....

How do you roll your base stats in character gen?

And what are people's reading of the rules as-written?

It is the phrase "in any order starting with strength" that confuses me.

Do you roll 6 times and then assign the numbers in any order?

Or roll strength first then the rest in any order?

Or Roll all stats in any order?

Are you mean't to pick the stat before rolling? After rolling?

The wording is a bit vague, unless there is some subtle phrasing that I am just completely missing here...

[allanimal]

The text is:

roll 2D one after another, and assign the scores in any order you wish to the six characteristics, starting with Strength.

The "starting with Strength" bit seems unnecessary.

To me, the "roll 2D one after another" part means you roll six sets of 2d, as opposed to say rolling 12d and arranging them into 6 pairs.

To me, it is clear that one you have your 6 sets of numbers each derived from a roll of 2d, you can put the numbers into your scores in any order desired.

Technically, you have to assign STR first, but I would allow my players to ignore that.

There I go, making house rules again.

[alex_greene]

The text is:

roll 2D one after another, and assign the scores in any order you wish to the six characteristics, starting with Strength.

There I go, making house rules again.

You won't have Marc Miller, pbuh, chasing after you with a big mallet if you ignore those three words during chargen.

If you want your character to be smart, tough, but average strength, and your dice are good to you and you roll 12, 11, 8, 6, 8, 9, you could either immediately allocate the 12 to Intellect and the 11 to Endurance, maybe the 9 to Social and scatter the 8s and 6 amid Str, Dex and Edu; or you can immediately say "The 6 goes to Strength, the first of the 8s to Dexterity, the 11 to Endurance," and so on, in characteristic order.

I think that the "starting with Strength" was only for beginners who are probably still getting used to the order of the characteristics. The reasoning, I believe, is that if everybody uses the same order of STR, DEX, END, INT, EDU, SOC when choosing characteristics, it allows them to keep track of which dice went where.

Of course, spreadsheets make that kind of thinking obsolete, but what the hey - they didn't have electronic spreadsheets in 1977 either.

As a side note, I'd like to point out that I've just posted an article here about characteristic DMs.

[-Daniel-]

I have always allowed folks to roll six stats and then assign them as they wished. It gave them a head start in developing a character that fit what they wanted to play for the most part.

I have, for the fun of it, also created characters with 2d roll and assign them in order as they come up. I have also played in one game where we rolled up stats and once it was assigned the GM gave each of us three pips to add anywhere we wanted but we could not raise a stat higher than 12 using these pips. It was nice because it took my DEX 2 to a DEX 5, made me much less of a stumbling dork.

[xnet445]

I allow 7 2D rolls, discarding the low pair.

Cuts down on the number of crippled characters.

[Tom Kalbfus]

What happens if you roll 3d6 and drop the lowest die. D&D has a 4d6 and drop the lowest die rule.
The possible scores from rolling 2d6 sixes are
2 3 4 5 6 7
3 4 5 6 7 8
4 5 6 7 8 9
5 6 7 8 9 A
6 7 8 9 A B
7 8 9 A B C

You could just take these scores and assign them however you want without rolling for them:
5 6 7 8 9 A
There are 6 of them and 6 ability scores, how convenient., this would ensure that none of your initial scores are too low or too high.

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

I usually allow players to use the 3D drop the lowest rule and assign as they like. I do not give them rerolls etc. if they get a low stat somewhere, they have to figure out how to live with it. Most put it in SOC interestingly enough...

During character creation I allow them to roll the die first, then pick the table for their skill. This lets them tailor their character as they like, but still introduce some randomness. I think it gives a good balance between random and Point Buy.

I have been doing it this way since the LBB days (Classic Traveller).

[-Daniel-]

I did come across one person who gave the players a choice of either roll 2d or roll 1d+4. The 1d+4 means you will not get a score below 5 but you will also never get an 11 or 12 either. Trade a chance at a higher score for safety from an extremely low score. It was an interesting option.

[-Daniel-]

During character creation I allow them to roll the die first, then pick the table for their skill. This lets them tailor their character as they like, but still introduce some randomness. I think it gives a good balance between random and Point Buy.

I think this is an interesting idea. The die roll gives you a mini list of skills and you pick the one you want from that mini list. Very interesting for sure.

[Condottiere]

Ars Magica inspired me; every player wants an over powered character, so you let them have one once in a while, on the understanding that they to play normal ones, or possibly sub par ones to compensate at other times.

[alex_greene]

I'd get bored with a sub par character, forced to struggle with basic concepts or lacking in education, or from the worst dregs of society and a low Soc.

Never mind being saddled with being weak, maybe clumsy and coughing all the time.

I'd get bored, disappointed and frustrated with being weak and failing all my rolls. In the end, my Traveller would just walk out the airlock.

[DickNervous]

I've used 2 different methods for rolling character stats.

1. 3D6 Method: Roll 3D6, drop the lowest. Do this 6 times and assign the values to the stats the player wants. The only issue with this is that, as you may guess, you end up with more "heroic" players (ala D&D). If that is what you are going for, then all is good. I've only used this method once due to this fact as the average character ended up with a total of 50+ points in their stats.
2. 2D6*7 Method: Roll 2D6 7 times. Drop the lowest value. Assign to the stats you want. This results in pretty balanced characters and protects the player from that occasional 2 (well, one of my players it isn't all that occasional, but that's a different story). This is what I typically use.
3. 2D6*7 Alternate Method: Same as above, but when the player is done I add up their stats. Since 7 is "average" the 6 stats should be close to 42. If they are below 35-36 I will usually discuss with them what kind of character they want. Depending on that I may either simply adjust their stats, allow them to re-roll the lowest, or tell them to add X number of points however they want. I've used this a few times with people who just rolled really, really, badly. Like their 6 stats added up to less than 30 bad...

When they get to rolling skills, I will usually let them roll first, then pick the table they want to use (from what they are allowed of course) so they can customize their skill set a bit more. And if they roll an event multiple times I will give them the option of re-rolling it to add some variety to things. However, if they roll the same event again it will stick. Finally, when it comes to benefits, they need to pick the table first, then roll. But if they have the ability to add a DM to the roll, I let them decide after the roll.

[vargr1]

I know this has been discussed a lot on 1e, but I haven't seen it for 2e yet....

How do you roll your base stats in character gen?

Players have 48 points to distribute amongst their attributes. Max 15, Min 3.

[-Daniel-]

I know this has been discussed a lot on 1e, but I haven't seen it for 2e yet....

How do you roll your base stats in character gen?

Players have 48 points to distribute amongst their attributes. Max 15, Min 3.

So I could have an 888888. Not a bad character at all. Shift a few pips and you have a very good one for what ever you wished.

[haveahappy]

Thanks everyone for the responses!

We ended up rolling 2d6 * 6 and arranging the results as we wished.

Most of the players rolled down the line and only shuffled a couple of numbers around after - but everyone was buying into the process anyway so that made it easy for me

[-Daniel-]

Thanks everyone for the responses!

We ended up rolling 2d6 * 6 and arranging the results as we wished.

Most of the players rolled down the line and only shuffled a couple of numbers around after - but everyone was buying into the process anyway so that made it easy for me

Have fun playing the game.