this post was submitted on 16 Jul 2024
7 points (88.9% liked)

3d6

586 readers
1 users here now

Aid other tabletop gamers in creating interesting or devastating characters. Find help with your new idea, or share your memorable builds.

Rules

  1. Don't be a dick, even to dicks
  2. Tag your posts, eg [5e][Question]
  3. Don't advocate piracy
  4. Make your criticism constructive
  5. Don't low-effort shitpost or spam
  6. Don't be excessively explicit or grotesque
  7. Don't post third-party affiliate links
  8. If your post fits with a megathread, post there
  9. Don't just advertise things, even if they're relevant
  10. Participate in good faith
  11. Abide by the Homebrew Content Guidelines.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
weirfish@ttrpg.network
7
[5e] Dice Mechanic with Point Buy RNG? (ttrpg.network)
submitted 5 months ago by Aegeus@ttrpg.network to c/3d6@ttrpg.network
12 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Hello everyone,

I thought it would be nice to have a dice mechanic for 5e’s character creation with an output more similar to the point buy system, since the default dice mechanic leads to overall higher stats. This could be a system with the same output range as point buy as well as one that still offers the possibility of rolling very high numbers (16-18) but with a higher probability to roll very low than 4d6 drop lowest.

Do you already know of such a dice mechanic? Or could you maybe provide a source for the probabilities of a stat having a certain number in the point buy system, so as to make it comparable to 4d6 drop lowest? The latter would give a starting point to play around with dice.run in order to create a system as desired.

Thank you all very much in advance!

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] myrrh@ttrpg.network 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

...you can accomplish your goal by calculating running totals based on 4d6 drop low as you roll, then re-assigning the final score(s) in your array deterministically to hit the 27-point limit per the optional point-buy rule, but you'll have to extrapolate point costs for high and low rolls not included in the point-buy table to make that work...

3 (-14)
4 (-10)
5 (-7)
6 (-4)
7 (-2)
8 (0)
9 (1)
10 (2)
11 (3)
12 (4)
13 (5)
14 (7)
15 (9)
16 (12)
17 (15)
18 (19)

(personally, i hate point-buy and the algorithmic gameplay it fosters: the base rule - choice of 4d6 drop low or standard array - provides an ideal distribution if players commit to their choice before rolling)