D&D 5e: Random Ability Score Generation

Preamble

Today I'm taking a break from my D&D 5e FFT5 series, and writing something that takes a bit less research and number crunching and whatnot, for a change of pace. I'll be bringing back more Job writeups for this weekend. Also; You'll note I've prettified the existing posts for my 5eFFT Series, as well as added an index.

Anyways; today I'm going to look at some alternate approaches to random ability score generation in D&D 5e, which yields results more in-line with what you could get via point-buy. I'm going to focus on my preferred random ability generation method, which is a modified variant of something I saw someone else post on a website years and years ago (I don't remember where I saw the original idea, but if I manage to find it again I'll add a link at the bottom).

Basic Card-Gen

This method of Random Ability Generation relies on a pack of playing cards, not on dice. Using cards instead of dice yields more consistent arrays between party members than dice does.

Point-Total?

Take an acceptable array, and add all the Ability Scores together. In this case, I'm going to use the Standard 5th Edition Array: 15,14,13,12,10,8. This adds up to 72, so 72 is the total we're going to work with.

Max & Min

Using point Buy, in D&D 5th Edition, a character can't start with a score higher than 15, or lower than 8, This is also important.

Building our Ability Score Deck

So, our constraints are: Nothing higher than 15, nothing lower than 8, and it adds up to 72. Since there are six Ability Scores, the way this is going to work is 12 cards (2 per Ability Score), with nothing below a 4. For a more frequent 15, we're going to allow a second 8, even though that means the player *could* get a 16.

To round out the options, here's the core of our deck:

It adds up to 60, it covers the range of numbers from 8 to 16, and leaves us 12 to work with for our final 2 cards. It also has the same average as the standard array.

The Choices

Now, for the last two cards, there's 2 viable choices. (there are other cards that would fit the total, but D&D is a game of specialization, and they're more likely to result in a "slightly above average Joe" with an array full of 12s, so I'm not going to recommend those.

Wildcards

The wild card doubles whatever's it's drawn with. Because our *Average* card is a 6, the wildcard counts as a 6 when you're adding up your 72, and two wild cards are drawn together, that's worth 12 - like if you had drawn two sixes. It adds in a bit of variance to the total Ability Score, as each wildcard could pair with a 4 (-2) or an 8 (+2), a little like dice, but still far more consistent than using dice.

Eight & Four

The Eight and Four give decent odds of a specialized array, while staying constrained in the 72.

Opinion

I think with 5e (unlike Pathfinder which has a larger variance in valid point buy arrays and thus has much swingier wildcards), I personally prefer using two wildcards over an eight and a four. It's more likely to result in a 16 or an 8, and less likely to result in a 12.

Final Deck Note - More Wild!~

If you find yourself wanting more variance than two wildcards give you, you can swap out the sixes for another two wildcards.

Using the Ability Score Deck

So, for the basic approach, you choose one of the two decks above, and your player shuffles the deck and then draws pairs, giving them a complete array.

Array Pools

If you're feeling generous, instead of each player rolling an array and being stuck with it, you can do one of the following to give the player a bit more choice in their final array. Which one you choose will depend on just how generous you feel.

Global Shared Pool

As each array is drawn, record it. After an array is drawn for each player, players build their character with any of the arrays that were drawn. Their choice. This will yield results a bit closer to point buy, as they'll choose the array that best works for what they're trying to play. Expect to see only a couple of the arrays get used.

Generous Limited Pools

Arrange all the players around a table (or otherwise find a way to put them in some sort of trackable linear order). Each player can build with their own array, or the array of an adjacent player.

Limited Pools

Arrange all the players around a table (or otherwise find a way to put them in some sort of trackable linear order). Each player can build with their own array, or the array of the player to their left.

I really like using cards if I want a campaign with non-point buy Ability Scores, and don't feel like providing the players with a couple of hand-built arrays to choose from.

Until next time,

Hawkwinter