I greatly prefer rolling up characters rather than using point buy systems or standardized arrays, but I still want characters to be reasonably balanced among themselves and against the opposition they will face. Many games like D&D and Pathfinder provide power level guidelines for use with point buying but don't offer much in the way of help when rolling dice for stats. So I whipped up a program to help me see how different stat rolling methods ranked in terms of power level.
I used every dice rolling method I could think of that just used straight dice rolling or just dice plus or minus a set number. For power level comparisons, I used the point buy system and power levels given in Pathfinder. I did add two new levels to what they have- Gritty Fantasy (~5 points) and Super Hero Fantasy (~30 points).
Notes on the different rolling methods:
- Drop high (drop the highest roll, count the rest)
- Drop low (drop the lowest roll, count the rest)
- Reroll < # (reroll the dice if you roll less than #)
- AD&D Method 1 - 4d6 drop lowest
- AD&D Method 2 - 3d6 roll 12 times, take 6 best
- AD&D Method 3 - 3d6, roll 6 times per stat
The Ranges are the limits of scores possible. The Avg. Stat is the mean score you would expect to roll. The Deviation is the standard deviation of the point values rolled for characters - the lower the better if you want your party to be fairly balanced. And the Avg. Cost is the average point buy value of characters.
Gritty Fantasy - 5 points
| Method |
Range |
Avg. Stat |
Deviation |
Avg. Cost |
| 1d10 + 2d4 |
3 - 18 |
10.5 |
13.0 |
2.5 |
| 3d6 |
3 - 18 |
10.5 |
11.5 |
2.6 |
| 5d6 drop high & low |
3 - 18 |
10.5 |
11.0 |
2.7 |
| 5d4 - 2 |
3 - 18 |
10.5 |
8.7 |
2.8 |
| 2d8 + 2 |
4 - 18 |
11.0 |
13.1 |
7.7 |
| 3d6 reroll < 7 |
7 - 18 |
11.0 |
8.8 |
8.4 |
Low Fantasy - 10 points
| Method |
Range |
Avg. Stat |
Deviation |
Avg. Cost |
| 3d6 roll 7 times, take 6 best |
3 - 18 |
11.2 |
10.0 |
9.1 |
| 3d6 reroll < 8 |
8 - 18 |
11.4 |
8.3 |
11.1 |
| 2d6 + 1d4 + 2 |
5 - 18 |
11.5 |
9.8 |
11.8 |
| 1d8 + 2d4 + 2 |
5 - 18 |
11.5 |
10.3 |
12.1 |
| 3d6 roll 8 times, take 6 best |
3 - 18 |
11.6 |
9.6 |
12.7 |
Standard Fantasy - 15 points
| Method |
Range |
Avg. Stat |
Deviation |
Avg. Cost |
| 4d4 + 2 |
6 - 18 |
12.0 |
8.1 |
15.2 |
| 3d6 roll 9 times, take 6 best |
3 - 18 |
12.0 |
9.4 |
15.4 |
| 3d6 reroll ones |
6 - 18 |
12.0 |
9.2 |
15.9 |
| 1d8 + 1d6 + 4 |
6 - 18 |
12.0 |
11.3 |
17.3 |
| 3d6 roll twice each, keep best |
3 - 18 |
12.2 |
9.4 |
17.3 |
| 1d10 + 1d4 + 4 |
6 - 18 |
12.0 |
12.2 |
18.1 |
| 4d6 drop lowest |
3 - 18 |
12.2 |
11.5 |
18.7 |
High Fantasy - 20 points
| Method |
Range |
Avg. Stat |
Deviation |
Avg. Cost |
| 1d6 + 2d4 + 4 |
7 - 18 |
12.5 |
9.2 |
20.2 |
| 3d6 roll 12 times, take 6 best |
3 - 18 |
12.7 |
9.5 |
21.2 |
Epic Fantasy - 25 points
| Method |
Range |
Avg. Stat |
Deviation |
Avg. Cost |
| 1d12 + 6 |
7 - 18 |
12.5 |
15.0 |
25.5 |
| 2d6 + 6 |
8 - 18 |
13.0 |
10.6 |
25.7 |
| 3d4 + 6 |
9 - 18 |
13.5 |
9.0 |
28.8 |
Super Hero Fantasy - 30 points
| Method |
Range |
Avg. Stat |
Deviation |
Avg. Cost |
| 5d6 drop 2 lowest |
3 - 18 |
13.4 |
11.7 |
30.6 |
| 1d10 + 8 |
9 - 18 |
13.5 |
13.9 |
34.1 |
| 3d6, roll 6 times per stat |
3 - 18 |
14.2 |
9.5 |
36.7 |
And the Winners are...
My favorites for each power level are:
- Gritty Fantasy: 3d6 Reroll < 7
This method curbs a lot of the harshness of rolling up stats for an iron-man old school game. It's low deviation and high minimum of 7 should make for decent, if average, player characters.
- Low Fantasy: 3d6 Reroll < 8
Lowest deviation and a high minimum score of 8 should produce very playable characters.
- Standard Fantasy: 3d6 reroll ones
Technically, the 4d4+2 method is superior but I just hate rolling d4's.
- High Fantasy: 3d6 roll 12 times, take 6 best
Again, I choose this one just because I hate d4's.
- Epic Fantasy: 2d6 + 6
This one comes closest to 25 points while also giving a decent deviation.
- Super Hero Fantasy: 3d6, roll 6 times per stat
The best for creating a balanced group of super heroes.
