Rolling D&D Stats is Bad For You, a Reprisal

I’m starting a 13th Age campaign with my group (which includes a few Dorkadia folks) and I couldn’t be more excited. We just finished a group character creation session this past Thursday and it inspired me to revisit an idea that I’ve written about before: generating attributes for Dungeons & Dragons games. It also doesn’t hurt to recycle content when I’ve been busy with New Year merry-making and planning for the new campaign.

13th Age’s character creation system knows what it’s doing; it will create a D&D character that is both loaded with interesting stories/conflicts and ready to slay monsters in dungeons. This is why I’m confused that it introduces a classic die rolling system to generate the 13th Age character attributes before it offers up a point buy system. There only warning in the book about the possibility that players may roll poorly and not like it. But that’s not actually the problem that d6s cause when generating D&D stats in modern iterations of the game. I wrote about rolling-vs-point-buy generation when I started a Pathfinder game last year. The random generation of stats using a bell curve creates bland characters that undermine the mechanical niche protection so crucial to modern editions of D&D, 13th Age included. It’s bad for you, your character, and your game.

Here’s what I had to say about it a year ago, with my added notes in italics:

Rolling Stats is Boring

I’m on the cusp of creating a new Pathfinder character and our DM has given us a choice when generating our attributes. We can choose either:

• 20 point buy: We spend a pool of 20 points to purchase our attributes, as per the core Pathfinder rules. To gauge power level, a pool of 20 points can create the attribute array of 16, 14, 14, 12, 10, 8. [The 13th Age system point buy system is functionally the same.]
• Roll: Generate 6 values by rolling 4d6, reroll any 1s, drop the lowest die, then add up the remaining three dice. We then assign the values to whatever attribute we want. “4d6R-L” generates stats around 13.25, give or take. [13th Age doesn’t reroll 1s, so it has an average that’s around 12, but that doesn’t change the argument.]

Some members of our group have defended rolling dice, saying that point-buy systems create cookie-cutter characters that all have the same statistics. I actually believe the opposite: rolling dice creates homogenized characters that are less interesting than those generated by a point buy system. Here’s why: Point buy systems guarantee characters with both strengths and weaknesses.

Sure, same-y arrays are naturally going to come out of point buy systems, but they only feel same-y when you write the numbers in order on paper. A whole party could buy the standard 16, 14, 14, 12, 10, 8, which in theory should create a same feeling party, but that ensures that your character can do some shit and can’t do some shit. This actually creates niches that the other characters need to cover; built in focuses and forced deficits. Those 10′s and 8 are going somewhere.

Rolling dice with an average roll of 13.25 creates attributes that are more inclined to be like each other: 15, 14, 14, 13, 13, 12 is a reasonable spread for rolling dice. Even though it’s technically “stronger” than the 20 point buy array, it’s boring [without those strengths and weaknesses]! You’d never get something that boring with a point buy. (Unless of course someone chooses to be boring, but boringness born of choice rather than statistics is different.)

The game play of modern D&D revolves around groups of specialists aiding each other to accomplish heroic goals. Rolling dice can sabotage this in a big way.

So for God’s sake, guys, stop hating on point buy systems. It reinforces the very basic ideas behind D&D gameplay and it creates fun choices for players at character creation without the risk of statistical anomalies. While it’s true that in D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder some classes are less viable with point buy systems (Paladins just need higher stats than a wizard, and that’s that) that’s a fault with the system, not the mode of generation. [13th Age doesn’t have this problem. Most classes use two stats for their combat abilities, there is no Paladin that needs Strength, Wisdom, Charisma, and a touch of Dexterity.]

I will be choosing to buy my stats, for the record.

[*Full disclosure: I couldn’t resist revising a few things to make my point more clearly. Not that any one would notice.]

Next Time, 13th Age

I skirted by this week recycling material, but when I return to Dorkadia on January 22nd I’ll be reporting on our first session of 13th Age. Hopefully it offers some D&D monster-fighting with a strong story-game spirit. If you haven’t checked out the game’s website, do yourself a favor and take a moment to scope it out.