Yeah, you could use Shadowkeeper or whatever and give yourself all 25's if you want. You could also set the difficulty level to easy, and give yourself all the spells and a couple +5 weapons. I might try that sometime, but I'll bet I wouldn't last very long that way ... won't satisfy the "fever", eh?
I am more a fan of being able to increase ability scores as a consequence of playing the game. The old D&D dice rolling scheme really did not give much chance of having a lot of high scores, and you were lucky to get a 16 or higher in anything. But that was OK at low levels because there were opportunities to increase scores as part of the game-play later on. There were Tomes, Wishes, Magic Pools, Artifacts, etc. The rules now allow you increase ability scores automatically at certain experience levels, but that does not make sense and I think it sort of takes away from the game-play reward system a bit. I'd rather have major benefits like ability score increases to be tied to my character's story, rather than some automatic accounting machine running in the background.
Well, thing is.... In pnp dnd having flaws is fun. It opens up your character to fail every once in a while and can make your character more interesting.
In a single player computer based rpg however you have non of that. If your stats are low it can just screw you over and opens up your character to an early grave...
Incidentily bg1 and bg2 had some insane difficulty curves at times. Having anything other low stats just meant you would die faster.
For example: mindflayers in bg2 vs a fighter with low int. Yup. Fun times!
Stats were a bigger deal in BG1 and BG2 because 2nd edition D&D had a non-linear response to stat increases, especially in strength. That meant that you were really were gimping yourself if you didn't re-roll.
Now with clever strategy and careful use of the reload button you could rise above a bad stat distribution, but it was more fun (IMO) to make charname heroic.
5e doesn't have the non-linear stat response, and in fact the cap on stat increases makes it quite possible to make a reasonably powerful character without re-rolling over and over. On the other hand, you don't really break the game with re-rolls (again, due to the stat caps) so its really not a big deal either way.
P.S. Neil Peart writes the Lyrics and Lee sings them...great album!
Thanks for the clarification. I always just think of Geddy Lee’s vocals, but should give writing credit where it’s due. My first Rush concert was the Moving Pictures Tour in February 1981. Saw them a bunch of times over the years. Amazing that 3 people can put out that quality and complexity of musicianship in a live show.
1. They were amazing live! (Favorite)
2. Page Plant was a pretty awesome show (2nd favorite)
Missed out on The Division Bell tour...I heard that was stellar.
Rush was best under the Mercury label, but they never failed to produce something special.
Too bad they abandoned the half album long theme like Caress of Steel, 2112, and Hemispheres (+ Cygnus X-1
Despite all those talks about fun and interesting builds ... To be quite honest roling stats is in my eyes mainly mean to get more than 15 in ability score right from the start.
O have tryed it on DnD beyond ... and it all depends on how greedy you are. If single 18 satisfy you it take meerely few atempts of re-rolling. Obviously the more you want the longer it takes.
But since there certainly WILL be people who will keep rolling until they get best possible results ... why not allow infinite point buy aswell? I mean the outcome will be the same ... so why not save some time?
I still dont understand why cant we change Race for our hirelings. Lets us play Githyanki as racist as they trully are!
I find rolling for stats quite stupid, it's randomness where it does not belong to. If you are a trained person, you trained abilities should be high by design, not by a dice roll. Rerolling till the desired stats are there is a break of the system, then I would opt for Ragnarok's proposal to allow you to make higher than x stats in the first hand by buying points. Generally I find the BG3 system quite ok. What I don't like is that some of my visual demands (no torso hair, therefore I have to play woodelf) cannot be aligned with others (halfelf head + halfelf superior point distribution) at the moment, coupled with the fact that the current body is too muscular for my taste. Sigh.
Caress of Steel sort of equates to the early release of BG III. It had lots of great moments and a good concept, but parts of it just did not work out and some ingredients were missing. I've always thought a little bit of soothing Minimoog in a few spots would have elevated Caress of Steel closer to the level of Rush's A Farewell to Kings album.
I think the idea of rolling stats was supposed to emulate the random chance which exists in the real world. Some people are born with a natural aptitude to play a piano (or Minimoog), whereas others are born with perfect eyesight, etc. The issue is really what is appropriate for the player character, as opposed to the general masses. D&D has always been based on the premise that the player character is gifted in some way.
"The premise of the game is that each character is above average - at least in some respects - and has superior potential. Furthermore, it is usually essential to the character's survival to be exceptional (with a rating of 15 or above) in no fewer than two ability characteristics." - AD&D PHB
Do you roll stats in DnD and then decide what class you are going to play accordingly? Strange, if a game should be at least a kind of fun, but ok in some way, and certainly a kind of roleplay, however not to my taste. Otherwise, if you wish to play as wizard and have to accept a rolled 10 in Intelligence, that's brave indeed. But is it from the "real world"? I'm a weak and lean person and would not try to excel as Fighter or Barbarian in Faerun. But if I trained a long time as Wizard or sold my body and mind as Warlock or Cleric to a higher power and then faced very low stats in my allegedly trained/granted abilities, that would be odd.
The oldest versions of D&D did specify rolling 3d6 in order for STR, INT, WIS, etc., and then you would choose a race and class based on what you got. People did not like that! So then they tried adding a point-swap thing, where a mage could trade 2 points of DEX to pick up one point of INT, and so on. Then the Advanced D&D series came out (the big one), and they offered four methods at the DM's choice:
Method I: All scores are recorded and arranged in the order the player desires. 4d6 are rolled, and the lowest die (or one of the lower) is discarded.
Method II: All scores are recorded and arranged as in Method I. 3d6 are rolled 12 times and the highest 6 scores are retained.
Method III: Scores rolled are according to each ability category, in order, STRENGTH, INTELLIGENCE, WISDOM, DEXTERITY, CONSTITUTION, CHARISMA. 3d6 are rolled 6 times for each ability, and the highest score in each category is re- tained for that category.
Method IV: 3d6 are rolled sufficient times to generate the 6 ability scores, in order, for 12 characters, The player then selects the single set of scores which he or she finds most desirable and these scores are noted on the character record sheet
These methods allowed much more flexibility in choosing the player race and profession, and at the same time, getting an 18 in anything was still a special and rare thing. Then as you play through the levels, you encounter magic which can increase your scores, so for example by 15th level it was not that unusual for a character to have an 18 in their prime requisite and maybe some other high scores as well. And the thing is, those points were earned through adventure. Stat increases were prizes, not entitlements.
In 5e, the default method recommended for generating your ability scores is to roll 4d6 and add the highest three together (that is, a possible total between 3 and 18, weighted to be higher), six times, and then allocate those 6 scores as you wish. Most people choose their class first, and then allocate their scores in a way that fits the character they want to make.
The 5e handbook also provides a few other optional, alternative methods of generating stats, included the point buy system (which is what we have in BG3 currently), and the standard array, which is a fixed set of six scores (15, 14, 13, 12, 10 and 8 - totals that add up to the same value as point buy allows).
Outside of that, individual DMs and players utilise other variations of rolling ability scores. Some like 'hard' rules, which are a straight up rolling of 3d6 per score, with no 'drop' die, which naturally tends to average lower scores, just as one example. At the other end, some DMs allow players to roll 4d6 seven times, instead of six, and drop to lowest of those seven scores, pushing the overall ability score average up slightly more - this is good for heroic campaigns where players are particularly cut-above and expected to take on epic challenges.
Rolling is the norm, and is standard at the majority of tables - it's more flexible and allows for more unique ability score spreads - with more extremes of highs and lows - than using point buy. Several folks here on the forum do strongly prefer point buy for their own reasons (bad experiences with extreme power imbalances between players that their DM didn't handle well or allowed to actually become a problem, is usually the type of horror story that is reported), and there are positives and negatives to each method.
I've never heard of a DM who insists that players pick a class first, and then roll down-the-line (as in, rolling each ability in turn without allowing allocation) as well... that would be pretty cruel and silly, and the only times it's really done is for short-form or silly/joke games.
@ Argyle and Niara: thank you for the clarification, I never played DnD, therefore my question. In my opinion, because a video game lacks the communication and wide ranged fantasy possibilities to play a char, to interact with companions (real people) and to deal with problems, the urge to build a "well-versed" character is much higher than in a tabletop game. For this reason I'm thankful that you can buy your points, without being able to overdo the stats.
The possibility to increase abilities during the story sounds very promising. You can indeed do this already in the current BG3, although I would never do it because justice has to be done and danger removed. Maybe there will be better chances to earn one or the other point in the further game.
I have a nice example of a dice rolled Monk for a pnp campaign that im starting soon: STR15 DEX18 CON17 INT15 WIS18 CHA13 AC of 18 starting out. Variant human with the mobile feat (gotta go fast.jpg)
Quikly following me 2 players made their characters as well and the highest for 1 of them was a 15 and he had a 9 in there
Both characters made using the same rule set. But the power difference between our stats is absolutely massive. In pnp this isent an issue and were friends who arent to bummed out if 1 of the party has better stats then the next guy, But in a video game thats kinda different.
My starting AC18 is the same as full plate, yet im just wearing a shirt its kinda insane! Letting us reroll indefenitly as an option sounds alright but I wonder what it will do the balance of the game...
I wonder what it will do the balance of the game...
Nothing.
Once rolled stats will be implemented (and it was promised) nothing stops you to roll as long as you want ... in single player ofc. in multiplayer, maybe people will urge you to "goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo". Even if there would be some mechanism to allow you only certain amount of rerolls ... quite honestly so what? You spend them, then leave to the menu and start new game again, heading right to the ability scores.
Thats why i say once rolled stats will be implemented (and it was promised), they should aswell implement infinite point buy ... the outcome would be the same, it only saves time to people.
I still dont understand why cant we change Race for our hirelings. Lets us play Githyanki as racist as they trully are!
I hope they hear you. I'm currently a bit annoyed that I cannot make a woodelf Barbarian to my liking. I want to play woodelf because of the looks and the hairless torso, but he sucks in stats, compared to human and halfelf. I'm too less DnD race purist to accept the 15 max stats for him.
Or I need a mod which changes doll skins. Is there anything out like this?
