Okay so I had some of the worst luck with rolling my initial stats, the DM said I could re-roll, but I think I just want to keep the stats and try and make a character "work". Some of the most fun I've ever had were on characters with sub-optimal stats, soooo I'm hoping this works out. Here are my 6 rolls. 18,14,10,9,8,5.
5 is going to go into Int, so I'm going to be dumb as a box of rocks. That should be fun. And I'm assuming my best bet for the 18 is in STR. But where to go from here?
Okay so I had some of the worst luck with rolling my initial stats, the DM said I could re-roll, but I think I just want to keep the stats and try and make a character "work". Some of the most fun I've ever had were on characters with sub-optimal stats, soooo I'm hoping this works out. Here are my 6 rolls. 18,14,10,9,8,5.
5 is going to go into Int, so I'm going to be dumb as a box of rocks. That should be fun. And I'm assuming my best bet for the 18 is in STR. But where to go from here?
Honestly.... you should re roll.
your total stats at 64 pre race mods. Puts you 4 total skill points ahead of a commoner who gets 10s across the board pre racial mods.
Commoners are actually as good or better than you in 4/6 skills.
typically most DMs will let you re-roll so that total SP is 75 or higher.
that said. If you wanted to play this char...
I’d recommend str and con being the high 2. Then 10 in dex. And wear medium armor and a shield to make up the AC difference. And just focus on str and con as a barb.
that would make for a interesting/hilarious character of your dm let you be knight background with 3 retainers and you were a sorcerer with 18 cha. And the 5 in dex and 8 in con. And your 3 retainers carried you everywhere on a litter like you were Xerses.
I was thinking of races with a plus 2 to con to help your AC and hp. M Dwarf, Shifter, genasi, etc...
The only thing I'll stress is snag a pike early on to keep your enemies at bay and force them to come to you. Strike and fall back forcing them to possibly take opportunity attacks to get to you.
I've seen one guy roll a 13,10,9,9,7,6. Most incredibly, the 13 was his last roll, so his first 5 rolls had a total of just 41.
You've got two good stats, so you're limited to choosing a style that only needs two good stats if you're trying to build a more optimal character. Thankfully, there are plenty of options that let you do that. Barbarian is more of a type that needs three stats - having just a 10 in Dexterity will hurt your AC a little, although since Dexterity is almost always the 3rd stat for Barbarians, it's somewhat common for them to have just 12 or 13 in Dexterity and only get a +1 bonus to Dexterity, so you're not at much of a disadvantage compared to somebody that rolled more typical stats. Starting off with three 14s isn't too rare, but it's also not that uncommon for a 12 or 13 to be the 3rd best stat - especially if you're choosing a race that gives you a bonus in your top two stats.
You might be more effective if you do a martial character that uses just Strength and Constitution and wears heavy armor, or a martial character that uses just Dexterity and Constitution and uses light armor. But as you recognize, playing optimally isn't necessary, and having 10 Dexterity as a Barbarian isn't bad. Having dump stats makes your character more memorable. Not having any good stats makes your character feel underpowered. You got the best of both worlds, you get to be extremely good in your main attack stat, so you're still going to be quite powerful, but you get a whole bunch of dump stats that you get to have fun roleplaying.
I don't think that you should reroll. The standard array is just 72, and it'd be a bit silly if DMs let you reroll anytime you got worse than the standard array. 64 is borderline to the point where you should reroll, but you got two good rolls, and that's enough to give you plenty of options of characters that won't feel underpowered. Also, you got an 18, that's pretty special. With some races, that means you'll start out with a 20 in your main attack stat.
Mountain Dwarf is one of the best options - that will give you 20 strength and 16 constitution to start out. With 16 Con, you'll get the same AC from a Chain Shirt as you would with unarmored defense. Scale Mail will give you +1 AC and Half Plate (once you can afford it) would give you +2 AC. But if you choose to boost your Con up with your first two ASIs, you would get to the point where Medium Armor doesn't really give you any more AC. You also have the option to take a bunch of feats if you start off with 20 strength, so you could do the fun Sentinel + Polearm Master build, or get Great Weapon Master, that type of thing.
Personally i would switch int and charisma, simply because it can get disruptive having a total moron in a party (leeroooooooy). I have a feeling an int 5 character will be played as if charisma was superlow anyways.
on another note, those stats could make for a fun sorcerer etc. too - maybe an elderly character?
Take the 18 in str and the 14 in dex and wear medium armor, maybe even go battlerager. If i was going battlerager i would pick hill dwarf over mountain, you want the HP over the str. If not a battlerager, any race that gives better saving throws like a gnome or a yuan-ti pureblood. Having an 18 in str is fine for the first 4 levels use your racial stats to cover up your weaknesses.
Have you thought about playing a Tortle Barbarian? With roll like that, you would already be starting with 20 strength and also with the shell, you already have ac of 17, so your armor defense is not as important.
Wisdom reflects how attuned you are to the world around you and represents perceptiveness and intuition.
A Wisdom check might reflect an effort to read body language, understand someone’s feelings, notice things about The Environment, or care for an injured person.
——————————————————————————
Question for clarification:
is the impulsiveness due to poor deductive reasoning? Or failure to notice things about “the environment”
(The Environment
By its Nature, Adventuring involves delving into places that are dark, dangerous, and full of mysteries to be explored. The rules in this section cover some of the most important ways in which adventurers interact with the Environment in such places.)
I'd go with a mountain dwarf fighter. 18 into str, 14 into con, and the rest really don't matter.
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Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Take the 18 in str and the 14 in dex and wear medium armor, maybe even go battlerager. If i was going battlerager i would pick hill dwarf over mountain, you want the HP over the str. If not a battlerager, any race that gives better saving throws like a gnome or a yuan-ti pureblood. Having an 18 in str is fine for the first 4 levels use your racial stats to cover up your weaknesses.
This.
You're starting with an 18 in your primary stat, you don't need to boost it higher. Put the stat boosts from an unconventional barbarian race to work by raising that 5 up.
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Okay so I had some of the worst luck with rolling my initial stats, the DM said I could re-roll, but I think I just want to keep the stats and try and make a character "work". Some of the most fun I've ever had were on characters with sub-optimal stats, soooo I'm hoping this works out. Here are my 6 rolls. 18,14,10,9,8,5.
5 is going to go into Int, so I'm going to be dumb as a box of rocks. That should be fun. And I'm assuming my best bet for the 18 is in STR. But where to go from here?
Honestly.... you should re roll.
your total stats at 64 pre race mods. Puts you 4 total skill points ahead of a commoner who gets 10s across the board pre racial mods.
Commoners are actually as good or better than you in 4/6 skills.
typically most DMs will let you re-roll so that total SP is 75 or higher.
that said. If you wanted to play this char...
I’d recommend str and con being the high 2. Then 10 in dex. And wear medium armor and a shield to make up the AC difference. And just focus on str and con as a barb.
thats if you wanted to stay barb.
Watch me on twitch
Off topic to Barb...
that would make for a interesting/hilarious character of your dm let you be knight background with 3 retainers and you were a sorcerer with 18 cha. And the 5 in dex and 8 in con. And your 3 retainers carried you everywhere on a litter like you were Xerses.
Watch me on twitch
18 str, 14 con, 10 dex, 9 wis, 8 cha, 5 int.
You can make it work all a barbarian needs to do is hit stuff. I'd go with mountain dwarf turning your str to 20 and con to 16.
With some of your starting gold snag a pike. Reach weapons can make a big difference in combat.
Any ideas for the character?
Fattsgalore, that's almost exactly what I was thinking only I was thinking of going with a Goliath to get the once per long rest damage reduction.
Goliath is a fitting choice.
I was thinking of races with a plus 2 to con to help your AC and hp. M Dwarf, Shifter, genasi, etc...
The only thing I'll stress is snag a pike early on to keep your enemies at bay and force them to come to you. Strike and fall back forcing them to possibly take opportunity attacks to get to you.
I've seen one guy roll a 13,10,9,9,7,6. Most incredibly, the 13 was his last roll, so his first 5 rolls had a total of just 41.
You've got two good stats, so you're limited to choosing a style that only needs two good stats if you're trying to build a more optimal character. Thankfully, there are plenty of options that let you do that. Barbarian is more of a type that needs three stats - having just a 10 in Dexterity will hurt your AC a little, although since Dexterity is almost always the 3rd stat for Barbarians, it's somewhat common for them to have just 12 or 13 in Dexterity and only get a +1 bonus to Dexterity, so you're not at much of a disadvantage compared to somebody that rolled more typical stats. Starting off with three 14s isn't too rare, but it's also not that uncommon for a 12 or 13 to be the 3rd best stat - especially if you're choosing a race that gives you a bonus in your top two stats.
You might be more effective if you do a martial character that uses just Strength and Constitution and wears heavy armor, or a martial character that uses just Dexterity and Constitution and uses light armor. But as you recognize, playing optimally isn't necessary, and having 10 Dexterity as a Barbarian isn't bad. Having dump stats makes your character more memorable. Not having any good stats makes your character feel underpowered. You got the best of both worlds, you get to be extremely good in your main attack stat, so you're still going to be quite powerful, but you get a whole bunch of dump stats that you get to have fun roleplaying.
I don't think that you should reroll. The standard array is just 72, and it'd be a bit silly if DMs let you reroll anytime you got worse than the standard array. 64 is borderline to the point where you should reroll, but you got two good rolls, and that's enough to give you plenty of options of characters that won't feel underpowered. Also, you got an 18, that's pretty special. With some races, that means you'll start out with a 20 in your main attack stat.
Mountain Dwarf is one of the best options - that will give you 20 strength and 16 constitution to start out. With 16 Con, you'll get the same AC from a Chain Shirt as you would with unarmored defense. Scale Mail will give you +1 AC and Half Plate (once you can afford it) would give you +2 AC. But if you choose to boost your Con up with your first two ASIs, you would get to the point where Medium Armor doesn't really give you any more AC. You also have the option to take a bunch of feats if you start off with 20 strength, so you could do the fun Sentinel + Polearm Master build, or get Great Weapon Master, that type of thing.
Personally i would switch int and charisma, simply because it can get disruptive having a total moron in a party (leeroooooooy). I have a feeling an int 5 character will be played as if charisma was superlow anyways.
on another note, those stats could make for a fun sorcerer etc. too - maybe an elderly character?
Low intelligence means you're bad at math and possibly illiterate. It doesn't make you impulsive or self-destructive, that's low wisdom.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
I think being self-destructive it's managed mostly by the Charisma instead of Wisdom.
Did you ever hear about the Identity's crysis insanity ??
My Ready-to-rock&roll chars:
Dertinus Tristany // Amilcar Barca // Vicenç Sacrarius // Oriol Deulofeu // Grovtuk
Take the 18 in str and the 14 in dex and wear medium armor, maybe even go battlerager. If i was going battlerager i would pick hill dwarf over mountain, you want the HP over the str. If not a battlerager, any race that gives better saving throws like a gnome or a yuan-ti pureblood. Having an 18 in str is fine for the first 4 levels use your racial stats to cover up your weaknesses.
Have you thought about playing a Tortle Barbarian? With roll like that, you would already be starting with 20 strength and also with the shell, you already have ac of 17, so your armor defense is not as important.
Intelligence
Intelligence measures mental acuity, accuracy of recall, and the ability to reason.
An Intelligence check comes into play when you need to draw on logic, education, memory, or deductive reasoning.
Wisdom
Wisdom reflects how attuned you are to the world around you and represents perceptiveness and intuition.
A Wisdom check might reflect an effort to read body language, understand someone’s feelings, notice things about The Environment, or care for an injured person.
——————————————————————————
Question for clarification:
is the impulsiveness due to poor deductive reasoning? Or failure to notice things about “the environment”
(The Environment
Watch me on twitch
I'd go with a mountain dwarf fighter. 18 into str, 14 into con, and the rest really don't matter.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
This.
You're starting with an 18 in your primary stat, you don't need to boost it higher. Put the stat boosts from an unconventional barbarian race to work by raising that 5 up.