My players recently went from lvl 3 to lvl 4 and I asked them to send their character sheets to me so that I can see what new spells they have chosen before we go on with the story. One of them is playing a sorcerer, background Haunted One, race human and the new ability scores I am seeing are pretty confusing (as in higher than the barbarian in our group):
STR 12 (+1), DEX 13 (+2), CON 12 (+1), INT 15 (+2), WIS 17 (+3), CHA 19 (+4)
So I wanted to ask for your opinion on this. We did have a beef (which I will not get into cause it is kinda complicated to explain) so even after giving many advice and other possible options, I kinda feel that I am being fooled here.
I will have to ask this player personally which of the two systems they picked if it helps :)
Doesn't add up either way. If I'm being optimistic I might allow for the possibility they misunderstood how point-buy works, but neither of those two allows for a human to have those scores at level 4.
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Standard array would yield 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15. Likewise, point buy doesn't go past 15 for a starting PC. They could get to 19 CHA by 4, but the rest of the stats are absolutely far too high. His 17 WIS alone is an impossibility - 14 is the highest it could be. Maybe 15 with a bunch of 8.
Ask if you can have a chat about his character, as you don't understand how their ability scores are what they are at this level. Ask him to show you how he worked things out.
That's not an unreasonable request.
If it's legitimate the scores stand, if not you at least know how he went wrong, or if he's cheating. If it's the former you help him. If it's the latter, he needs to re-stat.
Easier to discuss if he's made a mistake, but if he's cheating there's not much else you can do but be firm.
Ask if you can have a chat about his character, as you don't understand how their ability scores are what they are at this level. Ask him to show you how he worked things out.
Pretty much this. Don't bring it up in front of the entire group, just message or mail or call him, say his stats look way off compared to everyone else's (and they do, that's not an overstatement, they are a lot better than what the standard array or point buy could have given him) and ask what happened - don't imply or suggest he must have cheated, just be factual about the stats being impossible. Approaching is easy, dealing with how they react might be harder depending on how they take it, but keep in mind you're not doing anything wrong here - you're just trying to run a good game for everyone, and if someone's character is using significantly better stats that you're aware of that throws things off.
I assume you didn't check the charsheets at character creation - that's not necessarily bad, but for future referece I'd suggest always giving them a once-over at the start of a new campaign. It's not even about cheating (although with some players that possibility exists), but about catching mistakes early and having a good idea of what the PCs are like. It doesn't hurt to know the specific strengths and weaknesses of the party when creating (and running) encounters and challenges.
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Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
The only way I can see it would be that he rolled his stats (which wasn't an option you gave but perhaps he misunderstood?). We always have the rule that rolled stats must be witnessed, both to make sure everything is correct and also to remove doubt if a lucky set of rolls give a better than average result.
Flawed characters are much more interesting than superman.
new and unexperienced DM here seeking help xD
My players recently went from lvl 3 to lvl 4 and I asked them to send their character sheets to me so that I can see what new spells they have chosen before we go on with the story. One of them is playing a sorcerer, background Haunted One, race human and the new ability scores I am seeing are pretty confusing (as in higher than the barbarian in our group):
STR 12 (+1), DEX 13 (+2), CON 12 (+1), INT 15 (+2), WIS 17 (+3), CHA 19 (+4)
So I wanted to ask for your opinion on this. We did have a beef (which I will not get into cause it is kinda complicated to explain) so even after giving many advice and other possible options, I kinda feel that I am being fooled here.
How were the stats generated? Standard array, pointbuy, rolling?
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
I gave all my players the option to choose either standard array or pointbuy
I will have to ask this player personally which of the two systems they picked if it helps :)
Neither system can get those stats, I think.
I have a weird sense of humor.
I also make maps.(That's a link)
Doesn't add up either way. If I'm being optimistic I might allow for the possibility they misunderstood how point-buy works, but neither of those two allows for a human to have those scores at level 4.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
Standard array would yield 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15. Likewise, point buy doesn't go past 15 for a starting PC. They could get to 19 CHA by 4, but the rest of the stats are absolutely far too high. His 17 WIS alone is an impossibility - 14 is the highest it could be. Maybe 15 with a bunch of 8.
There is zero chance this is legit.
thank you all for the help!
Does anyone have an idea how to approach the player about this situation?
Ask if you can have a chat about his character, as you don't understand how their ability scores are what they are at this level. Ask him to show you how he worked things out.
That's not an unreasonable request.
If it's legitimate the scores stand, if not you at least know how he went wrong, or if he's cheating. If it's the former you help him. If it's the latter, he needs to re-stat.
Easier to discuss if he's made a mistake, but if he's cheating there's not much else you can do but be firm.
Pretty much this. Don't bring it up in front of the entire group, just message or mail or call him, say his stats look way off compared to everyone else's (and they do, that's not an overstatement, they are a lot better than what the standard array or point buy could have given him) and ask what happened - don't imply or suggest he must have cheated, just be factual about the stats being impossible. Approaching is easy, dealing with how they react might be harder depending on how they take it, but keep in mind you're not doing anything wrong here - you're just trying to run a good game for everyone, and if someone's character is using significantly better stats that you're aware of that throws things off.
I assume you didn't check the charsheets at character creation - that's not necessarily bad, but for future referece I'd suggest always giving them a once-over at the start of a new campaign. It's not even about cheating (although with some players that possibility exists), but about catching mistakes early and having a good idea of what the PCs are like. It doesn't hurt to know the specific strengths and weaknesses of the party when creating (and running) encounters and challenges.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
The only way I can see it would be that he rolled his stats (which wasn't an option you gave but perhaps he misunderstood?). We always have the rule that rolled stats must be witnessed, both to make sure everything is correct and also to remove doubt if a lucky set of rolls give a better than average result.
Flawed characters are much more interesting than superman.
Please let us know how this works out. I want to know what the player what the player was thinking as they created these initial stats.