For me? Character death is supposed to be awful. It's supposed to be wrenching, terrible, provoke all kinds of nasty negative emotions, get me super upset and feeling down. If it didn't do those things, then it wouldn't be doing its job. Death is horrific. Brutal.
Right on! And, I would add, important to tell a tense, honest, and compelling story. (Unless you’re playing a classic meat grinder, in which case death is fun, but that’s a different idea entirely.)
On the topic of the thread, by the way, I believe 4d6 is great fun, AND way truer to the spirit of “old D&D.” The problem isn’t randomness, it’s people who complain when randomness (whether character rolls or character death) doesn’t go their way. But D&D isn’t a story about a perfect world, it’s a story about heroes. And what are heroes but people who pick up the pieces, even and especially when things are dark and they don’t feel ready?
And by the way, Yurei, I want to say that even though your snark often rubs me the wrong way, you have my respect as a D&D player and as a person. I don’t know if that means anything, but I’d still like to say it.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Eh. Fuggit. Why not. Do something 'Old School' style and roll 3d6 in order, see what sort of abomination results and write a character for it. Let's see. Rolls first.
Eh. Fuggit. Why not. Do something 'Old School' style and roll 3d6 in order, see what sort of abomination results and write a character for it. Let's see. Rolls first.
WHELP. Heh. And this is why this method was abandoned. All right. Character in spoilers below, when I have time to fully write it in between work.
Caddus Miller V. Human artificer (Skill Expert: Intelligence, ) 8 | 9 (+1) | 10 | 14 (+2) | 10 | 7 Folk Hero
Caddus Miller was born a few short months after a wave of sickness swept the countryside of [Country], sickening many of the townsfolk. Worse, the plague derived from spoiled crops that had to be ruthlessly destroyed, causing a partial famine that lingered for a few years. This deficit took its toll on the peasants in the region, with children of Caddus’ generation growing up scrawny and malnourished. Caddus himself was a strikingly ugly and unlikable sort, cursed with pox that never seemed to fade and with a stumbling, stuttering tongue that forever denied him close friends or the pleasure of feminine company. Despite this, Caddus was possessed of a wit far sharper than his shapeless, offspring-of-donkeys looks and clumsy tongue let on.
Whenever he wasn’t working his family’s mill, Caddus was tinkering. He saved for over a year to earn his first set of secondhand, worn-out tinker’s tools, and whenever the village needed something fixed he volunteered. Over time he became something of a handyman, tolerated for his skills. He was no smith, by any means. No carpenter or mason. But for smaller things that required a deft touch, Caddus was willing to give it a go for much less coin than any of those other professionals charged, and that was enough for some.
Up until the raid.
A stranger showed up in Caddus’ village early in the fall, wounded and begging shelter. The villagers were suspicious and turned him out, but Caddus noticed the tools hanging from the stranger’s pack, the unusual devices strapped to his belt. As any good disaffected youth did, Caddus had a hiding spot near the village but outside its walls, and he followed the wounded stranger and guided him to that hiding spot. Barraging the man with questions, Caddus spent most of a week pestering the man when he wasn’t sneaking food from the village. Grateful simply to have a place to rest, the man answered Caddus’ questions as best he could. Until the bandit band he’d been fleeing showed up at the gates.
The man pressed a wand into Caddus’ hand, instructed him quickly in its use, and told Caddus to wait for his moment. While the bandits threatened the villagers, the injured traveler pulled free a set of mysterious devices and used one of them to create a cloud of fog around the bandits. Caddus, terrified but also exhilarated, saw his moment and took it, using his wand to blast one of the bandits with a burst of magic. The villagers capitalized as well, hunting bows sending arrows chasing the now-fleeing bandits.
Caddus, however, had found a new calling.
He wasn’t strong. He wasn’t fast. He wasn’t tough. But he was pretty smart, and this stranger’s techniques and gadgets were incredible. He begged the man to let Caddus follow him on his journey, and the old man agreed. Arneson was getting on in years, after all, and even though this kid looked like the south end of a northbound ox and couldn’t get through a sentence without mangling a word...he could see a spark in this kid’s eyes he recognized from his own years. An apprentice might not be so bad, especially one who’d already proven he was willing to pull a trigger.
After all, what good was artifice if it couldn’t solve little problems like ugliness and a stumbling tongue?
Eh. Fuggit. Why not. Do something 'Old School' style and roll 3d6 in order, see what sort of abomination results and write a character for it. Let's see. Rolls first.
Point build: set 1 is 27 points (around 39% percentile), set 2 requires pricing stats above 15 but is at least 33 points (around 62nd percentile). For comparison, I did a 'roll 10,000 characters' program and sorted by nominal point value and here are what I got at various percentiles
Hm, off the top of my head I might go Tortle Cleric (Twilight domain) (18/11/13/10/16/13) or Protector Aasimar Shadow Sorcerer (11/15/13/10/14/18, or just keep the order as rolled for 11/13/16/13/11/17) or Variant Human Ranger (Horizon Walker) (11/16/13/10/16/13).
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
Right on! And, I would add, important to tell a tense, honest, and compelling story. (Unless you’re playing a classic meat grinder, in which case death is fun, but that’s a different idea entirely.)
On the topic of the thread, by the way, I believe 4d6 is great fun, AND way truer to the spirit of “old D&D.” The problem isn’t randomness, it’s people who complain when randomness (whether character rolls or character death) doesn’t go their way. But D&D isn’t a story about a perfect world, it’s a story about heroes. And what are heroes but people who pick up the pieces, even and especially when things are dark and they don’t feel ready?
And by the way, Yurei, I want to say that even though your snark often rubs me the wrong way, you have my respect as a D&D player and as a person. I don’t know if that means anything, but I’d still like to say it.
Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club
Character 1:
Ability scores: 13 10 10 8 11 15
Character 2:
Ability scores: 10 13 14 11 13 11
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
Yeah, I would totally play both of those.
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
Yeah both of those were pretty good ngl.
Edit: probably more on topic than whatever is going on above lol.
if I edit a message, most of the time it's because of grammar. The rest of the time I'll put "Edit:" at the bottom.
Here ya go yulming/wysperra, i'll add
Am curious what would result, only rolled for a character once or twice in years... whenever i actually play the next time...
Ability scores: 17 9 14 9 10 14
Boldly go
Super tough wizard here I come
Boldly go
Don't mind if I try this as well.
Ability scores: 13 9 16 5 14 13
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
Why not? Ability scores: 11 10 12 10 16 15
I have a weird sense of humor.
I also make maps.(That's a link)
Ability Scores: 11 12 11 16 8 16 (actually not bad, I'd play that, probably as a Charisma Spellcaster (if we were going in order)
Ability Scores: 15 10 13 7 10 11 (probably close to SA average, and not terrible for a Barbarian or other martial class)
Both are buildable, even with the 7 in the second run. Could have fun with either.
Eh. Fuggit. Why not. Do something 'Old School' style and roll 3d6 in order, see what sort of abomination results and write a character for it. Let's see. Rolls first.
STR: 14 | DEX: 13 | CON: 14 | INT: 9 | WIS: 10 | CHA: 13
Please do not contact or message me.
WHELP. Heh. And this is why this method was abandoned. All right. Character in spoilers below, when I have time to fully write it in between work.
Caddus Miller
V. Human artificer (Skill Expert: Intelligence, )
8 | 9 (+1) | 10 | 14 (+2) | 10 | 7
Folk Hero
Caddus Miller was born a few short months after a wave of sickness swept the countryside of [Country], sickening many of the townsfolk. Worse, the plague derived from spoiled crops that had to be ruthlessly destroyed, causing a partial famine that lingered for a few years. This deficit took its toll on the peasants in the region, with children of Caddus’ generation growing up scrawny and malnourished. Caddus himself was a strikingly ugly and unlikable sort, cursed with pox that never seemed to fade and with a stumbling, stuttering tongue that forever denied him close friends or the pleasure of feminine company. Despite this, Caddus was possessed of a wit far sharper than his shapeless, offspring-of-donkeys looks and clumsy tongue let on.
Whenever he wasn’t working his family’s mill, Caddus was tinkering. He saved for over a year to earn his first set of secondhand, worn-out tinker’s tools, and whenever the village needed something fixed he volunteered. Over time he became something of a handyman, tolerated for his skills. He was no smith, by any means. No carpenter or mason. But for smaller things that required a deft touch, Caddus was willing to give it a go for much less coin than any of those other professionals charged, and that was enough for some.
Up until the raid.
A stranger showed up in Caddus’ village early in the fall, wounded and begging shelter. The villagers were suspicious and turned him out, but Caddus noticed the tools hanging from the stranger’s pack, the unusual devices strapped to his belt. As any good disaffected youth did, Caddus had a hiding spot near the village but outside its walls, and he followed the wounded stranger and guided him to that hiding spot. Barraging the man with questions, Caddus spent most of a week pestering the man when he wasn’t sneaking food from the village. Grateful simply to have a place to rest, the man answered Caddus’ questions as best he could. Until the bandit band he’d been fleeing showed up at the gates.
The man pressed a wand into Caddus’ hand, instructed him quickly in its use, and told Caddus to wait for his moment. While the bandits threatened the villagers, the injured traveler pulled free a set of mysterious devices and used one of them to create a cloud of fog around the bandits. Caddus, terrified but also exhilarated, saw his moment and took it, using his wand to blast one of the bandits with a burst of magic. The villagers capitalized as well, hunting bows sending arrows chasing the now-fleeing bandits.
Caddus, however, had found a new calling.
He wasn’t strong. He wasn’t fast. He wasn’t tough. But he was pretty smart, and this stranger’s techniques and gadgets were incredible. He begged the man to let Caddus follow him on his journey, and the old man agreed. Arneson was getting on in years, after all, and even though this kid looked like the south end of a northbound ox and couldn’t get through a sentence without mangling a word...he could see a spark in this kid’s eyes he recognized from his own years. An apprentice might not be so bad, especially one who’d already proven he was willing to pull a trigger.
After all, what good was artifice if it couldn’t solve little problems like ugliness and a stumbling tongue?
Please do not contact or message me.
Using that method: STR 6 | DEX 15 | CON 9 | INT 5 | WIS 9 | CHA 13
That's pretty awful, but you could build it as a Charisma Spellcaster (maybe sorcerer to boost CON saves from a -1)
Point build: set 1 is 27 points (around 39% percentile), set 2 requires pricing stats above 15 but is at least 33 points (around 62nd percentile). For comparison, I did a 'roll 10,000 characters' program and sorted by nominal point value and here are what I got at various percentiles
3d6: Ability scores: 9 14 10 12 9 13
I've done 3d6 before, and the stats were never anywhere near this bad.
I have a weird sense of humor.
I also make maps.(That's a link)
Probably Inquisitive or Mastermind rogue.
I have a weird sense of humor.
I also make maps.(That's a link)
Hm, off the top of my head I might go Tortle Cleric (Twilight domain) (18/11/13/10/16/13) or Protector Aasimar Shadow Sorcerer (11/15/13/10/14/18, or just keep the order as rolled for 11/13/16/13/11/17) or Variant Human Ranger (Horizon Walker) (11/16/13/10/16/13).
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
There are a lot of game breaking stats being rolled here.
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
Ability scores: 11 7 14 10 12 18
Oof....moon druid
How can they be game breaking? They are legit rolls.
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
Barbarian Ability scores: 13 11 10 16 13 11
Fighter Ability scores: 17 8 17 11 12 10
Cleric Ability scores: 12 9 11 10 5 11
No moving numbers around
Boldly go