Once upon a time, I rolled up a character with 4d6 drop the lowest. I was very pleased with the results I got. [15, 14, 15, 11, 11, 12] I was thrilled! Nothing below 10! I was so excited! I made her a Variant Human as that's my favorite race, (+1 to Str and Con) and came out with [Str 16, Dex 14, Con 16, Int, 11, Wis 11, and Cha 12] Perfect for my Fighter.
At 1st level:
Human Fighter [Str 16, Dex 14, Con 16, Int, 11, Wis 11, Cha 12]
Half-Elf Ranger [Str 16, Dex 17, Con 14, Int 13, Wis 15, Cha 14]
Gnome Wizard [Str 18, Dex 14, Con 16, Int 18, Wis 11, Cha 13]
Genasi Druid [Str 10, Dex 15, Con 15, Int 10, Wis 16, Cha 12]
Halfling Rogue [Str 9, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 13, Wis 13, Cha 8]
Currently at 4th level:
Human Fighter [Str 18, Dex 14, Con 16, Int, 11, Wis 11, Cha 12]
Half-Elf Ranger [Str 16, Dex 18, Con 14, Int 13, Wis 16, Cha 16]
Gnome Wizard [Str 19, Dex 14, Con 17, Int 20, Wis 11, Cha 13]
Genasi Druid [Str 10, Dex 15, Con 18, Int 10, Wis 18, Cha 12]
Halfling Rogue [Str 9, Dex 19, Con 14, Int 13, Wis 13, Cha 9]
So then: The Gnome Wizard started with the highest Str. My primary score. The Halfling Rogue has the highest Dex. Hardly a surprise. The Genasi Druid has the highest Con. Wow. The Gnome Wizard has the best Int. Of course! The Genasi Druid has the highest Wis. Again, of course. The Half-Elf Ranger has the highest Cha. Interesting.
The lowest Str is the Halfling Rogue. Ok. The lowest Dex is tied with me and the Gnome Wizard. Shrug. The lowest Con goes to the Half-Elf Ranger and the Halfling Rogue. That's odd for the Half-Elf Ranger. The lowest Int is the Genasi Druid. Ok. The lowest Wis is tied with me and the Gnome Wizard. Again. Shrug. The lowest Cha is the Rogue. Ok.
I thought I had good scores. The Gnome Wizard beats me for my primary score, Strength. The Halfling Rogue beats me for Dex, which is fine with me. I don't need Dex at all, and only grabbed some for the bonuses to Saves, and Initiative. I started with 14, the Halfling Rogue ended up with 19 which makes perfect sense. The Genasi Druid has the highest Con, at 18, which puts the Genasi Druid and the Gnome Wizard at 18 and 17 respectively. That's my second highest priority for scores. The Genasi Druid is pretty remarkable and perfectly reasonable, but the Gnome Wizard got some pretty amazing rolls. The Gnome Wizard got the highest Int in the party. The only one who needs Int for anything really, so that makes perfect sense, but I'm still pretty amazed with that Gnome Wizard's rolls. The Genasi Druid got the highest Wis, which seems very much as it should be. The Half-Elf has the highest Cha, which is ok. None of us need Cha really. I have no idea why the Halfling Rogue bothered to raise that.
The Gnome Wizard beats me or ties me in everything.
The Half-Elf Ranger has almost as much Str, beats me by a huge margin in Dex, has a strangely low Con, and beats me in everything else.
Genasi Druid has a low Str, a little higher Dex, a huge Con, a low Int, a massive Wis, and the same Cha as I have.
The Halfling Rogue has a tiny Str, a Dex that is enormous, a Con that's fine, an Int that's all right, a Wis that's all right as well, and a Cha that's almost as low as can be.
So what does it all mean? Well, I was thrilled with my scores, but the Gnome Wizard's luck with dice boggles my mind. The Half-Elf Ranger's luck was amazing, The Genasi Druid is fine, and I really pity that poor Halfling Rogue. The only thing the Halfling Rogue has going for them is their Dexterity. I'm extremely jealous of the Wizard, I'm jealous of the Ranger, the Druid is an NPC, so who cares, and the Rogue makes me sad. Did the random rolls have anything positive that I can say about them? Not so far as I can see. I think we would all have been better off with Point Buy for scores. I've ended up sad and jealous, but when I started out I was so happy! That was in the beginning, before I knew what anybody's scores were. I only noticed because I was seeing such huge damage numbers out of the party, and now I'm sorry I ever looked.
So what do you think, my fellow DM's? It seems to me like the primary method recommended in the Player's Handbook, Random roll, is the worst possible choice, and the best option, Point Buy, is the one that's considered "optional". I don't like the pre-generated array. I won't play a character with a score under 10 for roleplaying reasons. I can't believe in a Heroic character with scores that are below normal. Tell me which method of generating ability scores you prefer, and why.
Personally, I'd use Point Buy, and if they changed the pre-generated array score of an 8 to a 10, I might use that.
I personally like pre-generated array. I think it keeps things nice and balanced, and I actually like the idea that every player should have at least one -1 ability score. Who isn't just kind of bad with at least one trait in life?
That said... nobody that I play with likes the array, so we always do 4d6 drop the lowest. Even when I decided to start DM'ing I used the same system because I didn't want to take my friends out of their comfort zone, and I've kind of regretted it at times because I've been running them through pre-written Adventures, and the higher average stats of the 4d6 system really does trivialize certain challenges.
I use an improved array (17, 15, 13, 12, 10, 8). But I'm not sure I'd call anything "the best" option. It's all about what you like.
As a player, I would probably prefer something more random, like rolling the stats 4d6 drop lowest in order, and see what that gets me. I've gotten interested in more random generation of stuff lately and then using my creativity to make something out of it, as randomness tends to take me out of my rut a lot more.
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WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
I use an improved array (17, 15, 13, 12, 10, 8). But I'm not sure I'd call anything "the best" option. It's all about what you like.
As a player, I would probably prefer something more random, like rolling the stats 4d6 drop lowest in order, and see what that gets me. I've gotten interested in more random generation of stuff lately and then using my creativity to make something out of it, as randomness tends to take me out of my rut a lot more.
Yeah thats fair too...I see that more often with experienced players who want a challenge.
My preferred method is Point Buy as it produce more diversity than Standard Array and is less swingy than 4d6. But i sometimes use roll or array infrequently based on campaign feel or need.
That way it is random but also the same for everyone.
Kind of the opposite of what I want. I don't actually see any value to a random system that allows you to pick the order of your stats, what gets out of a rut is things like "Your fighter has Int 14, why did that happen?"
Point buy, I think is the best duh. It keeps things fair, as well as the game is literally balanced around it. Although 4d6 drop lowest is the default, the game is balanced around point buy. You can tell by how much classes like the fighter have a bunch of ASIs. (Ability Score Improvements)
That way it is random but also the same for everyone.
Kind of the opposite of what I want. I don't actually see any value to a random system that allows you to pick the order of your stats, what gets out of a rut is things like "Your fighter has Int 14, why did that happen?"
Kind of the opposite of what I want. I don't actually see any value to a random system that allows you to pick the order of your stats, what gets out of a rut is things like "Your fighter has Int 14, why did that happen?"
Yup, that's what I like about it. Rather than going on saying, "I am going to be a Monk" and then making it happen by putting the stats in the right place to get an optimized Monk, I have started preferring rolling stats in order, randomly, and then looking at what's produced and saying, "OK, stat-wise, this looks like a Druid" (or whatever) and go from there. Then I could see myself randomly rolling some of the other stuff as well.
Maybe it's just the amount of Ironsworn I've been playing and all the "Me, Myself, and Die" that I watched with Trevor Devall, but I've come to see the value of randomly rolling stuff and then creatively coming up with a way to interpret it, rather than arbitrarily deciding what I want ahead of time. Again, I tend to get into a rut of sameness if I just decide what to do... but if I randomize, I come up with something different -- and it gets me going in a totally different direction than I would have come up with on my own.
There has been some talk of one of my players doing some DMing if I need a break in the near future, and one of the other players asked, "What character will you make," and I told him, I'll see what the dice say. He said, well, we're probably going to use point buy or the standard array. I said that is fine... I'll roll the dice, and then either point buy my rolls as best I can, or put the closest #s I can for the stat array into it (the numbers won't match, but one of the stats will be "highest," one "second highest," etc.).
There's ways of randomly allocating points -- for example, number stats, roll 27d6, and the number of dice coming up matching the number of that stat is the number of points you put in that stat -- but because point build isn't really balanced the result is likely to be a bad character. Another option is to just get a hand of six cards with values corresponding to the standard array, shuffle them, and lay them out in order. Both of these suffer from the fact that 'dump stats' are a thing for a reason.
Both of these suffer from the fact that 'dump stats' are a thing for a reason.
Sure if you are building for optimization.
I don't believe in doing optimized builds. Never have. I build for flavor, concept, etc. Now, I'm not gonna make a character that would be miserable to play (like a fighter with 8 CON), and it is possible for random rolling to leave you with stats that don't work well for any class. In that case, sure, I'd roll the whole array over. But most of the time, random generation gets you something to work with that is both viable, and not what you would have done if you had been just designing what was in your head... and that is the part I like. I enjoy "discovering" my character as I go along.
Ironsworn, which is a game designed to be done using random "Oracles" for nearly everything, has a saying: "Play to find out what happens." That motto has become one that I find quite appealing.
What kind of character will you play, Bio? Let's roll and find out... Will it be optimized? No. But it will be something unexpected. And I like that.
I recognize that not everyone does. My best friend likes to plan out and customize and min-max every last pixel on his character sheet. And that's fine too. I used to be that way. But I have found the "random way" very liberating.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
Jumping on to agree there's no "best" way to generate a character. Arrays and point buys are useful if you have specific builds in mind. Rolling stats is part of the fun if you go into character generation with an openness to play with what you get.
I use all three methods pretty often and do not really consider one better than the other. I just use them for different reasons. Standard Array is perfect for running a game for a younger crowd and beginners. I even made laminated sheets with Velcro manipulatives. I prefer point buy for my own characters I make in a vacuum. I do not like randomness when I have a character concept I want to play around with. Rolling stats is the best when I'm at the table with my old school crew for a one-shot. We make characters together after seeing what everybody rolled and discuss who will play what role as a team. When someone rolls an 18 it's a celebration and I had memorable games where I rolled the worst set of the party. Sometimes we roll 2d6+6 when we do not want too big of a handicap and we also have rolled one set for all of us to use. Each method has its purpose and there is nothing wrong with a little variety sometimes.
So what does it all mean? Well, I was thrilled with my scores, but the Gnome Wizard's luck with dice boggles my mind. The Half-Elf Ranger's luck was amazing, The Genasi Druid is fine, and I really pity that poor Halfling Rogue. The only thing the Halfling Rogue has going for them is their Dexterity. I'm extremely jealous of the Wizard, I'm jealous of the Ranger, the Druid is an NPC, so who cares, and the Rogue makes me sad. Did the random rolls have anything positive that I can say about them? Not so far as I can see. I think we would all have been better off with Point Buy for scores. I've ended up sad and jealous, but when I started out I was so happy! That was in the beginning, before I knew what anybody's scores were. I only noticed because I was seeing such huge damage numbers out of the party, and now I'm sorry I ever looked.
In my group we each roll twice and if they’re both terrible, pick the standard. I personally like rolling ability scores because of the random element. Then again, I’ve always been lucky with the dice. As a dm, the goal is fun, so I try not to make my DMPCs overpowered. For my players, on the other hand, my goal is for them to have a high stats as they can get. (Within reason. I frown upon starting with a twenty.)
Known by my locals as "The Conal Method" Your pre-racial bonus scores must total 72. You can't have any single score be over 18 or less than 6. Again, before racial bonuses. This allows for you to have 12s across the board if you were so inclined, but you could also start with some high numbers if you are willing to take some 6s. This is to encourage my players to take feats, which I find more interesting than ASIs.
I came up with this method several years ago when I first started playing and DMing for the game. Having the ability to have one stat be very low helped us (my player and myself) who were new at the time define our characters on a mechanical level hat helped our roleplay. Our druid wanted to be socially unaware and a mute so she made her charisma 6. Our Sorcerer wanted to be heavily sheltered and not very well learned so his Wis and Int were 8. These things aren't necessarily impossible with the other methods of generation, but for us, it was very helpful when we first started and didn't have a good understanding of how to develop personalities for our characters. Having the numbers saying here is what you are and are not good at with greater personality really helped us. In that same game in the modern level, it has led to some really interesting character development, our cleric's charisma is 9 now as she has been traveling with everyone and learning to communicate. Our sorcerer has learned about magic and spent the effort to gain proficiency in arcana.
Human Fighter [Str 16, Dex 14, Con 16, Int, 11, Wis 11, Cha 12]
Half-Elf Ranger [Str 16, Dex 17, Con 14, Int 13, Wis 15, Cha 14]
Gnome Wizard [Str 18, Dex 14, Con 16, Int 18, Wis 11, Cha 13]
Genasi Druid [Str 10, Dex 15, Con 15, Int 10, Wis 16, Cha 12]
Halfling Rogue [Str 9, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 13, Wis 13, Cha 8]
Currently at 4th level:
Human Fighter [Str 18, Dex 14, Con 16, Int, 11, Wis 11, Cha 12]
Half-Elf Ranger [Str 16, Dex 18, Con 14, Int 13, Wis 16, Cha 16]
Gnome Wizard [Str 19, Dex 14, Con 17, Int 20, Wis 11, Cha 13]
Genasi Druid [Str 10, Dex 15, Con 18, Int 10, Wis 18, Cha 12]
Halfling Rogue [Str 9, Dex 19, Con 14, Int 13, Wis 13, Cha 9]
Either your DM has been giving out ability boosting items to the rest of the party (unusual at such a low level) or there is some shenanigans going on. At level 4 you have had 1 ASI so you would expect one stat to be increased by 2, two stats increased by one or , if a feat has been taken, a single increase of one or no increase at all.
Your fighter has added 2 to strength that looks ok.
The Ranger has increased Cha by 2, Dex by 1 and Wis by 1
The Rogue has increased Dex by 4, (that "enormous Dex" is not because they rolled well, their level one stats are actually very low, but because of they have managed to increase it during the game, possilby by getting an ioun stone of agility)
The Druid has had a +3 to con and a +2 to wis a massive 5 stat increases
The wizard not only rolled amazingly well but has managed to increase str by 1, con by 1 and int by 2 since level 1
Going back to your original question I want the party members to be reasonably balanced, so I don't like dice rolling unless the party members have access to each others rolls, this can make for very powerful players but can be toned down a bit by using 3d5+3, this also helps address your last point. Point buy gives a bit more slexibility than standard array so I prefer that.
In your party looking at the rogue and wizard (at level 1) shows the imbalance perfectly: Both have a +1 and a +2 from racial bonuses they they are level there
Wizard Stats 18,18,16,14,13,11
Rogue Stats 15,14,13,13,9,8
If you are not using Tasha's optional rules halfings get +2 Dex and if you are a rogue would put it there any way so it is safe to assume they rolled nothing above a natural 13. If the wizard wanted to up their Dex instead of strength (if they wanted to optimised they would) they could have started with Int 18, Dex 18, Con 16 and be better at dex than the rogue and as good as the rogue at stealth even if the rogue was proficient and the wizard wasn't.
Regarding you final point about stats below 10. I don't see it as a problem for a heroic charact to have one, or even two scores below normal. A barbarian is very likely to have little educcation (intelligence) but be exceptionally strong and hearty. A wizard who spends most of his time with his books could easily be socially awkward (low cha) and so on. I do think however that there is a point where an abilty is too low for an adventurer, str 3 is the same as a cat, such a player would not be able ot carry their gear, with intelligence 3 would you be able to learn a language? I would therefore put the minimum suitable stat for an adventurer at around 6 (which is where 3d5+3 works well)
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Once upon a time, I rolled up a character with 4d6 drop the lowest. I was very pleased with the results I got. [15, 14, 15, 11, 11, 12] I was thrilled! Nothing below 10! I was so excited! I made her a Variant Human as that's my favorite race, (+1 to Str and Con) and came out with [Str 16, Dex 14, Con 16, Int, 11, Wis 11, and Cha 12] Perfect for my Fighter.
At 1st level:
Currently at 4th level:
So then: The Gnome Wizard started with the highest Str. My primary score. The Halfling Rogue has the highest Dex. Hardly a surprise. The Genasi Druid has the highest Con. Wow. The Gnome Wizard has the best Int. Of course! The Genasi Druid has the highest Wis. Again, of course. The Half-Elf Ranger has the highest Cha. Interesting.
The lowest Str is the Halfling Rogue. Ok. The lowest Dex is tied with me and the Gnome Wizard. Shrug. The lowest Con goes to the Half-Elf Ranger and the Halfling Rogue. That's odd for the Half-Elf Ranger. The lowest Int is the Genasi Druid. Ok. The lowest Wis is tied with me and the Gnome Wizard. Again. Shrug. The lowest Cha is the Rogue. Ok.
I thought I had good scores. The Gnome Wizard beats me for my primary score, Strength. The Halfling Rogue beats me for Dex, which is fine with me. I don't need Dex at all, and only grabbed some for the bonuses to Saves, and Initiative. I started with 14, the Halfling Rogue ended up with 19 which makes perfect sense. The Genasi Druid has the highest Con, at 18, which puts the Genasi Druid and the Gnome Wizard at 18 and 17 respectively. That's my second highest priority for scores. The Genasi Druid is pretty remarkable and perfectly reasonable, but the Gnome Wizard got some pretty amazing rolls. The Gnome Wizard got the highest Int in the party. The only one who needs Int for anything really, so that makes perfect sense, but I'm still pretty amazed with that Gnome Wizard's rolls. The Genasi Druid got the highest Wis, which seems very much as it should be. The Half-Elf has the highest Cha, which is ok. None of us need Cha really. I have no idea why the Halfling Rogue bothered to raise that.
So what does it all mean? Well, I was thrilled with my scores, but the Gnome Wizard's luck with dice boggles my mind. The Half-Elf Ranger's luck was amazing, The Genasi Druid is fine, and I really pity that poor Halfling Rogue. The only thing the Halfling Rogue has going for them is their Dexterity. I'm extremely jealous of the Wizard, I'm jealous of the Ranger, the Druid is an NPC, so who cares, and the Rogue makes me sad. Did the random rolls have anything positive that I can say about them? Not so far as I can see. I think we would all have been better off with Point Buy for scores. I've ended up sad and jealous, but when I started out I was so happy! That was in the beginning, before I knew what anybody's scores were. I only noticed because I was seeing such huge damage numbers out of the party, and now I'm sorry I ever looked.
So what do you think, my fellow DM's? It seems to me like the primary method recommended in the Player's Handbook, Random roll, is the worst possible choice, and the best option, Point Buy, is the one that's considered "optional". I don't like the pre-generated array. I won't play a character with a score under 10 for roleplaying reasons. I can't believe in a Heroic character with scores that are below normal. Tell me which method of generating ability scores you prefer, and why.
Personally, I'd use Point Buy, and if they changed the pre-generated array score of an 8 to a 10, I might use that.
<Insert clever signature here>
I personally like pre-generated array. I think it keeps things nice and balanced, and I actually like the idea that every player should have at least one -1 ability score. Who isn't just kind of bad with at least one trait in life?
That said... nobody that I play with likes the array, so we always do 4d6 drop the lowest. Even when I decided to start DM'ing I used the same system because I didn't want to take my friends out of their comfort zone, and I've kind of regretted it at times because I've been running them through pre-written Adventures, and the higher average stats of the 4d6 system really does trivialize certain challenges.
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Heroic arrays are fun (18, 17, 15, 14, 11, 9) and allows people to focus on picking up feats rather than just maxing their main ability score.
Of existing options I prefer point buy. If there was a good 'random but fair' option I'd consider that.
Ive seen groups all roll arrays then they as a group pick the one they want to use as the "Standard" array.
That way it is random but also the same for everyone.
Ooh that sounds interesting. I might try that for a one-shot in the future.
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I use an improved array (17, 15, 13, 12, 10, 8). But I'm not sure I'd call anything "the best" option. It's all about what you like.
As a player, I would probably prefer something more random, like rolling the stats 4d6 drop lowest in order, and see what that gets me. I've gotten interested in more random generation of stuff lately and then using my creativity to make something out of it, as randomness tends to take me out of my rut a lot more.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
Yeah thats fair too...I see that more often with experienced players who want a challenge.
My preferred method is Point Buy as it produce more diversity than Standard Array and is less swingy than 4d6. But i sometimes use roll or array infrequently based on campaign feel or need.
Kind of the opposite of what I want. I don't actually see any value to a random system that allows you to pick the order of your stats, what gets out of a rut is things like "Your fighter has Int 14, why did that happen?"
Point buy, I think is the best duh. It keeps things fair, as well as the game is literally balanced around it. Although 4d6 drop lowest is the default, the game is balanced around point buy. You can tell by how much classes like the fighter have a bunch of ASIs. (Ability Score Improvements)
Fair enough!
Yup, that's what I like about it. Rather than going on saying, "I am going to be a Monk" and then making it happen by putting the stats in the right place to get an optimized Monk, I have started preferring rolling stats in order, randomly, and then looking at what's produced and saying, "OK, stat-wise, this looks like a Druid" (or whatever) and go from there. Then I could see myself randomly rolling some of the other stuff as well.
Maybe it's just the amount of Ironsworn I've been playing and all the "Me, Myself, and Die" that I watched with Trevor Devall, but I've come to see the value of randomly rolling stuff and then creatively coming up with a way to interpret it, rather than arbitrarily deciding what I want ahead of time. Again, I tend to get into a rut of sameness if I just decide what to do... but if I randomize, I come up with something different -- and it gets me going in a totally different direction than I would have come up with on my own.
There has been some talk of one of my players doing some DMing if I need a break in the near future, and one of the other players asked, "What character will you make," and I told him, I'll see what the dice say. He said, well, we're probably going to use point buy or the standard array. I said that is fine... I'll roll the dice, and then either point buy my rolls as best I can, or put the closest #s I can for the stat array into it (the numbers won't match, but one of the stats will be "highest," one "second highest," etc.).
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
There's ways of randomly allocating points -- for example, number stats, roll 27d6, and the number of dice coming up matching the number of that stat is the number of points you put in that stat -- but because point build isn't really balanced the result is likely to be a bad character. Another option is to just get a hand of six cards with values corresponding to the standard array, shuffle them, and lay them out in order. Both of these suffer from the fact that 'dump stats' are a thing for a reason.
Sure if you are building for optimization.
I don't believe in doing optimized builds. Never have. I build for flavor, concept, etc. Now, I'm not gonna make a character that would be miserable to play (like a fighter with 8 CON), and it is possible for random rolling to leave you with stats that don't work well for any class. In that case, sure, I'd roll the whole array over. But most of the time, random generation gets you something to work with that is both viable, and not what you would have done if you had been just designing what was in your head... and that is the part I like. I enjoy "discovering" my character as I go along.
Ironsworn, which is a game designed to be done using random "Oracles" for nearly everything, has a saying: "Play to find out what happens." That motto has become one that I find quite appealing.
What kind of character will you play, Bio? Let's roll and find out... Will it be optimized? No. But it will be something unexpected. And I like that.
I recognize that not everyone does. My best friend likes to plan out and customize and min-max every last pixel on his character sheet. And that's fine too. I used to be that way. But I have found the "random way" very liberating.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
Jumping on to agree there's no "best" way to generate a character. Arrays and point buys are useful if you have specific builds in mind. Rolling stats is part of the fun if you go into character generation with an openness to play with what you get.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
I use all three methods pretty often and do not really consider one better than the other. I just use them for different reasons. Standard Array is perfect for running a game for a younger crowd and beginners. I even made laminated sheets with Velcro manipulatives. I prefer point buy for my own characters I make in a vacuum. I do not like randomness when I have a character concept I want to play around with. Rolling stats is the best when I'm at the table with my old school crew for a one-shot. We make characters together after seeing what everybody rolled and discuss who will play what role as a team. When someone rolls an 18 it's a celebration and I had memorable games where I rolled the worst set of the party. Sometimes we roll 2d6+6 when we do not want too big of a handicap and we also have rolled one set for all of us to use. Each method has its purpose and there is nothing wrong with a little variety sometimes.
In my group we each roll twice and if they’re both terrible, pick the standard. I personally like rolling ability scores because of the random element. Then again, I’ve always been lucky with the dice. As a dm, the goal is fun, so I try not to make my DMPCs overpowered. For my players, on the other hand, my goal is for them to have a high stats as they can get. (Within reason. I frown upon starting with a twenty.)
Only spilt the party if you see something shiny.
Ariendela Sneakerson, Half-elf Rogue (8); Harmony Wolfsbane, Tiefling Bard (10); Agnomally, Gnomish Sorcerer (3); Breeze, Tabaxi Monk (8); Grace, Dragonborn Barbarian (7); DM, Homebrew- The Sequestered Lands/Underwater Explorers; Candlekeep
I do a custom ability score generation.
Known by my locals as "The Conal Method" Your pre-racial bonus scores must total 72. You can't have any single score be over 18 or less than 6. Again, before racial bonuses. This allows for you to have 12s across the board if you were so inclined, but you could also start with some high numbers if you are willing to take some 6s. This is to encourage my players to take feats, which I find more interesting than ASIs.
I came up with this method several years ago when I first started playing and DMing for the game. Having the ability to have one stat be very low helped us (my player and myself) who were new at the time define our characters on a mechanical level hat helped our roleplay. Our druid wanted to be socially unaware and a mute so she made her charisma 6. Our Sorcerer wanted to be heavily sheltered and not very well learned so his Wis and Int were 8. These things aren't necessarily impossible with the other methods of generation, but for us, it was very helpful when we first started and didn't have a good understanding of how to develop personalities for our characters. Having the numbers saying here is what you are and are not good at with greater personality really helped us. In that same game in the modern level, it has led to some really interesting character development, our cleric's charisma is 9 now as she has been traveling with everyone and learning to communicate. Our sorcerer has learned about magic and spent the effort to gain proficiency in arcana.
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"Play the game however you want to play the game. After all, your fun doesn't threaten my fun."
Either your DM has been giving out ability boosting items to the rest of the party (unusual at such a low level) or there is some shenanigans going on. At level 4 you have had 1 ASI so you would expect one stat to be increased by 2, two stats increased by one or , if a feat has been taken, a single increase of one or no increase at all.
Going back to your original question I want the party members to be reasonably balanced, so I don't like dice rolling unless the party members have access to each others rolls, this can make for very powerful players but can be toned down a bit by using 3d5+3, this also helps address your last point. Point buy gives a bit more slexibility than standard array so I prefer that.
In your party looking at the rogue and wizard (at level 1) shows the imbalance perfectly: Both have a +1 and a +2 from racial bonuses they they are level there
If you are not using Tasha's optional rules halfings get +2 Dex and if you are a rogue would put it there any way so it is safe to assume they rolled nothing above a natural 13. If the wizard wanted to up their Dex instead of strength (if they wanted to optimised they would) they could have started with Int 18, Dex 18, Con 16 and be better at dex than the rogue and as good as the rogue at stealth even if the rogue was proficient and the wizard wasn't.
Regarding you final point about stats below 10. I don't see it as a problem for a heroic charact to have one, or even two scores below normal. A barbarian is very likely to have little educcation (intelligence) but be exceptionally strong and hearty. A wizard who spends most of his time with his books could easily be socially awkward (low cha) and so on. I do think however that there is a point where an abilty is too low for an adventurer, str 3 is the same as a cat, such a player would not be able ot carry their gear, with intelligence 3 would you be able to learn a language? I would therefore put the minimum suitable stat for an adventurer at around 6 (which is where 3d5+3 works well)