Quote from Jegpeg>>The aim is for everyone to have fun and if someone rolls really poorly they will probably not have fun (unless everylone rolls poorly), if you force them to play with it a much weaker character than the rest of the party either they are verey likely to quit, kill off their character or act in a way that makes the game less fun for everyone (e.g. not paying attention during the game).
Serious question: Has this actually happened to you? I see this argument against rolling stats come up pretty much every time the topic comes up, but in almost 40 years of D&D, always rolling for stats for every character in every edition at a lot of different tables, I’ve never had this problem. Not personally with my character (and there have been some duds), nor had anyone at the table complain about their characters being weaker. I refuse to believe that I’ve been at tables full of uncommonly mature gamers (because I know we were/are not).
Does it actually happen to people?
PS I’m not picking a fight, this is a genuine question.
Yes. Happened semi-frequently when I played in high school and occasionally as folks got older. People would want to roll (or draw from the Deck of Many Things) .. don't do well while someone else does much better ... play a few sessions, becomes less and less happy and either quits, finds something else to do during the game, acts out or sabotages the game for others (I've seen it both as a player where another player behaves this way and as a DM running the game).
Most of the time everyone has at least one decent roll and can make a character they are happy with but it isn't worth the hassle to me when it doesn't work out so I go with point buy or other alternatives that generative comparable but different characters.
It is very rare that I have seen someone play a character with terrible rolled stats for an extended period of time. The time this happens is because the person playing it just doesn't really care about stats, more or less ignores the stats except to guide role playing a bit and they would usually be fine playing a stat-less role playing game.
In this case, it usually works because it is supported by the other players and the DM, combat isn't a big factor and folks in game focus on what their characters say and do and only rarely refer to character sheets to resolve anything (it is resolved via role playing). As a result, the terrible stats on the character sheet have a much smaller impact on actual play than they would for other groups. However, I haven't encountered that many D&D groups that use that sort of heavy role play focused play style.
Serious question: Has this actually happened to you?
I have seen plenty of people lose interest in their character and decide to create a new one, or lose interest in the game and stop showing up. They rarely state that the reason is their character being weak, but it does seem to happen more often to people whose characters are weaker..
I have my players initially roll one set of 4d6 drop lowest, then if they don't want those stats they can make a character with 27 point buy or standard array.
If a player keeps a set of weak rolls I give them inspiration from the get-go.
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Yes. Happened semi-frequently when I played in high school and occasionally as folks got older. People would want to roll (or draw from the Deck of Many Things) .. don't do well while someone else does much better ... play a few sessions, becomes less and less happy and either quits, finds something else to do during the game, acts out or sabotages the game for others (I've seen it both as a player where another player behaves this way and as a DM running the game).
Most of the time everyone has at least one decent roll and can make a character they are happy with but it isn't worth the hassle to me when it doesn't work out so I go with point buy or other alternatives that generative comparable but different characters.
It is very rare that I have seen someone play a character with terrible rolled stats for an extended period of time. The time this happens is because the person playing it just doesn't really care about stats, more or less ignores the stats except to guide role playing a bit and they would usually be fine playing a stat-less role playing game.
In this case, it usually works because it is supported by the other players and the DM, combat isn't a big factor and folks in game focus on what their characters say and do and only rarely refer to character sheets to resolve anything (it is resolved via role playing). As a result, the terrible stats on the character sheet have a much smaller impact on actual play than they would for other groups. However, I haven't encountered that many D&D groups that use that sort of heavy role play focused play style.
I have seen plenty of people lose interest in their character and decide to create a new one, or lose interest in the game and stop showing up. They rarely state that the reason is their character being weak, but it does seem to happen more often to people whose characters are weaker..
I have my players initially roll one set of 4d6 drop lowest, then if they don't want those stats they can make a character with 27 point buy or standard array.
If a player keeps a set of weak rolls I give them inspiration from the get-go.