Monty Haul character generation in new editions?

[David Chmelik]

I've read about newer Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) dice rolling methods for
character generation for ability scores, but now there's one using 5D6?!
Maybe roll five and drop two? How is it anything other than Monty Haul?!

Maybe it's only option if Dungeon Master (DM) wants more powerful
characters, like 'epic level campaigns' (never used that, but 36 levels)?

How could DM deal with this without unbalancing?

I guess since /Immortals Rules/ (and /Wrath of The Immortals/) it's
possible to run games with much more powerful characters, but DMs might
need more experience to do so.

When we were 12, my DM said 'keep rolling' until I got one or more 18s.
Maybe he didn't know how to balance game--because he was 12. However,
when official D&D book says do something this level of 'Monty Hall' I
don't get it. DM would have to be careful (more/difficult challenges).

[gbbgu]

Post by David Chmelik
I've read about newer Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) dice rolling methods for
character generation for ability scores, but now there's one using 5D6?!
Maybe roll five and drop two? How is it anything other than Monty Haul?!

There's an untapped market for d6, except swap the "1" for a second "6"

Heck, why not just swap 1 and 2 for 7 and 8!

[Kyonshi]

Post by David Chmelik
I've read about newer Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) dice rolling methods for
character generation for ability scores, but now there's one using 5D6?!
Maybe roll five and drop two? How is it anything other than Monty Haul?!
Maybe it's only option if Dungeon Master (DM) wants more powerful
characters, like 'epic level campaigns' (never used that, but 36 levels)?
How could DM deal with this without unbalancing?
I guess since /Immortals Rules/ (and /Wrath of The Immortals/) it's
possible to run games with much more powerful characters, but DMs might
need more experience to do so.
When we were 12, my DM said 'keep rolling' until I got one or more 18s.
Maybe he didn't know how to balance game--because he was 12. However,
when official D&D book says do something this level of 'Monty Hall' I
don't get it. DM would have to be careful (more/difficult challenges).

Well, the easy answer is that 5e (and 5.5e or whatever it will be named)
is a radically different game than in the old rules. There is a reason
why the OSR exists and why they are playing a completely different game,
outside of the usual trappings of DND-style fantasy that have carried over.

[Ubiquitous]

Post by David Chmelik
I've read about newer Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) dice rolling methods for
character generation for ability scores, but now there's one using 5D6?!
Maybe roll five and drop two? How is it anything other than Monty Haul?!

I guess you're not familiar with the rolling method in the 1st edition
Unearthed Arcana.

--
Let's go Brandon!

[Justisaur]

Post by Ubiquitous

Post by David Chmelik
I've read about newer Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) dice rolling methods for
character generation for ability scores, but now there's one using 5D6?!
Maybe roll five and drop two? How is it anything other than Monty Haul?!

I guess you're not familiar with the rolling method in the 1st edition
Unearthed Arcana.

9d6! The courageousness of it.

5e I think most use either point buy or the default array, so no rolling
at all. Really that's been true since 3.5e at least.

[Kyonshi]

Post by Ubiquitous

Post by David Chmelik
I've read about newer Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) dice rolling methods for
character generation for ability scores, but now there's one using 5D6?!
Maybe roll five and drop two?  How is it anything other than Monty
Haul?!

I guess you're not familiar with the rolling method in the 1st edition
Unearthed Arcana.

9d6!  The courageousness of it.
5e I think most use either point buy or the default array, so no rolling
at all.  Really that's been true since 3.5e at least.

and in 7th ed. they are gonna go diceless

[Spalls Hurgenson]

Post by Justisaur

Post by Ubiquitous

Post by David Chmelik
I've read about newer Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) dice rolling methods for
character generation for ability scores, but now there's one using 5D6?!
Maybe roll five and drop two? How is it anything other than Monty Haul?!

I guess you're not familiar with the rolling method in the 1st edition
Unearthed Arcana.

9d6! The courageousness of it.
5e I think most use either point buy or the default array, so no rolling
at all. Really that's been true since 3.5e at least.

Our group was really lax with rolling methods, but that's largely
because we'd played together for so long and could trust each other
not to meta-game and rules-lawyer to the point it interfered with the
experience. Generally, we 4d6'd and applied results where wanted,
except primary stats for characters were generally fudged in order to
reach the necessary minimums. Generally, we always created the
characters in our heads first and then tried to get dice rolls that
matched that ideal, and if the dice sometimes weren't entirely
cooperative, I allowed the tweaks. Sometimes we'd take points off one
roll and add it to another (at varying costs), or we'd just re-roll,
or I'd just give them the 16 or 17 they wanted.

But, like I said, we got away with this because the rules and rolls
weren't that essential to us. They were the necessary chaos that
ensured no one player -PC or DM- dominated the consensual
story-telling. And we all understood, too, how LOW stats could
sometimes be fun.

(Plus, I could be an absolutely brutal DM at times... and
over-powerful PCs were my favorite targets. And there are _so many_
monsters that drain attribute points! Fighter with STR 18/00, meet my
room full of Shadows ;-)