Rolling ability scores while connected to a DM?

[pensezbien]

Hi,

I'm about to try my first FG campaign as DM, and I just bought the POTA to use. Excited! My players are using the demo license since I have the Ultimate license, so they only have access to the purchased WotC content when connected to my machine. It looks like this complicates the flow if they want to roll ability scores.

Specifically, the Log / Roll / Points tabs of the chat window are only showing up in the Manage Characters screen, which doesn't seem to let them connect to my machine at the same time as they need to for PHB access. So, if they want to use your "roll dice and drop the lowest" feature, they have to Manage Characters, roll their stats while not connected, go back to the launcher, join my game, import their character, and then finish character creation.

Is there a better way, ideally while they're connected so that they can drag-and-drop PHB and EE content? I might just encourage them to roll dice manually in the chat window or at home, since the dice roller defaults to "roll 3d6 and drop 0" (wrongly for 5E) and the points tab lacks any point cost defaults, both for demo licensees and for people like me who bought the PHB module.

Thanks!

[Zacchaeus]

Yes, I don't have much advice on the manage characters thing since I've never used it and my players all have full licences. However I do know that in order to use the point buy you need to manually enter which system you are using. Click on the little icon at the bottom of the 'points' tab and enter the ranges and costs. This doesn't really help you though since your players aren't going to have access to the PHB which they would need to own, I believe, if they are to be able to use it to create characters from the PHB.

However, you'll want to roll up your characters together I would have thought so provided your players are connected to you and you have the PHB open there's no problem. If they really, really want to roll ability scores (and they shouldn't - honestly picking from the standard array or point buy is better) then just let them. Roll 4d6 into the chat window and just drop the lowest. It means doing some arithmetic but it's not exactly rocket science so it should be easy enough.

There is no other way to do it, that I know of.

[Xorn]

Yup. Zacchaeus is right, just have them all connect and roll characters up together. Consider it Session 0. I also agree on array/point buy abilities as a DM. Random scores might not impact your game, but it probably won't offer anything, either. In most cases, one or two players will have above average scores (compared to standard array) and one or two will have below average. But there's the off-chance that one player will have phenomenal, unbalancing scores, or one will have pitiful, unusable scores, making a standard balanced encounter suddenly a cakewalk for one character, or a deathtrap.

In my opinion it offers very little to the game, while making more work for the DM to balance encounters properly. I feel the same way about random hit points too--it doesn't really add anything to the game in my opinion, it just makes balancing encounters more cumbersome for the DM, which outweighs any benefits I perceive. I feel they are both artifacts/sacred cows from the 80s, when attributes were much less important.

To be clear--I'm not saying you are a good or bad DM for using random attributes and/or hit points--I'm just advising a new DM of the pitfalls they bring, in my opinion.

EDIT - And if you look at some of the great novels like the Dragonlance Chronicles? Multiple members of those groups had 18/## for Strength. I played 1E D&D from the 6th grade all the way into college. I never saw anyone get an 18/## strength score, ever.

[Nickademus]

I played 1E D&D from the 6th grade all the way into college. I never saw anyone get an 18/## strength score, ever.

I rolled this twice in my 2nd career. One was an 18 (73), don't remember the other but I think the subnumber was in the twenties.

[feral1]

I'm kind of in the other camp. I've been playing since highschool (1980) and my view is that I want players to have epic characters that they are happy with -- we're average enough in real life. I let them roll until they get something that they want to play. They never let it really get out of hand, but it is just as easy to kill off an uber-character as an average one. The main idea is to have the character fit the player's vision and that aids in better story-telling. You can use the "Drop Lowest" extension to roll 4d6 and drop the lowest.

[feral1]

Oh, here's a link to Firmy's Drop Lowest extension ... https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...west-Extension

[kylania]

Oh, here's a link to Firmy's Drop Lowest extension ... https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...west-Extension

Works well.

[Zacchaeus]

I'm kind of in the other camp. I've been playing since highschool (1980) and my view is that I want players to have epic characters that they are happy with -- we're average enough in real life. I let them roll until they get something that they want to play. They never let it really get out of hand, but it is just as easy to kill off an uber-character as an average one. The main idea is to have the character fit the player's vision and that aids in better story-telling. You can use the "Drop Lowest" extension to roll 4d6 and drop the lowest.

Why bother rolling at all then, just pick 6 18's

[damned]

Why bother rolling at all then, just pick 6 18's

Alternate character creation methods have been available almost since day 1. My OD&D (white box) doesnt list alternate methods but from the 1E DMG and onwards they do. the 1E DMG lists:

Method I
All scores are recorded and arranged in the order the player desires. 4d6 are rolled and the lowest die is discarded.

Method II says roll 3d6 12x and keep 6 scores
Method III says you roll each attribute in order but you roll 3d6 6x for each attribute and keep the best roll
Method IV says you roll 12 sets of 6 scores using 3d6 and keep the single set that most appeals

[Zacchaeus]

Alternate character creation methods have been available almost since day 1. My OD&D (white box) doesnt list alternate methods but from the 1E DMG and onwards they do. the 1E DMG lists:

Method I
All scores are recorded and arranged in the order the player desires. 4d6 are rolled and the lowest die is discarded.

Method II says roll 3d6 12x and keep 6 scores
Method III says you roll each attribute in order but you roll 3d6 6x for each attribute and keep the best roll
Method IV says you roll 12 sets of 6 scores using 3d6 and keep the single set that most appeals

Indeed, but back then (when we were all young and bushy tailed - well at least I was) there was no such thing as bounded accuracy. D'you think using any of those methods in 5e would unbalance things?