New to Veeky Forums, my roommates DMing a campaign and wants us to roll for abilities. Im afraid of having bad luck and having a character that can't even do his job right because of a -3 in his main ability score. Im looking to play a rogue, but Im also willing to switch to a Fighter or Wizard if our group needs it. (playing basic classes to understand fundamentals better)
My question is how do overcome bad rolls for main ability scores? Pic sorta related, only real experience I have with dnd outside a couple shitty campaign in 4th edition and Pathfinder.
What edition are you guys playing? 5th, I assume? Regardless, you're in a tough spot but this guy has the right idea Wow that's shit
Nolan Evans
STR 07 DEX 06 CON 08 INT 13 WIS 10 CHA 07
Looks like a crummy wizard. Probably make him a high elf to bump the int up to 14 and the dex up to a less shitty 8. keep him in the back and add buff spells or spells with no saves, Barkskin, Misty step, Spider climb, Magic missile etc
Just talked it over with the DM. Rules are that I CAN choose where my stats go for rolls, one reroll per ability. Must choose race and class before hand.
Its his first time DMing so im not faulting him for rules, I think this is pretty fair all things considered.
Thanks for all the advice, It's going to help a lot.
Justin Gonzalez
Don't participate in his campaign. If he asks why just politely tell him that you're not a fan of being forced to play a character who's capabilities are completely out of your control.
Never forget that GMs who do this are scum. It's your character, not his. If you want to make a dribbling retard who's great with a sword but can barely carry a sentence then that's your prerogative. It's the GMs job to work his campaign around the party.
Camden Baker
Str 10-2 Dex 13+2 Con 10 Int 09 Wis 09 Cha 13+2 pathfinder Halfling sorcerer or oracle
With an array I'd probably do the exact same.
Dylan James
I didn't see your update above. That's fair to work with.
Ryan Evans
Tell him that he's being absurd and that's not how you do things. It's not fair shoehorning you into something that you might not be able to play with the stats that you rolled.
Try to convince him to do point buy instead, seeing as it seems like you're all new players. That way you'll be able to have decent stats that work with whatever race/class you want
John Morris
I would like to change it to point buy, but he has his heart sit on the idea of "not being able to control your own fate". I agree with you,(and yes we are all new players, except for one guy who want be entering the campaign until later.) but Im not going to cause a ruckus for his first time DMing. With these rules, I have enough options to make sure Im not "up a creek without a paddle."
> mfw my DM tried to settle say I have no free will and DnD mirrors that.
Charles Harris
>mfw my DM tried to settle say I have no free will and DnD mirrors that. Now that's a red flag if I've ever seen one.
Evan Nelson
>he has his heart sit on the idea of "not being able to control your own fate" there are systems that have this built in with character creation where you roll for everything, race, class, background, stats, appearance, gender. But in those systems, they're usually balanced so that a low stat's not crippling, there's either a small range of possible stats or easy ways to increase it/get other bonuses or both. Trying to implement that sort of system in D&D (where stat modifiers for certain stats in each class are a much bigger deal) just mean some people are going to feel like shit because their wizard has 8 int and can't cast any spells.
Don't roll for abilities and don't join games that make you roll for abilities.
Benjamin Brown
tell him to DM WFRP2e instead. Roll for job, then roll for stats, in order. >roll ratcatcher >slay rats in the sewer >thankless job but someone has to do it >discover the lair of the rat king >rat the size of a man >slay it in mortal combat aided only by your terrier and judiciously poisoned cheese >haul the corpse to the surface, Witch hunters become convinced that you are some manner of heretic consorting with beastmen below the city >flee east >encounter a despondent cook and a hedge wizard >your adventures begin on the border of Sylvania
Jayden Howard
WFRP 2e is irredeemably awful though.
Gavin Evans
Not OP but man I want to run WF some day. It's definitely high on my list to run.
Kevin Russell
i'm so sorry that your speshul wizard died bloody instead of becoming a magical hero, but a lot of people want to play a game where magic has great power with great risk, and you're as likely to die of tetanus as the arrow that gave it to you. Heroic fantasy has its place, but sometimes it's good to play some useless bastard who makes it through combat by the skin of his teeth and a small pile of loaded crossbows.
Adrian Gutierrez
What did he mean by this?
Christian Evans
magic users in WFRP are very likely to blow themselves up or accidentally summon Daemons whenever they cast a spell, and combat is incredibly lethal. you have usually about 10 HP and your average sword deals 1d10+2.
Adam King
>literally retard-level abilities for starting characters (60% chance to succeed on the easiest possible tasks) >abysmal success rates for even the best possible characters >combat is rolling d100 until someone dies, everything else is not worth even trying
>inb4 "just homebrew good combat yourself" Retard.
Brody Watson
>combat is incredibly lethal. you have usually about 10 HP and your average sword deals 1d10+2. Hit chances range from 30 to 40%, enemies get a parry of 30-40% which negates the attack at no consequence, and when the attack finally does hit, you have toughness bonuses and armor to compete with. You're rolling a raw 1d10 for damage. It's not lethal. Combat in WFRP is a boring slog in which nothing happens for potentially hours, until someone suddenly gets lucky and actually manages to do something.
Thomas Jackson
>not being able to control your own fate
Jesus Christ, user let me put it in a way that the DM would understand.
A person growing up with -3 to Dexterity is not going to become a Rogue, just as a scrawny runt is not going to be a battleaxe-wielding Barbarian.
Thomas Peterson
Magic isn't even that risky in the game. Most of the """"consequences"""" don't actually do anything of note. The real struggle of being a wizard in that game is advancing through the first two careers because of the ridiculous trappings requirements. Until then you're stuck flinging shitty magic darts.
And while we're at it, the career system is nonsense in general. You basically have to interrupt the ongoing plot whenever you feel like getting better. GMs have to tailor the rewards they give you with your next career in mind. If the GM doesn't accomodate you, you're fucked. And they have to do it for the whole party. It's unwieldy as hell.
Jason Garcia
The most boring fight I've ever seen there was two guys shooting at each other with guns. Jesus Christ, guns are shit in WHFB
Evan Moore
>30 to 40% WS +20% All Out Attack >Parry requires a half action in advance >raw of 1d10 for damage >armor to compete with 2 AP max unless you have full plate and are walking around in it, +2 or 3 TB. >vs 1d10+SB+1 flail >parry half action in advance and is about as useful as in the Dark Heresy etc W40kRP games. situational, not essential. also doesn't help against a 1d10+4 pistol with impact. is it as rocket taggy as a 2d10+8 pen 14 melta? no. is it grindy? no. >GMs have to tailor the rewards they give you with your next career in mind. If the GM doesn't accomodate you, you're fucked. And they have to do it for the whole party you end up doing that anyway for most games. Ho hum, do I drop a plasma pistol in this combat, or a rune sword? everybody has simple weapon proficiency, but the Rogue Trader is probably going to want a plasma pistol at some point. so much prep work. > Most of the """"consequences"""" don't actually do anything of note. >Unnatural Aura >anywhere near an Empire city >nothing_to_see_here.gif
Josiah Smith
>+20% All Out Attack Lose your parry to increase your chances to 50%. What a deal! >requires a half action in advance Not with another weapon (even a dagger) or shield in hand. No penalties for dual-wielding solely for free parries by the way.
The rest of your post is retarded, I'm not responding to that.
Hunter James
>also doesn't help against a 1d10+4 pistol >advocating that guns aren't an overpriced pile of shit strictly inferior to all other ranged options You pretty clearly have no idea what you're talking about.
Austin White
>The rest of your post is retarded, I'm not responding to that. oh snap! that's me told! by the way, how are you going to be parrying 2 fuckers ganging up on you, or do you manage to convince Orks to simply line up and fight you one vs one?
Jason Baker
>if the enemies outnumber the PCs 2 to 1, combat gets dangerous >therefore, the system is highly lethal Are you really this stupid?
Noah Nguyen
providing an example of a high damage weapon as a counter example to the idea that armor is somehow an impenetrable shield is not advocacy for paying x6 as much per shot compared to a crossbow for the same damage
Juan Evans
compare to: >any D&D edition - chaff enemies are the norm >RIFTS - juicer gives not one fuck with free dodges >Apoc World - self explanatory just to hit the more frequently played highlights. Yes, it is more lethal in more scenarios than many games.
Or, have the DM make characters via point-buy and then have the players roll to see who plays what.
I wouldn't call that 'good' but it's a way to encourage people to play new things and not meta too hard. Might work for a funnel.
Any 'at the mercy of fate' story is made interesting by how characters respond to it. I'd love to play a game where the PCs have their deaths predicted in the first scene and the campaign is shaped by how they react to that.
Austin Martin
Fuck it I'll add detail.
The party for whatever reason seeks out an oracle for advice & receive a prediction. They will all die in battle. Give a prediction or two, like the fighter's carrying a sword & the wizard turns invisible. Then, you stack the dice to drive them towards their inevitable doom.
Does the fighter abandon swords? Does the wizard refuse to turn invisible? Either way, the character DOES die under the circumstances you predict. Make up a bunch (5 minimum) of ways you can twist the prophecy so you don't have to railroad the fighter into PICKING UP a sword before you kill them.
You'll want cooperative players and ideally a short campaign.
Logan Torres
One of my favorite games had the DM making characters with goals, secrets, and short backstories.
What made it work was the builds were specific and themed and ridiculous, but balanced to each other in a way that allowed the builds to work.
The other part that helped was there were slightly more than double the amount of characters as there were players. So you were likely to find something interesting.
John Myers
>Any 'at the mercy of fate' story is made interesting by how characters respond to it. I'd love to play a game where the PCs have their deaths predicted in the first scene and the campaign is shaped by how they react to that. Steal a cue from Devil Survivor, where the protagonists are in a lockdown in Tokyo and their party leader sees circles over everyone's heads that show the number of days you have left to live. The max people ever have is 7, some supposedly human beings don't have a reading, and the party themselves have a big 0 over their head.
