I (and my group) love random character generation and noticed how rolling 3d6 six times (like the old days) produces weak characters most of the times, so I came up with this:
roll 4d6 drop lowest seven times and keep the six highest results.
While you could expect to get above average characters, actually what you get it’s an higher than average stat scores with weird but average modifiers.
For example, I’ve got 15, 14, 14, 12, 11, 11. Above average stat scores total with no penalties, but without a starting +2 (it was a pain in the ass rolling arcane art with a +1, always getting to buff my enemies or worse! When I realized it, I helped my allies just by defending till I leveled up). Even worse, if I want a second high score, then I have to wait for my first 18 until level 6. At level 10, I’ll be in line with a standard character (maybe with higher stat scores but still slightly lower bonuses!)
The artificer is probably even in a worse shape, starting with a 14 as his highest score (but he has like what, three 13? He is our true jack of all trades). The barbarian, on the contrary, started with an 18 (she teared up everything that came into her reach, the d6+d8+3 combo is POWERFUL!) but nothing else, all 9-12 and even a 7! She really is the embodiment of “when all you have is a hammer greatsword…” She literally slew goblins by the dozens but she also missed only one roll: she’s level 1, with 4xp total (including those from the end of the session), while the druid is one xp away from level 3!
Conclusion: this method is giving us a lot of fun, at least these first three levels. There are characters who do lots of things but always end up with a 7-9, and characters who do just one thing but are awesome at it. If you, like me, love random stats generation and would gladly put yourself against the challenge of adapting to strange modifiers, I’d advise you to try it and let me know how it went!
I forgot to mention the cleric-turned-game master who got an impressive array in the first session, something like 16, 16, 15, 14, 13, 13… Still, we didn’t feel he was significantly more powerful than the others. Actually, it was kinda nice that being a dwarven, hammer-wielding warpriest he was able to cast spells and be a good fighter at the same time.
so basically you’re suggesting to randomly determine the class, by choosing the one that better suits your randomly distributed standard stat scores? That would be cool (although I’d just probably go with random class selection), but we were looking for something different. Class first, (random) stats scores later; and we found loads of fun in managing the collateral effect of having offbeat scores.
like a bard with 8 in charisma? No thanks, a +1 was enough of a pain 😀
Also, we liked having focused character, jacks all of trades, and plain strong AND versatile characters.