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Post by GRWelsh on Mar 30, 2004 15:31:07 GMT -5
"Nancy Boy" is the common house rule method of player character generation making use of the following:
Ability generation: Roll 4d6, drop the lowest die, arrange as desired.
Hit points: Either maximum or half minimum (at least at first level).
"Nancy Boy with a new skirt" is the addition of some advantage beyond even this, such as weapon specialization.
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Post by GRWelsh on Mar 30, 2004 15:41:45 GMT -5
The names for these house rules are inspired by this quote from Hygelac the Dread, on Necromancer Games' Judges Guild forum:
"Classic Character Creation Rules: This is your father’s D&D boy. No wussy “4d6", no pansy “roll 1's over.” You will roll 3d6 for each ability score and assign your rolls in order. Suck it up. You will roll hit points at every level, including 1st level; no Nancy-boy “max HP at 1st level” or “opt for half” baloney. You will learn to run, you will learn to hide, and if you are lucky, you will live to fight another day. I don’t use EL’s: if there’s a dragon on that mountain, you will find it (or more likely, it will find you), whether you are 1st level or 20th. This is Dungeons & Dragons the way Gary meant it to be played. And if you cry, I’ll laugh at you. We all will."
As much as I like the sound of this tough talk, for many years I have let my players roll up Nancy-Boy characters. I just draw the line at letting them roll up a Nancy-Boy with a new skirt.
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Post by GRWelsh on Mar 30, 2004 15:43:30 GMT -5
I just thought of a new house rule. When you roll up your character, you have to announce which it is going to be: Old School Fodder (3d6 straight down, no re-rolls), Nancy-Boy, or Nancy-Boy with a new skirt.
Nah, I'm just kidding. That would be cruel.
The problem with Old School Fodder was that it just wasn't that fun to perpetually roll up new characters for the first several months of gaming sessions. Like two kobolds and a giant rat attack a village, and the fodder-like PC's die as pathetically as the urchins and shopkeeper's wives... It's not very heroic or fun.
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Post by Scott on Mar 30, 2004 16:12:06 GMT -5
My Enhanced Nancy method is 4d6, drop lowest, at least one six. If your highest roll isn't a 6, it gets bumped up to 6. Of course I'll let a player use any of the old school methods if that's what he or she wants. Scott
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Post by Scott on Mar 30, 2004 16:22:33 GMT -5
Also, I'll usually let a player play whatever class they want, so if their rolls don't meet the class mins, I bump them up to the minimum required scores. Scott
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Falconer
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Post by Falconer on Mar 30, 2004 20:38:43 GMT -5
As far as HP, I don't give max at first level, they have to roll for it. I secretly look in UA for the minimum at first level, and if they don't make it at least over that, they can roll again. If they still don't beat the UA minimum, they get the UA minimum.
I like that rule. It means no 1-2 HP characters (you're right, no Human 0-level NPC even has that little), and still makes that roll count (you can still roll the maximum--and that's special--even though you're guaranteed the UA minimum). And since my players don't know what's in UA, they think I'm just being benevolent. :-) Regards.
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Post by GutboyBarrelhouse on Apr 3, 2004 10:18:25 GMT -5
This is your father’s D&D boy. No wussy “4d6", no pansy “roll 1's over.” You will roll 3d6 for each ability score and assign your rolls in order. Suck it up. You will roll hit points at every level, including 1st level; no Nancy-boy “max HP at 1st level” or “opt for half” baloney. You will learn to run, you will learn to hide, and if you are lucky, you will live to fight another day. I don’t use EL’s: if there’s a dragon on that mountain, you will find it (or more likely, it will find you), whether you are 1st level or 20th. This is Dungeons & Dragons the way Gary meant it to be played. And if you cry, I’ll laugh at you. We all will." Arrrg, coffee up nose! This is GREAT! 4d6-lowest, mostly. Have done 3d6 guts with success.
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Post by SoundOutTheGalleon on May 3, 2004 4:14:41 GMT -5
I ask them to decide what character class and race they want to play, then they roll 3d6 in order. They apply any racial modifiers they might have, and then, if their scores do not meet the minimum required for that class, then they raise them to the minimum for that class. Everyone gets a character they are happy with, there aren't any barbarians with five 18s (or whatever). I do give them maximum HP at first level only, as they are meant ot be a cut above the normal population. In my games, it doesn't really help *that* much!
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Post by Drexlorn on Aug 30, 2004 20:25:37 GMT -5
Old School Fodder (3d6 straight down, no re-rolls) While this method is cruel, any player rolling high will be extremely excited! What if he rolled a paladin this way ? Correct me if I'm wrong but was it not the "basic D&D" method of rolling stats ? I don't have the books at hand but I guess you could at least choose where to put the 6 rolls. But hell, it's still only 3d6 !
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Falconer
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Post by Falconer on Aug 31, 2004 0:40:48 GMT -5
I typically use 4d6, drop lowest, arrange as desired, in my regular AD&D game. The greatest drawback is that the players will always put their greatest stat on their prime requisite, second greatest on Constitution or what-have-you, and so on down the line in pretty stock fashion, optimized for the best possible character of that class.
Occasionally, however, I run a Holmes Basic game: 3d6 in order, no rearranging, and I think it's very interesting. Characters get a more interesting mix of strengths and weaknesses. You choose your class *after* you roll the character, because only one of your stats will typically be any good. I run B2 a lot this way, and as they tend to die a lot there, they get to try out a lot of different kinds of characters, and no need to set their heart on any one type for this campaign. I even am beginning to think this is possibly the best way to start a new campaign. Regards.
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Post by AndyS on Sept 20, 2004 21:13:45 GMT -5
I'm not sure if this is relevant to the topic at hand, but one cool way to increase the number of human characters in the game and make them more desirable is this:
When you roll up a demi-human, you roll 4D6, drop the lowest and assign them as they are rolled straight down the page.
But a human can assign the scores wherever he wants.
I haven't tried this but I am thinkng of giving it a whirl, what do you guys think?
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Post by DragonFire on Oct 12, 2004 20:56:45 GMT -5
I won't tell you how we roll up our characters, but using the current system you have given, they would be "Nancy boys with a new skirt, blouse, shoes and matching purse."
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Post by amalric on Jun 26, 2010 5:02:31 GMT -5
"Classic Character Creation Rules: This is your father’s D&D boy. No wussy “4d6", no pansy “roll 1's over.” You will roll 3d6 for each ability score and assign your rolls in order. Suck it up. You will roll hit points at every level, including 1st level; no Nancy-boy “max HP at 1st level” or “opt for half” baloney. You will learn to run, you will learn to hide, and if you are lucky, you will live to fight another day. I don’t use EL’s: if there’s a dragon on that mountain, you will find it (or more likely, it will find you), whether you are 1st level or 20th. This is Dungeons & Dragons the way Gary meant it to be played. And if you cry, I’ll laugh at you. We all will." Heh! I just found this, and that is funny! We always rolled 4d6, in order, drop lowest. Thing with that was we always seemed to roll avg-STR, high-DEX characters, so our 'heroic party' was always led by theives, which never quite fit. Once we did 4d6+drop lowest+arrange as desired, we came up with characters we all enjoyed.
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Falconer
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Post by Falconer on Jun 26, 2010 14:31:01 GMT -5
I’m currently trying this:
4d6 are rolled (and the lowest die is discarded) sufficient times to generate the 6 ability scores, in order, for 12 characters. The player then selects a single set of scores, and these scores are noted on the character record sheet. However, the remaining 11 characters are held in reserve and can be fleshed out at a later date. This is the player’s “stable” of characters.
I wanted to do 3d6 (i.e. DMG Method IV), however, I have done the math and it just is statistically impossible to qualify for most certain AD&D classes. It is still hard with 4d6 (discard lowest) to qualify for some classes such as Paladin. However, in my dungeons there will be plenty of magical opportunities to raise your ability scores, so I may rule (OD&D-style) that a Fighter who qualifies for Paladin may become one (i.e. not necessarily at character creation).
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