But to roll a character, we go with a VERY heroic stats generator, but we have soem modification to it: we roll 3d6 AND a d8, max out at 18, drop the lowest die. Rolled 12 times, take the 6 rolls you want. (And it’s common we do NOT take all the highest rolls!) You can also only have one 18, and must have 1 stat BELOW 13, which cannot be Comliness. (We use Comliness instead of Charisma, as we believe Charisma should be RPed.)

We also have a secondary set of stats that we use straight 3d6′s for: sight, hearing, touch, taste/smell and voice. (Bards, our class based more like 2nd edition AD&D, get a bonus to their voice from the DM.)

I get the players to roll 3 columns of 6 totals (ignoring any roll less than a 6)..I then get them to pick the best number off the 3 totals in the top row (six times down to the bottom)…once they have their final 6 scores, they can distribute them to the abilities of their choosing….I find it gives a well balanced set of scores with luck still being a big factor…( one player still ended up with an 8 as a score )…good role players can really act out their weaknesses well

I really like Benjamin’s 24d6 idea, though. I think I’ll use that next time I DM.

so if your roll 1,3,2,4

you get to re roll that one once

but you have to keep the second roll

so that one could be a 6 on the second roll or a 1 again

as for the seventh you can chose to replace on roll with that one

Personally, I find that “building” a player character is always superior to “rolling” a player character. The trouble with flirting with those potential 18′s isn’t merely that you could get saddled with a low number instead. Far worse, you could roll up a truly enviable array of stats while everyone else rolls lousy, then the DM has to choose between beefing up the other PCs (devaluing your great rolls in the process) or letting your exceptional character become an object of jealousy and resentment. As you say, these rolls aren’t just a brief walk on the wild side; they become the defining traits of your alter ego’s entire life, and the other players have to live with them as much as you do.

For in person games I use this system:

Averages 13 instead of 10.5, so you get some decent hero characters, but you can still have an ability as low as 7 if unlucky. Sometimes I let them roll seven times on 2d6+6 and drop the lowest, the arainge them however so there is less chance of a below 10 score.

For online games I use the Pathfinder RPG heroic point buy.

I have also used a system where you would rank your abilities in importance, then roll a bunch of dice for each. Top stat would get 7d6, next 6d6, then 5d6, 4d6, 4d6 and 3d6, dropping the lowest dice and ending up with 3-18. Good chance of an 18 in his first or second choices. Lots of variance in results. I had a guy roll 7d6 and end up with a 5. Players hate hopeless characters which stopped me from using it.

Even back in the day when I learned AD&D we never used the 3d6 per stat, no reordering, no dropping system. What you get is what you get and you keep it unless you do not qualify for any class. Ugh!

Gambler’s rolls.

Use 4d6 in order, or “reroll 1′s”, whichever you like. I usually do 4d6-L 7 times, drop the lowest overall roll, the rest go in order.

Here’s the fun part:

For every roll the player makes, the GM secretly makes the same roll. Player sees his own dice and then either keeps his dice, or keeps the GM’s dice, whatever that might be!

This makes rolling your stats more fun as it becomes a strategy game – what kind of character can you create under these constraints? Can you create the character you were imagining? You can certainly influence the outcome.

Just based on odds, you might want to take the GM’s roll any time yours is less than 12, to maximize your total score. But maybe you really want a cleric and you roll a 13 wisdom.. are you willing to try for better? Are you willing to accept some other character class if the GM has a 9 for wisdom?