I found that the distribution of scores with 3d6 is too broad - yes they tend to congregate in the 9-12 range, but scores in 3-5 and 16+ range are also surprisingly common (5 characteristics, 5 players = 25 characteristic rolls). And if you then allow players to assign attributes, guess where the low scores go? So you end up with a load of ugly and dumb adventurers.
My approach to character generation is:
- Player chooses the profession they want to play.
- Roll 5d6, discarding both the highest and lowest results, once for each characteristic.
- Assign results to characteristics in the order they were rolled.
- If the character fails to meet the minimum requirements for their chosen profession, roll 3d6 for that characteristic until a score that at least equals the minimum requirement is rolled.
This results in improved odds of characteristics falling within the playable 6-15 range, prevents low scores being assigned to 'dump stats', and provides some interesting attribute scores that players can role-play (sorcerers with higher strength than barbarians, knights with better reflexes than assassins, etc.). Players then have more to work with when coming up with their personalities and backgrounds - a character with high strength (sorcerer or otherwise) is likely to have had a very physical background - working in the fields, local athletic champion, trained militia, etc. I'd generally expect any stat outside of the 9-12 range to impact the player's interpretation of the character and how it's played (for some inspiration for playing low scores, I wrote
this article).
I have also removed dump stats from my game - everything now has an impact, regardless of your profession. For example, a character's intelligence score represents their maximum rank, psychic talent is required to use magic items, including magic swords and armour, and I've replaced Looks with Presence, an attribute with direct consequences for characters expecting to be a brave, confident and charismatic adventurers.
By not being able to put your best score in your favoured attribute, it makes adventures more of a challenge and can upset some of the standard tropes - if the sorcerer is the guy with the highest strength, he gets to roll the boulder from in front of the blocked passage and gets his moment to shine, but how does that make the knight or barbarian react to the sorcerer?
My players were (very) skeptical at first, as they are used to the super-powered fantasy of D&D, etc., but it maintains the distinction of DW as not the game for high-fantasy epic superheroes, but for ordinary mortals, thurst into a life of adventure and frequently overwhelmed and outclassed by the eldritch horrors to be found in the depths and lairs they explore, struggling to remain true to their heroic path.