And the massive pile of numbers can be a little bit frightening, since they’re all up-front. You’ll still need to explain stat priority (like putting a 15 in the most important stat, and the 8 in the least important stat). While I believe new players will prefer this over dice rolling or point buy, it’s admittedly a ton of information.

Awesome! Players have a ton of positive options and can experiment with bonuses to their dice rolls. For new players, they get two +2s, two +1s, one +0, and one -1. Which is also a really good way to teach players the importance of finding a middle ground. No need to figure out additional numbers! It has the big 15 for your important stat, the 8 for the stat you need to lower (Intelligence or Charisma, usually), and middling numbers for everything else. And, unlike point buy, players don’t need to be math whizzes to make things work out well for them. Everybody has the exact same start, and that’s fantastic for making players feel important. No longer does someone need to deal with Captain Peasant while their friend rolls 3 18s. The standard array makes all characters the same. That can be super useful if a player doesn’t quite understand how to roll and then place. Without needing to show how to roll dice, making calculations, removing the lowest, etc., a new player can construct a character. The Standard Array is extremely simple to explain to new players. Or, if a Goliath puts a 15 into Strength, it becomes a 17, thanks to the Goliath’s +2 to Strength. So a human would increase all of those numbers by 1. You cannot intentionally lower the stats, even if it would work better for your character (always ask your DM, though they are the final arbiter of the rules!).Īgain these numbers are applied before racial scores. You have to use all of these numbers, as well. You can place these numbers wherever you’d like 15 can go into Strength just as easily as Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma. You have 6 numbers that you slot into your character sheet before you add your racial bonuses. “Standard array” means that there are no variables in character creation. Thankfully, it’s extremely simple! Learn what Standard Array 5E is, and how to best use it for your character. If your DM asks you to use Standard Array instead, then you might not know off the top of your head what that means. Normally, you’re asked to simply roll ability scores to see what your stats are. The most common and official optional process is how you get ability scores. There’s a ton of ways to get races, classes, features, etc. Character creation in Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition can be a widely different process.

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