# What would be your D & D stats? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 7, 2010, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-be-your-d-d-stats/535239 "2010-04-07T03:37:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 67
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-be-your-d-d-stats/535239/67 "2010-04-08T20:41:33Z")
> [@CandidGamera](#): > > D\_Odds, you’re reading assumptions into the design that the designers never made. The default rolling method in 1e was 3d6, straight down. Producing ‘schmoe on the street’ scores. PCs weren’t supposed to be the heroic ideal, they were supposed to be former farmers struggling to survive in a world designed to crush the life out of them at the slightest mistake. And ‘schmoe’ rolling STILL produces an 18 one out of every 216 times. I am old enough to remember that. I also remember the scores of gamers I’ve been associated with through the years working around that so that the PCs would actually be exceptional. I think the work-arounds and alternate rolling methods were being published in _Dragon_ before the ink dried on the first printing of _Dungeons & Dragons_. 🆒 It was a classic case of the designers not truly understanding the audience, even though they were part of the audience. It’s why, to this day, whenever I hear someone use the justification “but the designers intended” my reflex is to smack them in the head with a rolled up magazine, even if they do have a salient point. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-be-your-d-d-stats/535239)._