RPG Character & NPC Generator
Names, trades, quirks, wants and secrets — plus ability scores from a curve computed exactly rather than guessed at. No game system assumed.
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What the dice actually do
How this is put together
- The ability score distribution is computed exactly, not sampled. Four six-sided dice is 1,296 outcomes, so the whole curve is enumerable — and it is nothing like the flat 3-to-18 spread people picture.
- Dropping the lowest die matters far more than it sounds. The chart shows both curves side by side, and the gap between their averages is the whole reason the method exists.
- The suggested array is the average best of six scores, the average second best, and so on down, rather than a fixed list. That is what a typical set of rolls looks like with the luck taken out, and it changes when you change the method — which a quoted array cannot do. It is not the same as reading six percentiles off the curve, which sounds equivalent and comes out consistently too generous.
- Nothing here is tied to a particular game. There is no experience table, no point-buy costs and no class list, because those belong to somebody else’s rules and quoting them from memory is how a generator ends up confidently wrong.
- The modifier shown is the common convention — five points of score to one point of modifier, counted from ten — and is labelled as a convention rather than presented as a law of nature.
- The trait lists make 430,848,000 distinct people before the dice are touched — counted from the lists themselves, so the figure cannot go stale when a trade or a secret is added. Names allow for having no surname at all, which is the case the obvious multiplication forgets.
How to use
- Pick how you want ability scores decided.
- Generate someone, and read the curve underneath.
- Copy the result straight into your notes.
Frequently asked questions
What does rolling four dice and dropping the lowest actually give?
An average of 12.24, peaking at 13, with a long thin tail downwards — nothing like the flat 3-to-18 spread people picture. There are 1,296 possible rolls, so the whole curve is enumerated here rather than sampled, and every percentage on the page is exact.
How much does dropping a die really help?
The first dropped die is worth 1.74 points on every score, against three dice straight. The second is worth only 1.19 more, which is a bigger drop-off than most people expect — both figures measured from the full enumeration rather than estimated.
Where does the suggested array come from?
It is read off the real curve at six evenly spaced points, so it is what a typical set of rolls looks like with the luck taken out. That means it changes when you change the method — a fixed array quoted from somewhere cannot do that, and would be wrong for three of the four methods here.
Which game is this for?
None in particular, deliberately. There is no experience table, no point-buy cost list and no class list, because those belong to somebody else’s rules and quoting them from memory is how a generator ends up confidently wrong. The six abilities are generic and the modifier is labelled as the common convention it is.
Can I get the same character back?
The traits are drawn from lists that give over 430 million combinations before the dice are even rolled, so you will not see the same one twice by accident. Copy anything you want to keep — nothing is stored.
Why do the traits ask what someone wants?
Because a name and a job is not a character. A quirk makes them playable in one line, a want gives them a reason to talk to anyone, and a secret gives the table something to find out. Those three are what turn a shopkeeper into a scene.
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