This little examination was done to compare character creation methods from AD&D 2nd edition. However, playing 3rd ed. or 3.5 does not prevent you from using these good old methods - they still work.

The table below shows how many ways there are to throw each number for each method.
DS1 and DS5 are method I and method V from DarkSun.

Notes:

• ** Method 5 is the standard character creation method in D&D 3.x
  
  
• Since most of these methods skew the probability curve, including the standard deviation is pointless
• * denotes symmetrical probability curve (all others are skewed)
• A red background denotes the maximum (ways to roll this number) for that method. Obviously, you'll roll these numbers the most.
• Those with symmetry are symmetric around the red background
• Method 5 is skewed in favor of lower values (compare the values surrounding the red background)(!!!!)
• Methods 2 and DS5 are skewed in favor of higher values(!!)

see all probability curves (one graph per curve)