Hello once again GD! I'm currently playing through IWD:EE using the wonderful tome and blood mod and when I was making my characters it got me thinking. What do the stats actually mean? My knowledge of D&D in general comes from 3.5, Pathfinder, and 5th edition and there it makes sense. Such as 10 is average, 12 is slightly above average, 14 is good, 16 is great, and 18 is you're a god among men in that stat.
At least that's how I think it is. I may be wrong. Can the same logic be applied to 2nd edition games? I'll use one of my favorite characters, my gnome sylvan sorcereress (It's a fae themed sorcerer introduced in tome and blood) as an example.
I heavily dislike rolling for stats as I usually have a set way I want my character to RP out.
She'd have 10 in strength because while she's not typically weak she's not strong either (average).
She'd have a 14 in dex as she is generally quick on her feet.
10 in Constitution because again she can take a hit but isn't particularly resilient.
16 in intelligence as she had proper schooling and is quite intelligent when it comes to book smarts.
8 wisdom, she might be intelligent but is incredibly oblivious to the world around her. Sort of "In her own little world" situation going on.
18 charisma. Using her adorable personality and charm she can be very convincing and persuasive.
So out of this she only has reduced store prices and and increased lore from her int but then decreased by her low wisdom.
Is this sort of character set up without any particular bonuses or minuses viable and do they make sense from a roleplaying standpoint? When I see characters with more than one 18 I cringe as I feel like they are too perfect.
Also, maybe sorcerer is a bad choice because their spells don't really scale off a certain stat like other casters do but I think you guys get the gist of what I mean.
So I guess to rap things up
TL;DR
Is having 3+ stats in the 16-18 range normal for a character and does the game expect you to be like this or is it more to be a mix of average and slightly high numbers with maybe one or two high stats? Also, can we say that 10 is average, 12 is above average, 14 is good, 16 is great, and 18 is perfect or does 2nd edition scale differently?
At least that's how I think it is. I may be wrong. Can the same logic be applied to 2nd edition games? I'll use one of my favorite characters, my gnome sylvan sorcereress (It's a fae themed sorcerer introduced in tome and blood) as an example.
I heavily dislike rolling for stats as I usually have a set way I want my character to RP out.
She'd have 10 in strength because while she's not typically weak she's not strong either (average).
She'd have a 14 in dex as she is generally quick on her feet.
10 in Constitution because again she can take a hit but isn't particularly resilient.
16 in intelligence as she had proper schooling and is quite intelligent when it comes to book smarts.
8 wisdom, she might be intelligent but is incredibly oblivious to the world around her. Sort of "In her own little world" situation going on.
18 charisma. Using her adorable personality and charm she can be very convincing and persuasive.
So out of this she only has reduced store prices and and increased lore from her int but then decreased by her low wisdom.
Is this sort of character set up without any particular bonuses or minuses viable and do they make sense from a roleplaying standpoint? When I see characters with more than one 18 I cringe as I feel like they are too perfect.
Also, maybe sorcerer is a bad choice because their spells don't really scale off a certain stat like other casters do but I think you guys get the gist of what I mean.
So I guess to rap things up
TL;DR
Is having 3+ stats in the 16-18 range normal for a character and does the game expect you to be like this or is it more to be a mix of average and slightly high numbers with maybe one or two high stats? Also, can we say that 10 is average, 12 is above average, 14 is good, 16 is great, and 18 is perfect or does 2nd edition scale differently?