Need info on Abilities / Stats...

Polymorpher

Can someone give me a better rundown of what they effect. Because the char creation screen seems to be leaving stuff out.

And apparently they didn't really put too much effort in the manual either.

For instance I just found out Strenght effects how much weight you can carry in your inventory. Which is perhaps obvious but, I'm sure the 6 stats do have effects that re not obvious and I would like to know... Instead of re-rolling my char again and again. (yeah yeah call me OCD if you like)

I'm particularly interested in the effects of intelligence and wisdom.

I remember that stuff was explained in either IWD or BG2. Not sure if it was ingame or at the manuals but i remember looking at it years ago.

ryuken87

http://playithardcore.com/pihwiki/index.php?title=Baldur's_Gate:_Races_and_Stats

Jace

All the attributes give strictly mechanical benefits (THAC0, damage, weight allowance, door bashing, armor class, lore, hit points, extra spells, better thief skills, etc), which are outlined on the tables provided by the manual.

Only Charisma is somewhat invisible on its benefits. If you make a really good impression on someone (that is, get a friendly reaction), you may get better quest rewards. You may also get an alternative dialogue, and in return have somewhat different dialogue choices to click.

For example, with very high Charisma, an NPC may express your admiration towards you, but with low Charisma, the same NPC may just think you're not anything special. Another example is that with very high Charisma, you can have alternative dialogue options that is less insulting / more diplomatic / more articulate. Some good-aligned joinable NPCs may even refuse to join you based on your personality! It usually doesn't change much from a practical point of view though, it is mostly a role-playing attribute.

So... if you like to receive compliments from everyone, get 18 Charisma! For everything else, consult the tables.

atcDave

I think charisma affects prices in stores too, but I believe reputation has a bigger impact.

Strength always affects your carrying weight, which of course also means the types of armor you can wear. Higher strengths (16+) give bonuses to hit and damage with melee weapons. Pluses to damage run a little higher than the pluses to hit. And Warrior characters with an 18 strength get a percentile roll that adds strength above and beyond what other characters can have.

Dexterity gives a bonus to armor class (at 15+) and a plus to hit with missile weapons (at 16+). That makes it an important attribute for ANY class.

Constitution gives a bonus to hit points at 15+, which also makes it an important score for any class. In PNP it also gives bonuses to certain saving throws and your chance of surviving a Raise Dead spell, but I don't believe this was implemented in BG.

Intelligence really only matters to arcane spell casters. It affects your chance of scribing a scroll to your spell book, and the maximum number of spells per level you can learn. Characters of any class with low intelligence (less than 8 I believe) cannot read magical scrolls. So you don't want to shift ALL of your points from here!

Wisdom really only applies to divine magic. Higher wisdom provides bonus spells. I don't remember the exact breakdown, but it is in your best interests to give a 17 or 18 wisdom to any cleric or Druid you create.

Charisma affects prices in stores, and your ability to keep the peace between certain NPCs (so I've heard, I only play good aligned parties with high reputations and this has never been a problem for me).

All of these scores have additional impact in PNP, but their implementation in BG is limited.

I would always recommend a 17 or 18 in the prime requisite for whatever class you play (well, sometimes it's fun to play a less gifted character, but try to start with a good one!) AND a 15+ in dexterity and constitution. I also keep everything else at 9 or better, just to avoid any nasty surprises (an old PNP habit, it really may matter less in BG).

LadyRhian

From Pen and Paper, Strength affects how much you can carry and how easily you can force/bash things open. High strength (16+) gives bonuses to hit and damage with melee weapons. Dexterity gives bonuses to Armor Class at high levels (makes it easier to evade blows) and gives bonuses to hit with missile weapons. Constitution, at high levels, gives bonuses to hit points and, for Dwarves and Gnomes, gives bonuses to poison saves (not sure if this was implemented in BG), up to +5 at 18 Con. Charisma, in the game, has something to do with how much bickering/arguing your party has. a Higher Charisma CHARNAME has an easier time getting characters with different alignments working together.

TJ_Hooker

The fact that strength influences how much you can carry is detailed in the manual. The only things I can think of regarding character stats that aren't in the manual are:

Store discount from high charisma

Bonuses to saving throws for the short races based on constitution

Strength determines what equipment you can use to some extent (through minimum strength requirements on some items)

You need at least 9 (I think) intelligence to use spell scrolls

BG_Zero

on the Charisma stat, some NPC may or may not join you depending on your Charisma when you talk to them as well.

TJ_Hooker

BG_Zero said:

on the Charisma stat, some NPC may or may not join you depending on your Charisma when you talk to them as well.

I don't think this is actually directly tied to your charisma. I think it's based on the reaction roll, which, while improved by having high charisma, is also improved by high reputation (and just getting lucky on the initial value of the roll).

Polymorpher

Cool I guess I don't get to benefit from wisdom on a paladin.

TJ_Hooker

Polymorpher said:

Cool I guess I don't get to benefit from wisdom on a paladin.

Yup, unfortunately that's the case. AFAIK the only thing a paladin gets from high wisdom is a bonus to lore, and the lore of warrior classes increases so slowly that you're probably never going to be able to identify anything with them anyways.

atcDave

Polymorpher said:

Cool I guess I don't get to benefit from wisdom on a paladin.

Yeah, even in PNP a paladin doesn't get bonus spells. Although I've played in quite a few that used a spell point system where it would matter for a paladin...


It did provide a bonus against mind control magic in PNP, but that was not implemented in BG.