Strength "18/55"

perfectblue

Would someone describe what this terminology means? I have noticed in character creation the max number you can distribute into strengths differs on each roll. Sometimes only 18, but others 18/55 18/80 18/63. Can someone explain to me why it displays as a fraction? And why sometimes the number is higher in the rolls e.g. 18/55 vs 18/78.

What does the denominator in the fraction indicate (e.g. 18/55 what does the 55 mean)
Thanks

lDanielHolm

It stands for exceptional strength. It is only available to warrior-classes. They go from 18/01 to 18/00 (that is, 100). The higher, the better.

Bercon

Scroll down to Strength section.

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

Basically there is a huge difference between 18 and 19 strength. Fighters can have strength between these two with 18/xx so there isn't such a large gap.

CamDawg

Warrior classes get a secondary roll (1-100) to help differentiate their 18 strength from one another. You get additional to-hit and damage bonuses for this roll as well.

Nitsua

Warrior classes (fighter, ranger, paladin, and barbarian) make an extra roll out of 100 when they are created with 18 strength, resulting in this extra number you see. The attached image is a table from the original Baldur's Gate 2 manual that explains how this extra number affects your stats. Keep in mind that the best possible roll is displayed as 18/00.

Sallparadise

So yes, as you can imagine, if you ever play a fighter class you do have to keep rolling until you can get a strength of 18/00.
Schedule a good two hours of your day for it

ScarsUnseen

This is from the good old days when there were reasonable limitations on human/demihuman attributes with no easy and very few hard ways to permanently raise them after character creation. To have a 19 strength was to have to have the strength of a giant(one of the lesser ones, anyway), and so there was an intentional gap between human and monstrous strength. Warriors were assumed to have greater potential for strength, and so they had the percentile range to lessen that gap.

Keep in mind that, played by the recommended rules, typical Baldur's Gate attribute spreads don't happen because you roll once and keep what you get with no reassignment of points. With that in mind, exceptional strength truly was exceptional, as even getting an 18 was only a 1 in 216 chance. From there, the math is simple. Getting that enviable 18/00 strength? 1 in 21600 chance of happening. AD&D 2E was a game intended to feature ordinary people made extraordinary by action and training rather than through luck of the genetic draw.

Dannen6272

@ScarsUnseen The stats limitations of 2e are really one of the things I miss, its just too easy to increase your stats and make some pretty ridiculous characters in the new editions of the game. My gaming groups now consider anything less then 17 a crap stat, where as I would argue that a 12 or a 14 are perfectly fine for many characters. Like you say, ordinary people doing extraordinary things seems so much more exciting.

sandmanCCL

Bercon said:

Scroll down to Strength section.

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

Basically there is a huge difference between 18 and 19 strength. Fighters can have strength between these two with 18/xx so there isn't such a large gap.

Holy crap, people have read my guides. Awesome.

But yes, 18/51-75 means your guy is slightly better than a guy with 18/01-50, and those guys are slightly better than a guy with raw 18.

Honestly, unless you manage to get 18/51+ on your fighters, keep rolling or just leave it at 17 and rely on stat-boosting items to roid it higher.

Me and my buddies meta-gamed the hell out of BG back in the day and can't wait to do it again for Enhanced Edition.

DLite

And when you finally get 18/00, you'll probably have 7 on all the other stats..

Humanoid_Taifun

@DLite But it will be totally worth it until you find the Manual of Gainful Exercise.

beerflavour

I'd see a strength of 18/55 as 18 + 55% (extra oomph)

Other than that it's just an arbitrary rule from the past. It's just the way it is. The rules have always oscillated between as much realism as possible and as much abstraction as needed (to keep things manageable without computers).

Schneidend

18 is Batman. The peak of the average person who isn't genetically pre-disposed to being strong.
18/100 is Dark Knight Rises Bane. The best of the best for those who are just naturally big and bad.
19 is Captain America. Beyond normal human limitation. A "superhuman."
25 is the Incredible Hulk. Smash.

bigdogchris

I used to be really worried about this but my last play through I did not adjust starting statistics at all. I took the initial roll and played through, not finding the game any harder than when I spent hours trying to get the maximum amount.