That's how I roll! (How do *you* assign character attributes?)

Philhelm

I'm curious as to how people like to assign attributes during character creation, and what sort of quirks they might have (I'm sure that I'm not the only OCD person here). I like to create characters with a decent stat spread (85-90 points), but I never like to max out all of the key stats. It somewhat breaks immersion for me when I see a wall of 18s for my character while the NPCs have a more natural variation.

For instance, I would never create cleric that is 18/18/16/X/18/X. I'll usually put an 18 in the prime stat and take the 16 Con for lower HP classes (and I can't stand the PC getting tired before all of the other high Con NPCs - *I'm* the hero!).

As an example, my current Priest of Lathander is 16/9/16/13/18/15. He's a sturdy fellow, but not particularly athletic and nimble; he's smarter than average, incredibly wise, and has a strong presence. I would have even dropped the Strength a bit, but BG forces characters to be part-time body builders just to swing a sword or wear armor.

As for my quirks, I alternated even and odd numbers, and never use the number 11 for a stat (probably from playing Neverwinter/3rd edition; it should be 10 or 12, but not 11).

Chippy

I think they should implement the percentages of STR when you get the tome or other bonuses. So 18/01-51 through 18/00, you might get a lower STR at character creation with more overall stats and be happy with final STR by TOB, it's almost cheating to jump straight to 19. I do this anyway with shadowkeepr - feels more like roleplaying than powergaming.

Jarrakul

I mostly wait until I get good rolls, max most of the important stats, and try to put decent numbers in everything else. This leads to somewhat... improbable characters, but that's pretty easy to justify, plot-wise. I mean, look at Imoen and Sarevok for comparison.

Heindrich

I like to make characters on par with the NPC companions and I share your preference for generally avoiding max stats.

For warrior-type characters I always make them either tough, strong and slow, or fast, accurate but "weak". i.e. they either have high Str and Con or high Dex, but never high Str, Dex and Con.

MonkeyLungs

In general I like a character to have some flaws. I've also played a few super munchkins in my day. Generally though if I roll around 85 I keep those stats and allocate.

I don't play on really hard difficulty or anything though.

butteredsoul

For the life of me I can't find the post about the person who rolled with 9's and 3's. Basically, - all of your extra points, don't add them back, and go. Love it.

OurQuestIsVain

I like to have Str and Dex maxed out regardless of the class I'm playing.

Con is set to max for classes that benefit from scores over 16, otherwise, Con is 15 in anticipation of the tome. If I'm playing a shorty, My Con is 17 for non-warriors and 18 if possible for warriors because of saving throw bonuses.

Int is 18 only if I'm a mage, otherwise, it is set to 9. I don't like having any stats below 10 and I always give all the skill tomes to my character.

Wisdom is only 18 if I'm a cleric or druid, otherwise, it is set to 7.

Charisma is usually maxed but depending on what I'm rolling, I may use it as a dump stat and set it to 9.

As you can see, I'm a bit of a power gamer. However, I just recently finished a playthrough where I decided everything about the character with a dice roll. Male/female, that is a d2, race is a d7, etc. You get the idea. This was surprisingly very fun. I went with the very first roll that popped up when deciding attributes. My female mage did quite well, though mages don't really need any good stats since I can upgrade Int with potions.

Fiach

I guess it depends on if you are going to dual or go pure, for a cleric to dual to mage I would try to roll a minimum of 91.

DevardKrown

In BG With the Roll system i try to get for the Maximum Possible. at least 93 so i can dump charisma or wisdom to 3 and keep the rest on 18, you are a Baalspawn for Hells sake you can be a bit physical op.
also i spend way to much time at this Attribute Roll Window in my life, even if i just could Shadowkeeper it.

but personal i like the Newer systems like in NWN where you "Buy" attribute points and pay more as higher as they go, saves time and keeps the character Balanced.

on the other hand i don't go for the Optimum class combinations ... like right now i play a Cleric7/Mage ...ofc he could be a cleric of Talos getting free lightning bolts and chaos shield , but i don't want to be a Cleric of Talos..., or forbid take cheating ones like Cleric/Specialized mage, fighter/swashbuckler, fighter/assassin and the alike.

10Bazza11

I prefer to have more balanced stats. I don’t like to go below 8 if I can help it but have been known to have a fighter or barbarian with low intelligence. A few examples.
Half-Elf Cleric - Str17, Dex16, Con13, Int11, Wis18, Chr10.
Dwarven Defender - Str 18/97, Dex16, Con19, Int10, Wis10 Chr10,
Halfling Thief – Str16, Dex19, Con16, Int13, Wis9 Chr9,
Elf Mage Str12, Dex19, Con11, Int18, Wis13, Chr8
Human Fighter - Str18/47, Dex18, Con16, Int11, Wis11, Chr10
Elf Archer – Str18/49, Dex 19, Con15, Int10, Wis15, Chr9.
This is my current party for my run of IWD. When I used to be a DM playing old school P&P D&D I never liked the PC's to have maxed out stats.

BillyYank

I use Excel to roll 10 sets of stats using the 4d6 drop 1 method. I then pick one of those sets and use it without any alterations except racial adjustments.