by Robert Kelk
 

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Dragon #114	-	1st Edition AD&D	-	Dragon magazine

The character-creation rules in the AD&D® game are spread out
many places. Players must now check up to five different places
two different books (pages 9-15 and 20-30 of the Players Handbook
and pages 6, 10-11, and 14-23 of Unearthed Arcana) to determine
the minimum and maximum ability scores and ability score
modifiers for a European-type campaign character. How much
easier it would be to have all of the information in one place, the
way it is on pages 11 and 14 of Oriental Adventures. Such a collection
of figures would also make it easier to see how the races and
classes compare to each of the others. With these two benefits in
mind, I have put together the five tables in this article.

Obviously, putting all of these charts in one place helps the
player, so that he doesn?t have to look up facts in two books. This
speeds up the process of creating a PC and lets players and DMs
get to the fun part (namely, playing the game).

The listing of the minimum and maximum scores in this manner
reveals three interesting facts about the various races. The first,
concerning maximum strength, comes from Table I. If maximum
strengths are listed in the order 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 18/50, 18/75,
18/90, 18/99, and 18/00, we see a four-place separation of maximum
strength scores between males and females of all but three
races. The exceptions are dwarves (with a five-place separation),
halflings (with a three-place separation), and half-orcs (with a twoplace
separation). The larger separation in top strengths of
dwarves explains the dwarves? devotion to their mates before
their lifework. (This was mentioned in "The Dwarven Point of
View," reprinted in Best of DRAGON® Magazine Vol. 3.) Since their
average STR is much lower than that of the males, female
dwarves can't mine as much Metal or pound a blacksmith's anvil
as long. Nobody likes to promote unrest in his or her marriage, so
dwarves give up their lifework when they get married. The
smaller separation in top strengths of hobbits helps support
feelings of equality between the sexes that the deities of the hobbits
seem to promote. (See "The Gods of the Hobbits" in Appendix
S of Unearthed Arcana.) The extremely small separation in top
strengths of half-orcs explains the widespread male orc and half-orc
practice of killing infant females mentioned in the "The Half-Orc Point of View" in Best of Dragon Vol. 3. No male bully likes a girl 
as strong as he is.

Table 1: STRENGTH

Race	Minimum	Male  maximum	Female  maximum	Modifier
Dwarf	8	18/99	17	-
Wild Elf	5	18/75	16	+2
Wood Elf	4	18/75	16	+1
Other Elf	3	18/75	16	-
Half-Elf	3	18/90	17	-
Hobbit	6	17	14	-1
Half-Orc	6	18/99	18/75	+1
Human	3	18/00	18/50	-

Characters who are not members of the fighter or cavalier
classes or their subclasses cannot have extra-ordinary STR.

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Table II: INTELLIGENCE, WISDOM, AND DEXTERITY
               INT                           WIS              DEX

Race	Min	Max	Mod	Min	Max	Min	Max	Mod
Dwarf	3	18	-	3	18	3	17	-
Gray Elf	9	19	+1	3	18	7	19	+1
Wood Elf	7	17	-1	3	18	7	19	+1
Other Elf	8	18	-	3	18	7	19	+1
Gnome	7	18	-	3	18	3	18	-
Half-Elf	4	18	-	3	18	6	18	-
Hobbit	6	18	-	3	17	8	18	+1
Half-Orc	3	17	-	3	14	3	17	-

Humnas have a 3 minimum, 18 maximum, and no modifier
for each ability. No race has a modifier to its wisdom ability.

_____________________________________________________
Table III: CONSTITUTION, CHARISMA, AND COMELINESS
 

Race	Min	Max	Mod	Min	Max	Mod	Modifier
Dwarf	12	19	+1	3	16	-1	-1
Gray/High Elf	6	18	-1	8	18	-	+2
Valley/Wild Elf	6	18	-1	8	18	-	-1
Male Dark Elf	6	18	-1	8	18	-	-1
Wood/Female Dark Elf	6	18	-1	8	18	-	+1
Gnome	8	18	-	3	18	-	-1
Half-Elf	6	18	-	3	18	-	+1
Hobbit	10	19	-	3	18	-	-
Half-Orc	13	19	+1	3	12	-2	-3

Humans have a 3 minimum, 18 maximum, and no modifier
for each ability. No race has a minimum or maximum comeliness.
Charisma and comeliness maximums and modifiers apply
only to races other than that of the character.

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Table IV: COMELINESS MODIFIERS

Cha	Mod	Cha	Mod	Cha	Mod
Below 3	-8	6-8	-1	16-17	+2
3	-5	9-12	0	18	+3
4-5	-3	13-15	+1	Above 18	+5

__________________________________________
TABLE V: MINIMUM ABILITY SCORES BY CLASS

Class	S	I	W	D	C	Ch
CAVALIER	15	10	10	15	15	6
Paladin	15	10	13	15	15	17
CLERIC	6	6	9	3	6	6
Druid	6	6	9	3	6	6
FIGHTER	9	3	6	6	7	6
Barbarian	15	6	6	14	15	6
Ranger	13	13	14	6	14	6
MAGIC-USER	3	9	6	6	6	6
Illusionist	6	15	6	16	3	6
THIEF	6	6	3	9	6	6
Acrobat	15	6	6	16	6	6
Assassin	12	11	6	12	6	3

Another point brought up is the rarity of certain character
classes. Magic-users have been called the rarest of all classes, but
this isn?t borne out by the numbers, namely those in Table V.
Magic-users need to have a high intelligence, but cavaliers, paladins,
rangers, illusionists, and assassins must have a higher intelligence.
All other abilities of the magic-user need be only average or
lower, while the other mentioned classes have to have higher-thanaverage
minimums in at least one other ability. How can this be
explained? Perhaps the popular statement should not be ?Magicusers
are very rare? but rather ?Magic-users appear to be very
rare.? Cavaliers and paladins are probably the rarest of all classes.
However, they are very visible. Most cavaliers and paladins are in
positions of authority or come from the always-watched upper
class, or both. Rangers are reclusive to the point that many if not
most city dwellers are not aware of their existence. Assassins are
often seen as thieves or fighters, since their actions are a mixture
of both classes. This leaves the illusionists, who are sometimes
seen as specialized magic-users. Illusionists are very rare, or at
least people do not often see them. Fighters are very visible in
taverns, people usually come into contact with a cleric or two
when they are at a temple, and thieves are a part of daily city life,
but magic-users don?t come into contact with the public as much.
This makes typical people think that magic-users are the rarest of
all classes. Adventurers know differently, seeing magic-users as a
large fraction of the adventuring population.

The third point shown by the tables is related to wisdom. Table
II shows that half-orcs are the least wise of all the demihumans.
This is borne out by the actions of their parent orcs, who war
against each other for living space instead of banding together to
take it from other races. The table also shows that halflings are
slightly less wise than humans and the other demihuman races.
This is shown by their desire for security (mentioned in ?The
Halfling Point of View? in Best of DRAGON Vol. 3), manifested by
their inclination to live near other races. 

Possibly all of these points were supposed to be built into the
AD&D game. Possibly they slipped in by accident. Either way, they
are part of what makes the game what it is.