How much do ability scores matter over the course of a playthrough?

[Endarire]

Greetings!

I know certain things have stat prereqs (like the ability to cast level x spells due to requiring certain minimum casting stats), and having higher stats overall is better, but how much do high stats matter compared to mid- or low stats?  Low level play makes ability scores matter more than high level play, at least in theory.

What say you and why?

[bob_veng]

you've already defined a case where relatively low scores matter - inability to cast higher level spells, and concluded that having high scores is better

so i don't really understand the question

is the question: how much does it matter that something is better?

[Jarno Mikkola]

The answer is everything.

But that doesn't tell all of it. And depending on the prespective you have, you might want to form the mountain your way. So the question I have is; why do you ask ? Are you making an NPC ? Does it matter what stats it has... to me, no. Why you ask, cause I can cheat.

[Endarire]

I was curious in part for NPC-making purposes, but also the main differences between rolling until you get a stat spread you want versus just auto-assigning base 18s to everything with Control-8.

[Jarno Mikkola]

Well, that's cheating... and usually if the player want to, they can, but I would presume that most of them don't. Bother. That is. So avarage stats of 75 to 82-85 are fine. That's what the character creator should give you, at least from my the last time I checked.

[Endarire]

If getting what I want for character stats is simply a matter of time which can be expedited with control-8 and modifying stats from there, I'd rather save my time.

My record high rolled stat total was at least 95 and possibly in the low 100s.  That's using auto-rolling and alt-tabbing while this thing does its thing for tens of minutes.

[Jarno Mikkola]

But you said you wanted to make an NPC, so put those record numbers away and use the common numbers and you'll be fine. This is due to the fact that the commoner is actually a character that has all 9's, which is 54.

Should you also understand, you can modify the .cre with Near Infinity or with weidu itself. So getting exactly what you want in NPC generation is never an actual issue. Just a relative beliavability.

[InKal]

On 9/23/2020 at 5:07 AM, Endarire said:

Greetings!

I know certain things have stat prereqs (like the ability to cast level x spells due to requiring certain minimum casting stats), and having higher stats overall is better, but how much do high stats matter compared to mid- or low stats?  Low level play makes ability scores matter more than high level play, at least in theory.

What say you and why?

depends on actual stats, difficulty level and installed (tactical) mods and your understanding of game mechanic. There was once a playthrough of IWD- party of six or four gnomes lvl 1 (no leveling!!) can't remember the stats, pretty average or 9 in everything. Basically, player's knowledge about game mechanics can be absolute and he/she can do crazy stuff no matter the stats. Also, you have items like Crom Fayr so you can make very interesting playthrogh as claric, fighter/cleric with STR 8 for example and maxed WIS, CHAR, INT.

Edited October 9, 2020 by InKal

[Endarire]

I've seen someone solo BG1 at level 1, meaning it's possible.  I've also seen someone solo BG2 with a starting level character (Elf Mage/Thief) who had a self-imposed vow of poverty.  He killed things with Melf's Minute Meteors.

I've preferred my PCs to have base 18s in everything:  It's faster to roll and it means fewer reloads.  I prefer saving real world time.

Edited October 9, 2020 by Endarire

[Jarno Mikkola]

18 hours ago, Endarire said:

I've seen someone solo BG1 at level 1, meaning it's possible.  I've also seen someone solo BG2 with a starting level character (Elf Mage/Thief) who had a self-imposed vow of poverty.  He killed things with Melf's Minute Meteors.

Yeah right... did they also go with this xpbonus.2da file:

2DA V1.0
0
              1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40
PICK_LOCK     250  250  250  250  250  400  400  400  400  400  950  950  950  950  950  1550 1550 1550 1550 1550 1550 1550 1550 1550 1550 1550 1550 1550 1550 1550 1550 1550 1550 1550 1550 1550 1550 1550 1550 1550
DISARM_TRAP   1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1750 1750 1750 1750 1750 2750 2750 2750 2750 2750 3250 3250 3250 3250 3250 3250 3250 3250 3250 3250 3250 3250 3250 3250 3250 3250 3250 3250 3250 3250 3250 3250 3250 3250 3250
LEARN_SPELL   1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000 0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0

... probably, because that's 9/10ths of his early game xp gain. Aka, the char is itself an xp cheat.