Why 18?

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How come in AD&D rules, the strength can be 18(00), 18(93) etc. only at 18? Not other like 17 or 19?

Any special reason?

 

As far as I understood your question:

The strength your char can have depends on his class and race. If you play a halfling for example, you are limited to str-17 in general, whatever class you choose and as a half-orc every class you play can have str-19. These are race benefits, just like the dex-19 possible for elves and halflings or the int-19 for gnomes.

All non-fighter-type (clerics/ mages/ thiefs/ bards) classes are limited to str-18. Fighter classes (pure fighter/ ranger/ paladin/ monk) only can achieve exceptional strengths like str-18/10 or 18/00. The number behind the 18 give information about weight carrying bonus and THACO/ damage boni:

-18: THACO +1 , damage +2 and load 200pd
-18/01 to 18/50: THACO +1, damage +3 and load 220pd
-18/51 to 18/75: THACO +2, damage +3 and load 250pd
-18/76 to 18/90: THACO +2, damage +4 and load 280pd
-18/91 to 18/99: THACO +2, damage +5 and load 320pd
-18/00: THACO +3, damage +6 and load 400pd
-19: THACO +3, damage +7 and load 500pd

[This message has been edited by Ragusa (edited June 19, 2001).]

 

thanks for your explaination!

What my question meant was 'why only strength of eighteen has exceptional value, but not strength higher or lower than it, such as seventeen or nineteen?'

From your reply,
'All non-fighter-type (clerics/ mages/ thiefs/ bards) classes are limited to str-18.'
I think I got the answer that 18 is sort of borderline to differentiate normal strength with exceptional strength. Is it correct?

 

Ragusa...are you sure, that monks can have exceptional strenght?

I couldn't give him more than 18. It is not exceptional.

 

Gotta admit that if this topic was posted on "Whatnots" it would have a completely different subject.

Q "Why 18?"

A "because jail isn't comfortable!"
A "because 17 is too young . . "

you get my point.

***
real answer:

I think that Strength is the only stat where the "exceptional" 18/93 stat comes into play. However, I have seen a few old rules that allowed other characters to have a percentile after all their stats. So you could have a 16/23 intelligence. NB, the /23 would not give any bonus, it would simply be for informational purposes only.

One other note: in my favorite old AD&D book fo all time (the Unearthed Arcana) they introduced the cavelier character class. A 0 level cavalier (yes, you were supposed to start at 0 with negative exp. points acting as a squire) would roll a percentile after his STR, CON & DEX. Then, with every level increase, they would be able to add a 1-100 roll to that stat.

So my 0 level cavelier might have the following:

STR: 16/23
DEX: 13/83
CON: 17/52

At level 1 I would 1-100 to each. So:
STR: 16/23 + 32 = 16/55
DEX: 13/83 + 53 = 14/36
CON: 17/52 + 07 = 17/59

These would peak at 18/00.

I actually like that system. As someone who trains personally, I know that no stat is "fixed" for life. It might be a good idea for a future game for each class to be able to raise "key" stats as they progress

Mage: INT, WIS, DEX
Cleric: WIS, CON, STR
etc. . .

 

I indeed don't know exactly why only str 18 is exceptional strength...

I suppose a Monk can't have exeptional strength for it's a priest-kit and only fighters, rangers and paladins can have exceptional strength.

 

Ok, try this:
To determine the ability score, you roll 3d6, right? Meaning you can have between 3 and 18 in a score. To give the fighter an advantage, he gets to roll the percentile dice to determine what goes behind the /.
This is a means to give fighter classes with 18 str an advantage over non-fighter classes with 18 str. Adding the percentile dice to any score under that would make no sense, since a 17/01 would equal a pure 18.

My 0.02$

 

I mixed up the monks - I considered them fighters for they get the fighter stronghold in BG-2. I don´t think they fit into an exact scheme ... when they are priests this could be the explanation why they are limited to str-18.

 

I hv 2 questions:

1. How's a percentile dice rolled to get 00 to 99 behind '/'?

2. How to get strength of 19, 20 etc since it is 3d6? And how come there's no '/' behind these figures?

ps. I did not play real AD&D b4