AD&D 1E Three Things that can't be Fixed in 1e AD&D

[Jahydin]

While strength is the obvious culprit, the problem extends throughout the system. A character with 18 CON has about twice as many hit points as a character with 14 CON. A 14 Charisma gives you basically a +1 bonus on checks. An 18 charisma gives you basically a +8 bonus on checks. A 14 Dexterity gives you basically nothing, while an 18 Dexterity gives you a +4 bonus and a whole levels worth of improvement to your thief skills. A 14 wisdom gives you basically, nothing, while a 17 wisdom is basically required to unlock the upper levels of cleric just as high intelligence is required to usefully function as a M-U.

Huh. For me, this is exactly how a bell curve distribution of bonuses should work.

 

[Celebrim]

Huh. For me, this is exactly how a bell curve distribution of bonuses should work.

Define "should"? Also, your claim isn't my experience with the real world. That is to say, the difference between 8 and 10 and 10 and 12 is still quite telling and impactful in my experience.

Also, there are lots of bell curves, and it's not at all clear that your model of what a bell curve should look like is the correct (and certainly not for all things being modeled). It could be still a bell curve and the maximum change in the bonuses occurs between 10 and 14, and the advantage tapers off after 14. So appealing to math here as if that was definitive is well, very much not definitive.