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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mannahnin" data-source="post: 9881125" data-attributes="member: 7026594">That's an interesting perspective, and I think there's some truth to the idea that AD&D is playable with characters having mediocre stats, but it's certainly playing on hard mode.Celebrim has compared and contrasted the massive difference in DPR between a Fighter with no Strength bonus vs. one with Exceptional Strength, and the encumbrance difference.  As another contrast, say look at a Cleric with a Wisdom of 14 starting out with three 1st level spells every day, vs one with 9-12 Wisdom having not just no bonus spells, but a flat percentage chance of failure (between 5% and 20% depending on how low that Wisdom is) every time they cast a spell.  A Magic User with a 9 Int can only ever learn spells up to 4th level, and has only a 35% chance of learning any given spell they try to add to their spell book. At a 13 Int they're capped at 6th level spells and still have only a 55% chance to learn a given spell.  This is definitely not a system intended to be played with Prime Requisites under 15, and as Celebrim also pointed out, the large majority of ability score benefits are gated behind scores of 16 or better. This is a fun solution. Reminds me a little of Grit from Shadowdark. Just give Fighters and their subclasses (the Warrior class group in 2E) a flat benefit to Strength all the time. Not as elegant as just "advantage on checks", but functionally assuming all Warriors have 18/xx Strength and giving Fighters (or single-classed Fighters) a bonus on their percentile roll would work.1E Rangers get a +1/level damage bonus against "humanoid-type creatures of the 'giant class'", and it goes on to list them. Bugbears, Ettins, Giants, Gnolls, Goblins, Hobgoblins, Kobolds, Ogres, Ogre Magi, Orcs, and Trolls.  This list got expanded a little when the Fiend Folio came out.AD&D didn't explain what the heck "Giant class" meant, so it meaning all those humanoids and not just giants made no sense to me until many years later when I read OD&D and Joe Fischer's original Ranger class from The Strategic Review, and learned that it originally referred to the wilderness encounter type tables, specifically the one labeled "Giants", and the ability was originally described as applying to all creatures of the "Giant class (Kobold to Giant)", which meant everything on that specific wilderness encounter sub-table between and inclusive of those two entries. That is, Kobolds, Goblins, Orcs, Hobgoblins, Gnolls, Ogres, Trolls, and all Giants. (and excluding the non-evil entries at the end of that table - Gnomes, Dwarves, Elves, and Treants.)True enough, though I think most players can wrap their heads around an "under standard conditions" caveat.</blockquote>

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