Driddle said:
Good-natured flame attack on no one in particular, because this sort of thread demands it sooner or later:
Anyone who believes you've got an 17 or 18 intelligence? -- YOU'RE FULL OF BALONEY! YOU'RE NOT THAT SMART! Even if the genetic material from your mom and dad rolled 10d6 and took the best three before you were born. Just not gonna happen.
Now go hide in a dark corner and cry over your puny 7 charisma rating.
I talked about this the last time one of these threads came up. My basic point was this:
It's not the people who say that have eighteens that are fooling themselves. It's the people who say they dont have any eights.
if you assume that everyone rolls 3d6 for their stats, then here's the breakdown:
Code:
3 .46 0
4 1.39 2
5 2.78 5
6 4.62 9
7 6.94 16
8 9.72 26
9 11.57 37
10 12.5 50
11 12.5 62
12 11.57 74
13 9.72 83
14 6.94 90
15 4.63 95
16 2.75 98
17 1.39 99
18 .46 100
(The second column is the percent of the population that has that score [assuming a base 3d6 roll]. The second column is the percent of the population that has that score or lower, rounded to the nearest whole number.)
As for Int, the IQ/10 thing is definately bonkers. IQ has a standard deviation of 15 or 16 (but sometimes as high as 24 depending on the test). Ability score modifiers have a standard deviation of 2.958. If you assume an IQ test that uses 16 as the standard deviation, and then round 2.958 to three, an INT of 18 comes out to a 140 IQ (and an int 3 corresponds to a 60 IQ).
Honestly, given how cerebral a hobby role-playing is, I expect that most of the folks her have INT 12 or better, and that we can expect quite a few 17s and 18s. (Admittedly, my perception of role-playing might be skewed by the fact that most of the people I play with attend the same well-ranked college that I do.)
Edit:
On a personal note, I'd guess:
STR 11, DEX 9, CON 7, INT 18, WIS 9, CHA 12
(that's 23 point buy)
IRL, of course, I'm an expert. When statting myself out in modern, I have one level of smart followed by levels of charismatic (I started college as a Computer Science major. I liked the theory but hated some of the practical aspects, so I switched to Theatre Arts)
Were I to grow up in a D&D universe, though, I expect that I'd have started as a Wizard. If magic was as boring as Comp Sci was, I'd have switched to Expert or Bard (though I doubt magic would be that boring).