D&D General Which order do you prefer for Ability Scores?

[cbwjm]

SIWTNIRTS?

This is what I got after reading the instructions, took me a while to see what they meant

 

[Charlaquin]

Bottom to top. And right to left.

To spell it out- you get STR, INT, WIS all over again!

I don’t get it.

STR
INT
WIS

The bottom-rightmost letter is S. Follwed by I. Followed by W. Followed by T. Followed by N. Followed by I...

Reading bottom to top, right to left gets me
SIW
TNI
RTS

EDIT: Oh, I see. Bottom-rightmost, center-rightmost, top-rightmost.

 

[Orius]

How quasi-palindromic.

For me, it's the 2e order. It's the longest running standard, and the physical/mental grouping has some logic to it. The original order had Str Int Wis at the top because they were the primary stats of the original three classes, fighting man, cleric, and magic-user, and other 3 scores were secondary. The addition of the thief as the 4th main class messed up that order, though 1e moves Dex up to maintain logic.

 

[GreyLord]

S T R

I N T

W I S

Now, starting on the Right side, read the letters going up. Then move to the middle column and read the letters going up. Then finally look at the left side and read the letters going up.

If you read the right side starting with the S at the bottom, moving to the letter above it which is T, and the letter above that, you get STR.

Now, moving to the middle column, starting at the I, you see and N directly above it, and a T above that, which gives you INT.

and than in the Left most column, you start with the W, look at the I above it, and the S at the top to get WIS.

Hopefully that spells it out clearly.

 

[Charlaquin]

Hey everyone, this is my character, Strint Wisdex, of the Concha clan.

 

[pming]

Hiya!

1e for me. I'm used to it and once I understood the reason Gary decided on that STR, INT, WIS, DEX, CON, CHA (and later COM), it stuck.
Why did he decide on that? Either he mentioned it in a post somewhere, or I might have come to the conclusion myself; The Reason: It helps with Class prime requisites remembering for new players. "Fighter (STR), Magic-User (INT), Cleric (WIS), Thief (DEX), All-of-the-Above (every Class)".

I don't know. Just makes sense from a Class-perspective. I like it.

^_^

Paul L. Ming

 

[Tallifer]

The Reason: It helps with Class prime requisites remembering for new players. "Fighter (STR), Magic-User (INT), Cleric (WIS), Thief (DEX), All-of-the-Above (every Class)".

That's a cool bit of info/game history. However, since the classes are usually presented in alphabetical order, wouldn't it make more sense to be WIS (Cleric), STR (Fighter), Int (Magic User), DEX (Thief)? Or were the classes presented in a different order in AD&D?

 

[Shiroiken]

I really don't care, but I used 1E for "roll in order" for all of 2E. I eventually got used to and now prefer the 3E setup, but not enough for the 4E change to bother me.

 

[Lanefan]

Hey everyone, this is my character, Strint Wisdex, of the Concha clan.

I used that one already - Strint Wisdex - but I applaud your add of the Concha clan!

Using just the first two letters of each one gets you this:

Stin Widecoch

Use this name at your own peril...I've yet to be so daring...

 

[pming]

Hiya!

That's a cool bit of info/game history. However, since the classes are usually presented in alphabetical order, wouldn't it make more sense to be WIS (Cleric), STR (Fighter), Int (Magic User), DEX (Thief)? Or were the classes presented in a different order in AD&D?

True, for Basic/Expert onward, but the original "little brown books", Book 1, "Men & Magic", it lists the "3 Character Classes; Fighting-Man, Magic-User, and Cleric". Thief was added in Supplement 1, "Greyhawk". So then it became F, MU, C, T.

shrug Maybe it's just me, but it just kinda "fits" so nicely that it's stuck in my brain.

^_^

Paul L. Ming