Strength Issues

Today's post is only going to be this. I'm not a hundred percent sure of my facts; I searched the Players Handbook and DMG and couldn't find anything discounting this:

Strength

What we see on the right hand table are the benefits that fighters — and where the number 18 appears beside additional notes, only fighters — gain from having a strength above 15. The five rows that begin with "18/(01-50)" are described as "percentile strength," which we will discuss, but which first must wait while we discuss the bonuses offered "to hit" and "damage."

Described as hit probability by AD&D (a misnomer), the "to hit" table indicates the modifier the character with that strength adds or subtracts to the d20 when attempting to hit. Note that where strength is less than 8, a negative modifier is applied, so that a character with a 7 strength, rolling a d20 with the result of a 10, would count it as a 9. No benefit at all is gained to hit for strengths between 8 and 16, which should indicate to the player that unless they have a 16 to spend as an attribute on strength, it is not a good idea to choose a fighter as a class. True enough, the reader might remember that half-orcs gain +1 to their strength on account of being of that people; also, its worth noting that a person who is mature in age also gains +1 to their strength. Of this latter, there is only one race where the starting age permits this — the dwarf, with a 78.3% chance of rolling 11 or more on 5d4, has a good chance of reaching 51 age and thus being mature. Under these conditions, if the player had a 16 that could be placed under strength, it would be transformed to a 17 if the character were a half-orc, with a very good chance of it becoming 17 if the character were a dwarf.

Described as a damage adjustment by AD&D, it really is just the bonus damage that is added to the character's weapon die or dice when an opponent is hit. If a flail normally does 2-7 damage (1d6+1), then a 16 strength adds +1 to that damage, causing 3-8 damage instead. As before, choosing a half-orc or a dwarf as a character class can transform a 15 strength with adds no damage bonus, into a 16, giving at least +1.

Again, it can be seen that if a character has a strength of 5 or less (and only one character class exists that can have a strength this low, that being the illusionist), then 1 point of damage is subtracted whenever a hit against an opponent is achieved.

As written in AD&D, "fighters" with an 18 strength are entitled to roll percentile dice in order to generate a random number between 1 and 100. This number is obtained by rolling two d10, defining one as the 10s digit and the other as the 1s. Thus, we might roll a "3" on the first and a "4" on the second, which would be read as "34." If a zero is read on the first, then a four, the result would be read as "4." Two zeros would be read as "100." On the table, this is shown as "00" and is colloquially described as "double-zero" or "double-naught." The rolled number above is attached to "18" thusly: if the player were to roll "34", the character's strength would be described as "eighteen thirty-four" — and would give the bonuses as written (+1 to hit, +3 damage) that are found on the row 18/(01-50).

Hereafter, AD&D's rules falter. No explanation is given as to what happens if a character starts with a natural 18 attribute, rolls the strength percentage and then gains a point of strength due to maturity or background. No rule is given if a point of strength is lost due to becoming middle aged or old. No explanation is given for the existence of the line that shows an 18 strength but no percentage next to it. If a character has a 17 strength, reaches an age of maturity and adds a point of strength, or adds that point because they are a dwarf or half-orc at the start of the game, does it count as an "18 +2+3" (the manner in which the bonuses are habitually written) or do they automatically roll a percentage? These questions are not addressed. Further, the appellation "fighter" as the "only" class permitted to have exceptional strength is not defined as to whether it means only the fighter class, or if exceptional strength applies to all fighter classes, including the paladin and the ranger.

In standard practice reaching back to the 1970s with the start of D&D, these issues encouraged some to discount exceptional strength altogether, counting an 18 as +1+2 only; some argued that the excessive bonuses overbalanced the fighter anyway. Most assumed exceptional strength applied to both the paladin and the ranger. A house rule of +10% or -10% applied to adjustments to percentile strength, so that a character with an 18/34 strength would become 18/44 upon reaching maturity. As there are other ways in the game to lose or gain strength by magic, these adjustments helped solve the problem that arose through AD&D's silence. Some fixes were later brought in with the publication of the book, Deities & Demigods, but because this was not counted as one of the three original books, many did not count Deities as canon.

Because of the importance of the fighter and strength bonuses to the game, this was one of the flaws of AD&D that would prove fatal as the game community evolved.

(p.s.... passed 100,000 characters)