All characters are defined by their attributes which are 6 stats ranging from 1 to 20. They represent the various capabilities of the character. The starting value of the attribute will be 8 and the race of the character will give additional modifiers to those base values. The maximum level an attribute can be raised is up to the starting value + 10. So a character with a starting attribute of 8 will allow to raise the stat up to 18.

Each character will have between 18 points that can be invested in any attribute at character creation. This means that you can only max out one stat at character creation. A few extra points will be awarded when leveling up.

Difficulty modifier

The game difficulty will simply add a penalty to the starting attribute value ranging from 0 to -4. So on a very hard difficulty, the base attribute value will be 4 instead of 8.

Design Notes

• The objective is to make all attributes useful for any classes. I want to avoid having a Mage with a IQ of 20, and every thing else to the minimum.
• Instead of having a single purpose to a stat, all stats could be used for all purpose. For example, agility, intelligence or strength could be used to make a saving throw depending on what you need to save against.
• I tried to avoid Attributes modifiers and use pure basic attributes to give them more purpose. Attribute modifiers are basically a change of scale from 1-20 to -5+5.
• I realized that Wizardry V replaced the "Piety" attribute with the "Devotion" attribute. It is much more general and has less a mandatory religious connotation as devotion could be to anything else. It has some similarities with willpower and it gives more flexibility for using this stats in different saving throw.
• The bonus attribute points has been set to 18 for various reasons. First, historical and nostalgic reasons. Bonus 18 is a very common value in the original wizardry. Second, because it would be impossible to max out 2 attributes as it would require 20+ points. This creates an average of 11 points in every attribute, which is a bit more than the middle.

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