Sample Character Stats

[Lord High Dandygosh]

There are 20 sample characters in the Investigator Handbook (Harvey p 47, Pierre to Astrid pages 130-145).  The average of the sum of their 8 characteristics is 503.1, far above the the  457.5 expected from die rolls (would have been 460 if the Edu roll hadn't been changed since 6th), or the 460 point buy method.  If you account for age adjustments, the pre-adjusted average goes up to 508.6 (ignoring the small expected bumps for education improvement checks).  19 of the 20 characters have totals above expected (poor Sean!).  This seems far too large a difference to be chance.  The experience packages don't increase characteristics, just skills.  I don't see any other way to increase characteristics so much (the other alternative methods can't make that much difference).  What's going on here?

And by the way, the picture of Erik on page 141 seems to be a total mismatch for his age of 24.

[jimofpeace]

Good point, Dandy.  How did those NPC's have such high characteristics, especially since aging subtracts certain characteristics?  Were they somehow built upon more points than the suggested 460 points under Option 4:  Point Buy Characteristics?  Hmmm, makes one wonder.....

[Spence]

My guess is they have been buffed up a little.  One common use of pre-gens is to introduce new players and a little edge can help them last a tiny bit longer.  And any little bit of help to delay a new players first characters time of death/insanity would be helpful.