Wisdom
Wisdom is the enlightenment, judgement, or wile of a character and a key attribute for characters capable of casting priest spells. Clerics and druids should ensure that they have an 18 in this attribute, so that they'll get the maximum number of available spells. If you're not playing one of those classes, this is another attribute you can lower without hurting your character. It's not quite as useless as intelligence, however, because characters with scores higher than 14 will get some additional resistance to charm person and similar spells. If you can't get a score that high, however, you might as well lower this attribute as far as you can provided that you don't reduce it below eight (or you'll make yourself more vulnerable to charm person and similar spells). Paladins might want to keep their wisdom score high, as they'll get access to cleric spells in the expansion packs and inevitable sequel to the game.

Dexterity
Dexterity is a character's agility and speed of movement and it's the most important attribute for thieves. This is an attribute that you'll want to maximize for all characters, however, because a score of 15 or higher will grant an armor class bonus and make characters more difficult to hit in combat. A score of 16 or higher will also increase a character's reaction scores, allowing the character to strike sooner in combat. By removing points from other attributes, if necessary, you should ensure that your character has a dexterity score of at least 17.

Constitution
Constitution is a character's physique, fitness, and overall health, and another important attribute. All characters who have a constitution rating of 15 will gain a valuable extra hit point per experience level, and characters with a constitution rating of 16 will gain two extra hp per experience level. Fighters, rangers, and paladins will continue to gain additional hp per experience level for constitution scores above 16. Maximizing your character's hit points is a definite priority. Give a fighter, ranger, or paladin character an 18 constitution (19 if you create a dwarf fighter), and any other character a constitution rating of 16.

Charisma
Charisma is the combined physical attractiveness, persuasiveness, and physical magnetism of a character. A key rating for paladins (and to a lesser extent bards and druids), charisma will also affect the manner in which non-player characters interact with a character, and the ability of a character to be a good party leader and influence the morale of the party. You'll need one character in your party with a high charisma rating, but it doesn't have to be your primary character, so you should remove extra attribute points from charisma and redistribute them to other, more valuable attributes. An NPC companion with high charisma, such as Imoen, who is available at the beginning of the game, can serve as a charismatic party leader.

Next: The Classes
 

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