is there a reason I cant get more than 17 on my starting stats

[Sefin]

is there a reason I cant get more than 17 on my starting stats?

[Simple Kind of Man]

yes

[[TG] zac]

Because they balanced it that way.
Don't worry there are a lot of things in the game that give stat increases or even raise a stat to a set point (17-21 or higher).

[Metrod125]

Larian made it so? I heard it was different in Early Access but not so anymore.

[Mike Garrison]

It's an optional D&D rule that Larian decided to use.

[AokiYakumo]

It's because the game uses Point Buy which sets a hard limit on what your upper stat ceiling can be out the gate.

Trust me, 17 in a primary stat is still good af, and zac's right; there's a bunch of ways of inflating your stat totals in this game to absolutely absurd limits (a possible 25 STR by Act III without Giant Strength items like the elixirs, gloves, and whatever),

[brendan_in_china]

The game works just fine with a starting 20. But Larian leaned hard into point buy. I suppose to stop the hour long roll-a-thon.

[Angry Obnoxious Goose]

Originally posted by AokiYakumo:

It's because the game uses Point Buy which sets a hard limit on what your upper stat ceiling can be out the gate.

Trust me, 17 in a primary stat is still good af, and zac's right; there's a bunch of ways of inflating your stat totals in this game to absolutely absurd limits (a possible 25 STR by Act III without Giant Strength items like the elixirs, gloves, and whatever),

Yup, it's essentially 9-11 is 'average human'. and compare it with the Elixir of Hill Giant's Strength, that'd indicate you're as strong as a hill giant at 21. which is lift big boulders levels of strength and being able to throw them, where as someone at 17 strength cannot even lift the same rock.

And iirc, Point Buy for an 18-stat is EXPENSIVE and not worth it for the loss of statpoints for other lower-stats.

[Dr.Abscondus]

Originally posted by Simple Kind of Man:

yes

What he said.

[Lani]

D&D 5e has three main systems, the The D&D Standard Array, point buy and roll per stat.
Standard array is the official standard where you assign the values 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, and 8. over your attributes. Point gives you a bit more flexibility and variety. 17 or 18 as the max is common. Third option is Roll for stats, which is the most random option and you'll either consider The One True And Purest Way To Role Play, or you'll consider backing out of a campaign because one of the other players is rumored to be one of those types. There doesn't seem to be a live and let live Roll for Stats Player and Talking in Caps comes with the territory.

Variants of Roll for Stats include rerolling the worst roll, rolling 3 sets and picking the one you want and rolling for stats but then reassigning the values to suit you.

Old BG and IWD games had Roll For Stats with the option to keep rolling for best stats and even to save your perfect roll and that was abused to hell and back.

[Govi]

Originally posted by brendan_in_china:

The game works just fine with a starting 20. But Larian leaned hard into point buy. I suppose to stop the hour long roll-a-thon.

There’s no point to a roll like in 1 or 2 when you just have a roll-a-thon

[AokiYakumo]

Originally posted by Lani:

D&D 5e has three main systems, the The D&D Standard Array, point buy and roll per stat.
Standard array is the official standard where you assign the values 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, and 8. over your attributes. Point gives you a bit more flexibility and variety. 17 or 18 as the max is common. Third option is Roll for stats, which is the most random option and you'll either consider The One True And Purest Way To Role Play, or you'll consider backing out of a campaign because one of the other players is rumored to be one of those types. There doesn't seem to be a live and let live Roll for Stats Player and Talking in Caps comes with the territory.

Variants of Roll for Stats include rerolling the worst roll, rolling 3 sets and picking the one you want and rolling for stats but then reassigning the values to suit you.

Old BG and IWD games had Roll For Stats with the option to keep rolling for best stats and even to save your perfect roll and that was abused to hell and back.

^This^ (Although you can buy Standard Array with Point Buy so to me those two methods are one & the same.)

[Lani]

Originally posted by AokiYakumo:

^This^ (Although you can buy Standard Array with Point Buy so to me those two methods are one & the same.)

I see Point Buy as Standard Array with a little flexibility to turn that 8 into a true dump stat and up one to 17/18 for a specialist build/class.
Makes sense they use it in CRPGs. Even Bethesda copied point buy, although admittedly from Steve Jackson, not D&D.

[Metallicus]

The point buy system is one of the best design choices Larian made. If you rolled stats you will always feel like you missed out on something and don't even get me started on rolling for stats in a TTRPG. There is always someone who rolls great and someone who rolls terribly and it starts the game off with some hard feelings one way or the other.

[votadc]

Originally posted by TG zac:

Because they balanced it that way.
Don't worry there are a lot of things in the game that give stat increases or even raise a stat to a set point (17-21 or higher).

Why Is 8 the lower starting stat then? And why they put "set to 23" items and "set to 21" potion at the start of the game?

[Mike Garrison]

Originally posted by Lani:

Old BG and IWD games had Roll For Stats with the option to keep rolling for best stats and even to save your perfect roll and that was abused to hell and back.

I did that for a while before I accepted how stupid it was, and just started using EE Keeper to chose whatever stats I wanted to play with. Superhuman, terrible, whatever. No point to trying to roll and roll and roll to get the same effect when you can just set it and move on with your life.

Oh, and at least in the EE versions, even the random rolls allowed a sort of point-buy, because you could tweak your roll.

Also, because you selected your class before you rolled your stats, the game enforced that you never rolled below the minimum for stats for your class.