Ability score impact in B/X
In the early days of Dungeons & Dragons, ability scores had little function in the game but to act as prime requisites for the three (eventually four) classes, determining whether a character received a bonus to earned experience points. When they did affect resolution of actions during actual game play, the impact was limited to a bonus or penalty of + or -1. As the game evolved, ability scores began to apply more directly to in-game actions, such as attack and damage rolls and saving throws, and the range of adjustments was expanded. With the increase in the role of ability scores, they became important to all classes, not just the one for whom each is a prime requisite, and their relative importance and impact also shifted greatly, with some becoming very powerful and others much less so. In this post, I'm going to analyze the power of each ability in the B/X D&D rules, including factors such as which rolls or stats an ability modifies, the relative magnitude of modifie