SO which is better?

In my opinion, Strength. More hits and more damage to foes. Throw it in with high dexterity and you can get by on average constitution by avoiding damage.

Well it depends on which type of char your planing to make. But were probably talking the fighter type here.
As far as I remember, high dex bonus wont affect your AC when wearing heavy armors, so a maxed dex is imho not recomended if creating a fighter.
I would recomend you get your str maxed. but don't nerf neither con nor dex.

18/??
16+
16+
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would look ok to me... Then it's up to your morale to deside whether you can live with totaly nerfing cha, wis and int.

if you do so, you can of course get:

18/??
18
18
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But I want recomend doing that to much, since you WILL need chars to intimidate, persuade et cetera... And it's good to have a frontliner with theese abilities, since you can't always deside whom an NPC desides to speek to(who comes first)

[ August 20, 2004, 22:33: Message edited by: RPGz-Olimikrib ]

That's a tough one.

Take the Shielf Dward vs the Half-orc. The former can max CON at 20 and STR at 18, the latter CON at 18 and STR at 20. CON would give one extra hit point per level (max possible 30), STR gives +1 to attack and +1 to damage (or +1.5 for two-handed weapons).

Which one to go for? I'd personally go for maxing out STR. The extra to hit and damage apply all the way through the game, from level 1 to level 30, in both normal and HOF. Extra hit points on the other hand only become worthwhile once they've accumulated, and even then 30 extra HP next to the 200-300 you already have won't make much of a difference. Besides, STR also increases your carrying capacity (though this might not be that important if the stat is high anyway).

On the other hand, maxing CON will also give +1 to fortitude saves, and those 30 HP can mean the difference between the character either dying or surviving long enough for Heal to be cast.

I'd max STR for any warrior class. They have enough hit points anyway, and their fortitude saves are good to begin with. Max CON for arcane spellcasters, since their HP and fortitude saves are so low, and they really need any boost they can get. And they don't need STR, because they're not supposed to be at the frontline. I'm not so sure about clerics. I guess it depends on whether you're using him/her as a frontliner or as a spellslinger.

I'd max STR instead of CON for anyone that is supposed to do more than bare minimum of melee.

Better chance to hit with more damage per hit is a double advantage, whereas increased hit points from high CON only slightly delays the inevitable death if you get surrounded by monsters.

High hit points for spell casters is a nice bonus, but I find it more profitable to increase their casting stat, especially on mages.

Undoubtedly Str is more important that Con for a frontliner. You want the fight to end as quickly as possible dont you?

Problem is that you dont have many ways of hiking your Con during the game.
The Ring of Hearty Strenght gives you +1Str and +1 Con, and this is the only Con improving item I have found in-game.
There is also a potion which hikes your Con by 1 permanently but I dont know where you may find such a thing in a Normal game.
The only way for you to achive greater Con may be through your level-ups.

On the other hand, there are so many Str increasing items, spells and potions that later on your backrow wimp of a mage can sport 20Str if he so wishes.

So during charecter creation you may skimp on a couple of Str points for Con, but dont go overboard.

Another point is if you play with "Max hit points on level ups" because then CON is even less important.

Another point is if you play with "Max hit points on level ups" because then CON is even less important True. That's why I invest CON only on my Rogues and Spellcasters, cause they're always a notch behind in terms of hit points. Also CON helps Fortitude saves and casting being disrupted (not sure about this though) making it more important for Spellcasters I guess.

High CON is great for your sanity because you can end up with such high HP that you don't have to heal and rest as often and thus get through the game more quickly.

High CON is great for your sanity because you can end up with such high HP that you don't have to heal and rest as often and thus get through the game more quickly Wahahahaha :lol:

But seriously, fatigue will get in the way even if your characters' hit points are ok. They need to rest once per day IIRC.

Fatigue ? They implemented that in IWD II?

I remember Jan complaining about blisters on his feet if I went about adventuring for 2 days.
But I still have not seen it in this game. Maybe thats because all my charecters have some fighter type mix-in.
Or maybe I sleep more often than you do Alphidius :shake:

There is fatigue in IWDII but it almost never comes into play because you usually have to rest to heal long before you ever have to rest from fatigue. There is also far less map-hopping in the linear IWDII so less time is lost 'travelling'.