So I'm grinding my way through the sewers, and my Paladin was withered and god OLD. All his stats reset to 1. Bummer. I don't have any spells that can remedy this yet. (CAN this even be fixed with a spell? I went through all of the spells in the game manual, and I couldn't figure out which spell cured the OLD status)

But then I noticed something. My Paladin wasn't doing *that badly*, even though it was OLD. It was still one or two-shotting enemies. Which made me wonder....what do stata even do then? Does this mean that a lv. 50 Paladin with all 18/18/18/18/18 stats does almost the same amount of damage as a lv. 50 Paladin with all 1/1/1/1 stats, assuming everything else was equal?

EDITED: SOLVED

OLD can be cured the following ways:
* BT2 Classic (not remaster): Just cast Heal All or the Dreamspell (doesn't work in the remaster or in BT3)
* BT3: There's a Chronomancer spell called Youth (code OLAY) that will cure it. The Youth Potion casts this spell when used, but has limited uses.
* Of course, in any of the games you can go to a temple and pay to have this ailment cured. You *probably* want to do this before you level up (in at least one classic version, not doing so makes the stat loss permanent).

As for differences:
* 18 STR means, I believe +3 to damage per hit compared to 1 STR, so a difference of 24 damge if you have 8 attacks. So, there is a difference, but it's not that big.
* DEX affects AC, as you've problably noticed. I believe it also affects the growth rate of Hunter and Thief skills (but not item identifiaction; that uses INT).
* CON affects HP gain at level up; INT affects SP gain. Note that these effects are not retroactive, but also note that XP requirements stop increasing eventually, and there's no level cap (unless you exceed the limits that the game can represent).
* LUCK affects saving throws, both offensively and defensively. (In BT3 remastered, you'll want high Luck on the Hunter.) With that said, saving throws improve with level; in BT1/BT2 they will get good enough by level 36 (when it caps out), while in BT3 the cap is gone, so you can compensate for low LUCK by gaining more levels.

To answer the question in your other topic:
* In BT1 and BT2 classic, stats cap at 18.
* In BT2 remastered, stats cap at 20.
* In BT3, stats cap at 30. Note that high stats have a bigger impact in BT3 remastered than in BT3 classic.

Oh, thank you for your detailed response! That explains a lot!

You're welcome.

By the way, one little detail: If all stats are maxed out, you won't get a stat at level up, but if at least one stat isn't maxed, you're guaranteed a stat gain for that stat. This ensures that your stats will eventually max out.

Exception: In the DOS version of Bard's Tale 3, and possibly the Amiga version, if Luck is maxed out, you might not get a stat gain at level up. I consider this behavior to be a bug. With that said, I would advise avoiding those two versions of BT3; BT3 is a great game, but those two versions are too buggy to be enjoyable. (Classic Bard's Tale has many versions, all different and with different bugs.)

Oh, that is good to know. I think for this play-through, I'm going to run through the remastered Trilogy first. I haven't played this game for over 20 years, and I would hope that the remaster has dealt with/fixed most of the bugs.

The only version of BT3 I have is the one that is included with the reboot (which I believe is an emulated Apple II version).

I really appreciate this advice though. It helps me to figure out which stat rolls I think are "lucky" and which ones I think are "unlucky" as I level up in the game.

The BT3 remaster does have its quirks, but it's definitely a good version of the game. (For example, SP regenerates *much* faster in the remaster (which I consider to be a good thing), hunters can score ranged criticals, and anti-magic works differently.)

One thing I do recall is that unlike many games, having low starting stats don't really matter, especially in BT2 as you almost always max out your stats by the end of the game.
I think I was generally in level 30's by the end of BT1, and in the 50's by the end of BT2, but the GS/OS version of Bard's Tale II didn't support importing BT1 characters, unlike the other ProDOS 16 Apple IIGS version out there.