Is it me or do new characters just have better allocated attributes than what I get with an imported party of the same races and professions? The import just seems to prioritize mostly wrong attributes for each profession and I didn't find a way to tweak that during the import.

The pre-selected characters that the W8 developers thought that you should use, may not necessarily be the best overall. The same could be said with Recruitable Party Characters (RPCs). Their stats seem to be all over the place.

You should create your own party members from scratch. Human stack up the best, followed by the Hobbit (-5 stat points), followed by other races (-10 or -15).

i think the issue is what you call better or best is the same thing i call shit but importing a save actually just locks in the background story so for example

import level 5 bard and level 2 fighter - then make two new characters swapping them out for the imported ones = your new custom party stats is treated as having been imported with whatever Wiz7 ending you picked

I read a guide once on what stats are prioritized. They're not the stats I put into my new characters.

Also I min-max pretty heavily on character creation.

Even if you min/max, the Humans wind up the best in the long run.

The Human Rogue will max Strength/Dexterity/Speed/Senses at level 28, the Fighter at level 29, the Ranger at level 30, and the Valkyrie at level 31. The Human Bishops will max Strength/Intelligence/Speed/Senses at level 30 and 31.

There's races have good dump and below average stats for classes that don't need them. Not all characters need Strength.

The Human Fighter maxes Strength, Dexterity, Speed, and Senses at level 29, leaving stat points to be distributed after that. However, the stat spread makes you put points in Intelligence, Piety, and Vitality after that. You might as well even out stats after that.