Ability scores important to classes

[Priceguy]

First of all, I must mention that I've never played Dungeons and Dragons, and the vast majority of my knowledge of the game comes from reading a) Order of the Stick, b) these forums and c) the online 3.5 SRD because I wanted to look something up that I read about in a) or b). I've played a lot of other role-playing games, though.

In the Dragon Magazine comic in Snips, Snails & Dragon Tales where the Order finds the Manual of Gainful Exercise, Haley is hoping for it to be a Manual of Quickness of Action, which makes sense since she would most benefit from an increase in Dexterity so it would go to her. Durkon is praying for a Tome of Clear Thought and I assumed that increased Wisdom. When I looked it up it turns out it increases Intelligence. Having read the class descriptions it seems to me that Wisdom is a lot more important to clerics than Intelligence and vice versa for wizards. Am I missing something or should Durkon have prayed for a Tome of Understanding instead?

[Goaty14]

To get this straight:
Random Tome:
Haley wants +Dex
Durkon wants (You assumed) +Wis
Durkon actually wanted +Int

Despite Wisdom being the primary spellcasting stat (+to DCs, Bonus spells) for divine spellcasters, a divine caster (or any class) may want a higher intelligence for more skillpoints, because intelligence directly modifies how many skill points each character gets. So a wizard (base 2 skillpoints) with an int of 18 (+4 modifier) gets 6 skill points every level.

[Hackulator]

It might also just have been a mistake.

[Priceguy]

It might also just have been a mistake.

Well, that's what I'm asking. Is it a mistake or would it be reasonable to give a found Tome of Clear Thought to Durkon rather than V?

[eggynack]

Well, that's what I'm asking. Is it a mistake or would it be reasonable to give a found Tome of Clear Thought to Durkon rather than V?
Probably a mistake, though it's possible that V's already used an intelligence tome with a higher bonus, which would make a lower or equal bonus tome meaningless, and that Durkon has used a wisdom tome with a higher bonus, thus making the int tome better for him. It'd be kinda arbitrary who the intelligence tome goes to at that point though, and I'd kinda expect it to go to Haley given how expansive the rogue skill list is.

[Karl Aegis]

He needs the Int bonus so he can figure out where he is and why there aren't more dwarfs.

[Hackulator]

Well, that's what I'm asking. Is it a mistake or would it be reasonable to give a found Tome of Clear Thought to Durkon rather than V?

I think it was likely a mistake in the writing of the comic itself, and the intention was for Durkon to want a Wisdom tome. There are very few reasons you would give a cleric an int tome.

[Telonius]

On the other hand, if he'd had a higher INT score he would have remembered the correct item to ask for. :smallbiggrin:

[Priceguy]

Great answers. Thanks!

[Psyren]

It's a typo and you're overthinking it. The Giant simply went off memory and didn't bother to research the tome names.

[ericgrau]

It's a typo and you're overthinking it. The Giant simply went off memory and didn't bother to research the tome names.

This

str = strength, con = constitution, dex = dexterity, int = intelligence, wis = wisdom, cha = charisma
Dex, wis and int are a minor help to all classes due to saving throws (con/wis/dex, a die roll to avoid danger, usually magical danger), skillpoints (int), related skills (any) and initiative (dex, taking your turn earlier). I will exclude from minor list below for simplicity, unless the class has another minor way to use them. And there may be plenty of exceptions to the below but I'm trying to speak generally.

Class: major / minor
Barbarian: Str, con / -
Bard: Cha, con / dex, str. They actually don't need much cha but the stereotype and OotS way is high cha.
Cleric: Wis, con / cha
Druid: Wis, con / -
Fighter: Str, con. Or archer dex / str, con.
Monk: str, con / dex, wis.
Paladin: Str, con / cha, wis. Again, generally. Yes there are cha heavy builds but they're splatbook heavy and often done wrong. Especially for OotS.
Ranger: Str, con / dex. Or archer dex / str, con.
Rogue: Dex, con / -. Sometimes str, con / dex (Bozzak). Or (either of these) / cha.
Sorcerer: Cha, con / int. Often Cha, con / int, dex or sometimes dex, con / cha, int for ray spells.
Wizard: Int, con / -. Often Int, con / dex or sometimes dex, con / int for ray spells.

You may have noticed than in D&D con is kind of important. It's the not dying ability score. Important unless you're a politician or closeted crafter or some such. Or undead like Xykon. On the opposite end is cha, the most common ability score to ditch unless you're a sorcerer. Social ability isn't the most important thing for travelling killers, plus the game rules don't give it much use except for very small social bonuses. Many of the early OotS jokes revolved around the PC's low chas.