Attributes

A character's attributes are the six primary statistics defining his or her nature, and are determined during Character Creation. Each attribute represents a particular aspect of the character, and has a significant impact on his or her capabilities in combat and during interactions. Attributes can be seen as the character's inherent abilities, in contrast with Skills which indicate how well a character has learned to perform a specific action.

Furthermore, unlike skills, attributes cannot be permanently improved after character creation, although certain wearable and consumable items can provide temporary bonuses.

Overview

 * See also Character Creation: Attributes

Attributes are expressed on a scale from 1 to 20+.
 * Attributes below 10 are considered low, with particularly low ratings resulting in potentially crippling penalties.
 * 10 is considered average (or baseline for the purposes of calculating modifiers, offering neither bonuses nor detriments).
 * Attributes 11 to 15 are considered high.
 * Ratings past 16 are exceptional. In dialogue and interactions, numerous checks require 16 or more points in a given attribute.

Combat


An attribute with a score of 10 gives no bonus or penalty. For each point higher than 10 the character will get a bonus, and for each point lower than 10 a penalty.

For example, if a spell effect nominally lasts 30 seconds, its actual duration is derived from the caster's INT score like so:

The same goes for the other stats, though note that the defense modifiers and the Interrupt/Accuracy modifiers are absolute values rather than percentage modifiers.

Dialogue
In conversations with characters, attribute scores often determine which additional dialog options are unlocked for you to choose from - for example, with high Perception you may notice something about the person you're talking to that others wouldn't have and confront them about it.

Since the main character does all the talking in Pillars of Eternity, only his or her attributes are checked in this way - not those of companions.

These options often determine what outcomes are possible in a quest - especially ones that avoid an immediate fight or affect reputation gained or lost. They often require a very high score for the attribute - 15 or more.

The options that open up can be advantageous, neutral or disadvantageous in a conversation, but they do give you a wider range of expression based on your character's build. See the overview table above for a summary of the kinds of things that each attribute may let you do. See the page for each attribute for details.
 * The physical attributes are represented as well as the mental attributes, with the physical attributes often allowing you to perform actions within the conversation.
 * An attribute check may also determine how an NPC reacts to what you said - for example, when you try to sell a lie to a suspicious NPC, they may not believe you if your Resolve is too low. (These options are usually enabled only if the attribute is high enough.)
 * Uses of Might in interactions
 * Uses of Constitution in interactions
 * Uses of Dexterity in interactions
 * Uses of Perception in interactions
 * Uses of Intellect in interactions
 * Uses of Resolve in interactions

Scripted Interactions


Some scripted interactions involve attribute checks as well. If you can select a party member to try a difficult or dangerous action in a scripted interaction, it is that character's attributes that are checked, which makes them distinct from dialogue.

Ranks
The attribute scores of the main character are selected during Character Creation. Each attribute starts at 10 plus any applicable racial or cultural bonuses/penalties. Players may distribute 15 additional attribute points as they see fit, and can reduce an attribute down to 3 or increase it up to 18 plus the racial/cultural modifier (for example, an Aumaua from the Living Lands culture can have a Might score between 6 and 21).

This means that each character will have 78 attribute points in total - 60 of which (i.e. all except for the mandatory minimums of each attribute) can be allocated by the player.

Class recommendation
During character creation some attributes are listed as highly recommended or recommended  for the given class:

Due to fact that Perception determines Graze/Hit/Critical/Interrupt chance by vast majority of players it is considered to be most important stat regardless of class stat recommendations. Usual suspects for a dump stat are Resolve, Constitution, sometimes even Dexterity.

Buffs and debuffs
During the game, characters may benefit from buffs (wearable items, resting bonuses, spells, etc.) or suffer from debuffs (enemy spells/abilities) which temporarily increase or decrease an attribute beyond its base score.

These modifications are not affected by the lower and upper limits that are imposed on attributes during character generation - so with careful stacking of buffs, it is possible for a character to temporarily achieve a score of over 30 in an attribute.

Of course, once the source of the buffs/debuffs is taken away (spell effect wears off, item is unequipped, etc.) the attribute in question reverts back to its base score.

See the individual attribute pages for a list of things that provide such buffs.

Stacking
In bonuses granted from the same source generally do not stack: only the the highest bonus from a category counts, while the lower ones are "suppressed" and appear greyed out in the character tab. Thus, a character can have only one active bonus to a particular attribute or skill from each of following categories at any time: worn items, food (for attributes only), rites (for skills only), resting, boons, and special talents rewarded for completing quests.

For example if you have both the Girdle of Maegfolc Might (Might+3) and the Maegfolc Skull (Might +4) stat bonus applied will be (Might +4), Girdle of Maegfolc Might bonus will be suppressed. You may however still apply bonuses from each of the other sources.

In, buffs applied from "passive" source (including equipment and passive skills) will stack. Buffs applied from "active" sources (including consumables, food - inherently, modals, and abilities) do not stack together, where generally the last-applied bonus will cancel out any bonuses applied before it.