Attribute Limits are weird

[Yora]

I was looking over some templates that I want to have ready for my players when starting a new campaign, and I compared the attribute dice for the templates with the attribute limits of various common species, to see if I should make a note which combinations would requite an attribute change.

And I noticed that the limits for different species are all over the place.

Humans are clearly at the top, with attribute limits that would hypothetically allow for 24D in total. They also have a minimum of 12D, so I assume the original idea was that humans can't be bad at anything, but can be really good at everything. Aliens seem to be just universally worse than humans, except for a few cases where they can have 5D in Strength because they are huge.

But with some species they really seem to have gone overboard. Mon Calamari and Rodians suck, and Sullustans and Ithorians are just completely awful.
The only thing Sullustans can be really good at it piloting, and the limit for their Technical ability isn't that bad. But they really suck at anything else. Why they have Knowledge capped at 2D+2 puzzles me the most. They are legendary pilots and their homeworld is one of the biggest industrial powerhouses in the galaxy, but they have no idea what's going on?

At the same time, Quarren are absolutely nuts. Their attribute limits come to a total of 26D+1, compared to the Mon Calamari's 20D+1. Quarrens can have very high Perception, equally high Knowledge as Humans, and significantly exceed human limits at everything else.
Quarrens have a maximum of 5D in technical? Did I miss the Quarren being the famous genius engineers of the galaxy? Because I never heard anything about noteworthy Quarren mechanics or engineers. And 4D+2 in Mechanical is also amazing.
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[Naaman]

I think the idea that Humans being dominant in the galaxy is supported by what you're observing (though I doubt it was deliberately thought out to the extent that you've examined it).

If you consider Earth, humans are essentially the least specialized species on Earth, and can exist in a wide variety of environments for a longer amount of time (even with no "gear") than most other species. The more extreme the environment, the more specialization is required, which further reduces the denizens' therein ability to survive somewhere else (let alone thrive).

How many other creatures on earth can climb, jump, run and swim? Most can get 3 out of those 4, some can get all 4, but are terrible (compared to humans) at one or more. Cats, for example, are not as "seaworthy" as humans, but can certainly jump better. As for running, a cat may outrun a human over a very short distance, but trained humans have been known to outrun even horses over marathon-length distances.

Now, add in human ingenuity to the equation, and you get a creature that dominates the full spectrum of habitable environments nature has to offer, from deserts to tundras, tropics to mountains, swamps to plains.

So, with humans being "generalized" and intelligent (artificially adaptable), it gives them a significant advantage over other intelligent but environmentally specialized species in terms of colonizing/exploring the galaxy.

I might consider making the absolute potential of humans higher than the vast majority of all other species.

However, some attributes are "more valuable" than others, with strength perhaps being the most valuable (since the attribute itself is used A LOT in game play). So having a higher strength potential might "cost" a species something in it's other attributes' potentials, if you want to "balance" things according to the impact on actual game play.
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[Yora]

Humans actually have insane stamina (which I think only dogs can compete with) and the ability to throw things with aim (which I think archer fish can do). I also heard that the human keeps working with more severe injuries than most animals, but I don't know what's that based on.
And of course, brain power is just off the charts.

Humans have plenty of specializations, we just don't think about them being special.
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[Naaman]

I guess that depends on what you mean by "specializations."

What I meant by it was features or attributes that are optimized for one thing at the expense of versatility. Being able to throw does not "cost" anything relative to another creature (seems like a byproduct of a "bonus" trait rather than a trade-off of some kind). Does that make sense?
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[Whill]

Attribute limits are weird, for sure.

Starting in 1e, the entire game system was based around human capabilities. So in 2e, aliens should be adjusted to better or worse from there (typicals, mins, maxes, and special abilities (including disadvantageous ability differences).

In 1e, a typical human was statted out at 2D in all attributes (thus 12D total). There were no species attribute ranges in 1e (only typical stats and PC templates for a few species), but all the human template attributes had minimum of 2D and a maximum of 4D. When they added attribute ranges in 2e, the flubbed on humans. Most species have attribute minimums below the typical value for most attributes. Humans were given the typical stats for all minimums. Mathematically, the minimum has to be less than the average. This is a fairly common mistake in real human thinking, among both players of the game and some of the authors.

But I don't think the mistake comes from gross arithmetical ineptitude (although that could be a factor for some). I think the mistake mainly comes from people forgetting about the differences between PC and NPC stats. Human PCs have 18D in attributes (an average attribute of 3D), while NPC attribute totals can be anywhere from below typical to above PCs. People forgetting this is why some authors and players think all smugglers (or at least all human smugglers) have attributes exactly matching the PC template, and why Greedo was statted as an 18D Bounty Hunter when he was really only a mook and shouldn't have much more than a typical Rodian attribute dice total.

So Humans are represented as comparatively great in the game, but for now let's just assume the 2D typical and 4D max of RAW. When I first got 2e, one of the first changes I made are to make the min 1D. Humans can still suck. I think that fixes the glaring flaw in RAW human species stats.

However, all the EU fluff during and since the WEG game, humans are continually represented as superior to most species of the galaxy, so I decided to update human stats further to represent this. My game system is based on 2D being typical/average attribute value among sentient species (12D total), but humans are no longer the basis of this galactic average. To represent the fluff of typical humans being above galactic average, humans in my game have a typical attribute of 2D+1, and thus a typical total of 14D. On the max end, I also raised the max attribute to 4D+1.

As far as other species, I restat their typical, min, and max attribute stats as I see fit to better reflect the fluff and my concept of the species. I'm not bothered by species maximum totals being all over the place because species do not evolve equally. The most important thing is that if they are a species you allow as PC, the max totals have to be at least 18D (or whatever the species PC total attribute value is).

As far as Quarren, they have been shown to be more technical since the PT-era EU where they supplied capital ships to the Separatists (that's probably why there was Quarren on the Separatist Council). But yes, WEG did stat them out that way first so it was putting the cart before the horse. Maybe the stat writer of the 2e SW Sb just thought that they should be highly technical since they perform a lot of blue collar jobs in the high tech Calamari society?

I think I lowered Quarren Tech max a bit because I always update stats as I see fit. Remember, some game authors are really good at fluff but just wing it with stats. It is very clear there was no central stats consistency editing at WEG, so they probably ignored the values and just made sure skills were under the correct attributes and spelled right. Don't feel limited by RAW stats. If you don't like something, change it. It's your game.
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[Yora]

I was setting up a simple spreadsheet to automatically check if the number of attribute dice totals to exactly 18D/54 pips and if attributes limits for species are met. (It seems useful when adding an alien species to a human template.)

During the process I also ended up with a column that shows the value of pips if a character had all attributes at maximum. Though I just share them here.

79 Quarren
79 Gand
78 Bith
77 Hutt
72 Bothan
72 Human
70 Devaronian
69 Herglic
69 Weequay
68 Twi'lek
67 Jawa
65 Trandoshan
65 Ugnaught
65 Verpine*
64 Defel
64 Duros
64 Gran
64 Wookiee*
62 Mon Calamari
62 Rodian
59 Sullustan
62 Sluissi
59 Verpine*
58 Ithorian
52 Gamorrean

Of course it doesn't represent strength. What it does is show how much flexibility you have when assigning your attribute dice. But higher total values usually also indicate the option to put one or two attributes really high.

Quote a lot of weirdness going on there.

Both Gand and Hutts are paragons of athleticism, with a Strength limit of 15.

Bith are also really funky, having a 5D limit in Mechanical, Perception, and Technical and a 6D limit in Knowledge. But also a 3D limit in Dexterity and a 2D limit in Strength. "Yeah, this is big brain time."
This seems like a species that allows you to hyper specialize in two attributes and then left with no more points. Since they automatically end up very wimpy, I actually don't see them as a problem.

Verpines have an odd ability where they have Technical at 2D/3D, but also get a +2D bonus on all Technical skills. This is even better than starting with 4D or 5D in Technical because it makes all Technical skills really cheap to upgrade. (And also gives them effectively 20D to start with.)
But if you treat that bonus as two extra dice for attribute limits, their total limits add up to 65 pips, which is decent, instead of only 59 pips, which is awful.
Yes, they are quite restricted in their flexibility, but I think when you want to play a Verpine you're already committed to make an awesome mechanic.

Wookiees technically get a decent total limit of 64 pips, but most of that apparent flexibility is entirely about how high you want your Strength.
If you put your Strength at the lower limit of 2D+2, then your remaining 15D+1 will max out all your other five attributes.

And I was right. Sullustans are awful. Pilots are the only thing they are good for, though they could still make a halfway decent mechanic. But in everything else they are just really bad.
Bumping their Knowledge limit from 2D+2 to 3D+2 seems to be a real necessity. (Duros also have a weirdly low Knowledge limit, but they make even better pilots and mechanics and at least can be good at shooting blasters.)

Gamorreans are a joke. Their limits are so low you can't even put 18D in them. So they only get 11D(+6D) for attributes. Which means as a player, your only question is which of the six attributes you want to have 1 pip below the limit. The other five will all be at their limit.
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[MrNexx]

I'm a little surprised by how high twi'leks are; I remember their stats being horrible.
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[Yora]

Mechanical and Technical are somewhat weak at 3D. They don't make for good spacers.
But the rest is almost like humans.
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[Whill]