Also for each stat is both the confirmed and rumored effects of the stats. Anything that is confirmed and unargued goes under confirmed... correct me if those are wrong, but don't correct me on the rumored... rumored are effects that not everybody agrees are accurate, but at least some do. I'm not saying that anything under rumored is or isn't true, just that it's been said by multiple people.
So, here we go:
Strength
Confirmed Effects: Affects amount of damage done by melee attacks, affects maximum carrying capacity
Rumored Effects: Improves chance of success while smithing (but not chance of skill increase)
Best race: Ogres, at 130
Worst race: High elves, at 55
Stamina
Confirmed Effects: Affects amount of hp, how long you can fight and/or swim without getting strength penalties, how long you can hold your breath while swimming
Rumored Effects: None I've heard.
Best race: Ogres, at 122
Worst races: Dark elves, high elves, and wood elves, at 65
Agility
Confirmed Effects: Improves chance of avoiding melee attacks, also adds to AC
Rumored Effects: Affects rate of skill increase of defensive skills (such as defense, dodge, etc.)
Best races: Halflings and wood elves, at 95
Worst races: Dwarves, erudites, and ogres, at 70
Dexterity
Confirmed Effects: Affects rate of skill increase with weapon skills, affects frequency of weapon procs
Rumored Effects: Affects bard instrument skills, improves chance of success while fletching and tailoring (but not chance of skill increase), affects casting abilities
Best races: Dwarves and Halflings, at 90
Worst races: Barbarians, erudites, high elves, ogres, and vah shir at 70
Wisdom
Confirmed Effects: Affects rate of skill increases of most skills, if it is higher than intelligence. Determines mana supply for wis casters (clerics, druids, and shamans) and wis-based hybrids (beastlords, palladins, and rangers)
Rumored Effects: Increases chance of resisting mind control spelss (charm, mesmerize, and fear)
Best race: High elves, at 95
Worst race: Trolls, at 60
Intelligence
Confirmed Effects: Affects rate of skill increases for most skills, if it is higher than wisdom. Determines mana supply for int casters (enchanters, magicians, necromancers, and wizards) and int-based hybrids (bards and shadowknights).
Rumored Effects: None I've heard.
Best race: Erudites, at 107
Worst race: Trolls, at 52
Charisma
Confirmed Effects: Affects prices merchants buy and sell for.
Rumored Effects: Affects chance of success and/or duration of mesmerize and charm spells. Afeects (negatively) chance of success and/or duration of fear spells.
Best race: High Elves, at 80
Worst race: Ogres, at 37
Well that's all there is... All of this information is readily available elsewhere, but rarely all in the same place.
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Ryuujin had this to say about Robocop:
I also heard another rumour about Dexterity, I heard it slightly affects run speed.
Not nearly as much as connection speed does! 
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Ryuujin had this to say about Matthew Broderick:
I also heard another rumour about Dexterity, I heard it slightly affects run speed.
Hm, can't say I've heard that rumor... anyone have any evidence that confirms or refutes it? Doesn't seem like dexterity would logically affect how fast you run, but EQ doesn't necessarily follow RL logic... Have to experiment with this. Take two characters, one with low dex and one with high dex, equal in all other ways, and time how long it takes them to run between two points. See if there's a significant difference. If anybody tries this, post the results here, please! I'd love to know, and I'm sure others would too.
"Don't want to sound like a fanboy, but I am with you. I'll buy it for sure, it's just a matter of for how long I will be playing it..."
- Silvast, Battle.net forums
quote:Ping/Latency effects your running speed the most. Dex has no affect whatsoever.
Tier had this to say about Matthew Broderick:
Not nearly as much as connection speed does!
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Comrade_Snoota had this to say about dark elf butts:
I heard intelligence helps you bake better if you have exactly 132 and try it on a full moon that falls on the fourth of the month at 11:11 at night.
Interesting... ever try to experimently prove or disprove this rumor?
Man, you must have been bored to post that... and I must have been just as bored if not more so to reply to it...
Dex helps chance for channeling, I noticed this with my chanter when I had a dex buff and items.
A maxed jc master told me that higher wis helps for if you fail or make an item.
Agi and haveing light/no armor on helps your run speed.
For cha high or very low cha can help with fear spells.
Dunno if this is still true today.
I think the Bard Song thing for dex may be slightly more than rumored 
And we have the worst CHA!
Ownage.
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Dexterity
Rumor: affects casting abilities
I thought we cleared this up?
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Wisdom
Rumored Effects: Increases chance of resisting mind control spelss (charm, mesmerize, and fear)
Nope. Magic Resist.
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Charisma
Rumored Effects: SLIGHTLY affects chance of success and/or duration of mesmerize and charm spells. Affects (negatively) chance of success and/or duration of fear spells.
Added a word. I wish that word was "highly," but it's not. [ 01-28-2002: Message edited by: D ]
Ive never noticed cha help, or hurt, fear. (Both my chanter and my necro can fear, never noticed that much of a diffrence.)
With my bard I did see cha help with mez, and charm, just a bit. <But went from 104 to 141 in cha...> As long as im not in a place with stuff thats got high MR.
You do want:
STA >= 100 - so you dont get any negative effects from being outta stamina
And since SoL, they bumped the int/wis cap, so casters/priests may as well shoot for 255 wis or int depending which you use.
--
For melee's, putting any starting points into anything but sta (until you reach 100) is a total waste.
Dex has nothing to do with casting.
Agi only provides very minimal AC boosts, this is probably the most useless stat in the game.
XP is king, AC is queen, HP is Prince, Mana is Princess, and the ability scores make up the ministers with Religion as Court Jester,
Anyone remember the negative Cha thing and Fear? Never proven?
It wouldn't make sense, Higher Charisma would help more with fear. High Charisma isn't just good looks, it's also intimidating looks, domination presence, etc. 
But at any rate, I've known a Necro with 1 Charisma.
He ended up paying like 10pp everytime he bought food, because he said it took too long to remove the -Cha stuff...
The rumor that X stat affects your run speed stems from the optical illusion that makes it look like smaller races move faster than larger ones from a first-person perspective.
Cast Avatar on a halfling and have him footrace an unbuffed ogre. They will run at precisely the same speed. [ 01-28-2002: Message edited by: Maradön? ]
Okay, I made the requisite joke.
quote:
Lashanna stumbled drunkenly to the keyboard and typed:
Anyone remember the negative Cha thing and Fear? Never proven?
Not only is it not proven, it's vehemently discounted. Visit the EQNecro boards more often
(on second thought, if you had a problem with my whining, maybe you better stay far, far away from those boards)
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Confirmed Effects: Improves chance of avoiding melee attacks, also adds to AC
They're one in the same. It improves chances of avoiding melee attacks because it adds AC.
Basically, it has no affect on combat other than to boost your AC.
quote:
JooJooFlop wrote, obviously thinking too hard:
I have a buddy in my guild that feels melee stats are the way to go for a monk. He also thinks that dexterity effects the chances of landing a successful hit in melee and monk skills.
I have a buddy in mine who's been carrying around a Globe of Fear from the specs in oasis since he was level 12. He claims it increases the duration of his fear spells.
Amazing what people convince themselves of, isn't it?
Ever notice how when you become encumbered, your agility goes down? It is more extreme at the lower end then it is at the high end (Re: 100+) but it is there.
But yes, Ping/PL will affect run speed more then anything else.
quote:
Delphi had this to say about Captain Planet:
Actually, Agility DOES affect run speed.Ever notice how when you become encumbered, your agility goes down? It is more extreme at the lower end then it is at the high end (Re: 100+) but it is there.
No, your agility and your run speed decrease with encumberance. This in no way implies any kind of association, other than the fact that encumbarance affects both.
Agility has abso-freakin-lutely no affect on run speed.
Stat superstitions are a big pet peeve of mine [ 01-28-2002: Message edited by: Maradön? ]
Especially Mana, Stamina and HP regen.
quote:
Maradön? had this to say about Robocop:
No, your agility and your run speed decrease with encumberance. This in no way implies any kind of association, other than the fact that encumbarance affects both.Agility has abso-freakin-lutely no affect on run speed.
Stat superstitions are a big pet peeve of mine
Five bucks says he hasnt truthfully tested it.
I'll prolly lose 5 bucks since Maradon is such a mean nasty person-duck thing, but thats ok, Dont think it matters at this point.
quote:
Delphi wrote this stupid crap:
Five bucks says he hasnt truthfully tested it.
Five bucks says you haven't.
Do the same thing I did. Get a halfling. Get an ogre. Cast Avatar on the halfling (+100dex, +100agi, among other things) and footrace them.
They'll run at the same speed.
(When you're waiting for a fear raid, you find yourself with time on your hands)
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D wrote, obviously thinking too hard:
I thought we cleared this up?
Obviously you weren't paying full attention, and didn't read this part of my post:
quote:
Anything that is confirmed and unargued goes under confirmed... correct me if those are wrong, but don't correct me on the rumored... rumored are effects that not everybody agrees are accurate, but at least some do. I'm not saying that anything under rumored is or isn't true, just that it's been said by multiple people.
The fact is, whether it's ture or not, dex affecting casting abilities is something that at least some people believe (read Davidson's post); but not everyone. That's why I put it under rumored effects and not under confirmed effects.
Why don't you start making sure you read the entire post before replying?
I dont know of many items that lower agility, soo...
quote:
Delphi stumbled drunkenly to the keyboard and typed:
I dont know of many items that lower agility, soo...
Buff yourself to 150 agility with eqipment.
Encumber yourself down to 80 agility.
You will run slower than someone with 80 agility.
quote:
Delphi stumbled drunkenly to the keyboard and typed:
I dont know of many items that lower agility, soo...
Ask an Enchanter or Shaman to hit you with Cripple.
quote:
Mightion Defensor had this to say about Pirotess:
Actually, the only thing the determines your chance of success while smithing is your SKILL LEVEL. STR can add a secondary bonus to your chance of getting a skill up, but ONLY above 185. So, if you can't get your STR to over 185 while smithing, put on your WIS/INT suit.
This seems to be argued back and forth on eqtraders.com ... since you're obviously an experienced smith I'll take you word for it. Most tradeskillers agree that strength affects smithing, and dexterity affects fletching and tailoring... but it's still not universally agreed upon as to what those effects are. Some say it improves chance of success, some say it improves chance of raising skill, some say both. Your experience suggest it's the raisong skill one (with str and smithing), which means that is probably also true with dexterity and fletching and tailoring.
But as Maradon pointed out with charisma and fear spells, rumors can remain presistant for a very long period of time, despite evidence to the contrary... any fletchers orr tailors who have confirmed or refuted the rumors of dexterity effects on those skills?
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Davidson had this to say about Jimmy Carter:
A maxed jc master told me that higher wis helps for if you fail or make an item.
Actually, I don't think that is true... I've talked to several people in my guild (who are masters in their tradeskills, most over 200) that tell me that the only thing that affects chance of success of making any tradeskill item is your skill level in that tradeskill. For example, somebody with 200 brewing and 85 wis still has a better chance of succesfully making a tainted avalanche ale than somebody with 180 brewing and 100 wis.
Wis or int, whichever is higher, only affects your chance of getting better in a tradeskill when you attempt a non-trivial recipe, it doesn't affect chances of success... in that example I showed you, the brewer with 85 wis defintiely would have had to spend a lot more time and money getting their brewing up that high than someone with higher wis. My monk, with 202 brewing, actually wore a lot of wis geat to help get that skill up (since transfered that stuff to my troll beastlord, who needs wis far more than a monk does).
My monk with 100+ agi used to consistantly outrun my fellow wizzie guildmate with his AGi of 70. wasnt a matter of perspective changes, he was continually asking me to slow down because I was outrunning the party.
Unless of course, Monks have a faster innate run ability.
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Troodon had this to say about Robocop:
Actually, I don't think that is true... I've talked to several people in my guild (who are masters in their tradeskills, most over 200) that tell me that the only thing that affects chance of success of making any tradeskill item is your skill level in that tradeskill. For example, somebody with 200 brewing and 85 wis still has a better chance of succesfully making a tainted avalanche ale than somebody with 180 brewing and 100 wis.Wis or int, whichever is higher, only affects your chance of getting better in a tradeskill when you attempt a non-trivial recipe, it doesn't affect chances of success... in that example I showed you, the brewer with 85 wis defintiely would have had to spend a lot more time and money getting their brewing up that high than someone with higher wis. My monk, with 202 brewing, actually wore a lot of wis geat to help get that skill up (since transfered that stuff to my troll beastlord, who needs wis far more than a monk does).
My always succeeded at Baking more than my warrior. Always. I tested that several times. Go figure.
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KaLourin DthBlayde had this to say about pies:
AGI doesnt affect running speed?My monk with 100+ agi used to consistantly outrun my fellow wizzie guildmate with his AGi of 70. wasnt a matter of perspective changes, he was continually asking me to slow down because I was outrunning the party.
Unless of course, Monks have a faster innate run ability.
I've always thought Monks have some kind of innate run ability too cause I always outran everyone except other Monks, even without the AA run speed. But that's just me.
Stamina is universal as far as HP goes. Classes get a formula # of hp per point of stamina at X level.
Example:
Level 60 warriors get 6 hp per stamina.
Level 60 rogues get 4 hp per stamina.
As far as wis/int, the formula pre 200 is pretty easy. Since they removed the soft cap, the formula is a bit skew. Im almost positive that my mana pool is larger then they suggest.
Ferrel!
