Character sheet:
Chumpy
Neutral
Male
Human
Fighter (1)

STR
DEX
CON
INT
WIS
CHA

This is how my character sheet generally looks at the start. Now, the DM declares an average stat. Let's just go with the traditional D&D average of 13.

Next, you assign that average to every ability score.

STR 13
DEX 13
CON 13
INT 13
WIS 13
CHA 13

Then, you make racial adjustments. Since Chumpy's human, he has none.

Now, you alter stats point-for-point. If you want Chumpy to have a STR of 15, you need to take two points from another stat.

The stats may end up looking something like this:

STR 15 (+2)
DEX 13 (+1)
CON 16 (+3)
INT 11 (+0)
WIS 11 (+0)
CHA 12 (+1)

Of course, the maximum you can have in any stat is 18 (+bonus or -penalty) and the minimum is 3 (+bonus or -penalty, although INT can't be lower than 3).

And that's about it.

It's been the policy on my game since it began, right here, two years ago. It's also the basis for the point-buy concept available in 3rd edition character generators (point buy charges higher penalties for extreme scores, though). In the aforementioned character generators, an average ability score of 11 is for low-powered campaigns, 12 is standard, and 13 is for high-powered campaigns. An average ability score of 14 is considered ECL +1.

In 2nd edition campaigns, where the main value of character stats only shows up at their extremes, a flat-out average stat of 13 is more likely to be considered normal, with 14 or 15 for high-powered campaigns, and 11 or 12 for low-powered ones.

[ 01-09-2004: Message edited by: Ford Prefect ]