Quote:
Originally Posted by jeff_wilson
Regarding the all-able bodied world: If ST, DX, IQ, and HT are independent random variables each with standard distributions and medians of 10, and with the majority of the population having values falling in the intervals [8,12] respectively (p.B14) , the standard deviation would be about +/- 3. This would mean that a value of 9 in any one of ST, DX, IQ, or HT will divide the population into 37% with 9 or less, and 63% with more.
This means that even generously rounding up all fractions you have at most 67% of the population with a score of 10 or better in any one score, and if you include only people with at least 10 in all four stats, you're left with 67% of 67% of 67% of 67%, or a bit less than 16% of the original population.
This also means that 13% of the original population will have a score of 10 in a given stat. To have an average score of 10 over all four attributes without any scores of 9 or less requires all for to be 10, and of the original population, 13% of 13% of 13% of 13% or about 0.03 percent will qualify.
It was inaccurate of me to say that everyone was above average; only 99.8% of Stephan's NPCs are above average.
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What percentage of people fit into the 8-12 range depends on the GM's worldview and how much he ascribes to stat normalization. Personally, I think 8-12 should cover
at least 68% of people (that is, standard deviation should be at most 2). That's going to give a much tighter distribution than you are imposing on another GM's setting. I also have difficulty figuring out where you get 99.8% from. With 10 being the median this means,
by definition, that at most 50% of NPCs would be above average in any given stat. Now, the proportions might get a bit off when you consider all 4, but I don't know where you are pulling 99.8% from.
Note also that the PCs are (generally) extraordinary individuals. NPCs of note are likely to be similarly above average.