Ockham's Spoon

Interviewer: Can I get your references?
 
Me: *sighing* Probably not; nobody else does.

INCONTINENCE HOTLINE, PLEASE HOLD.

good luck finding them, dude

An Englishman staggers, ashen-faced, into a roadside bar, demanding a large brandy. The barman is concerned.
“Well” says the man, “I was just driving along and my BMW suddenly gave up the ghost! So I cruised into the layby just along the road here, and opened the bonnet. But I have no idea how these modern cars work! I was about to call the Automobile Association when I saw two horses come up to the fence and peer at the engine. And one of them actually spoke! Clear as day! Couldn’t believe my ears!”
“Oh, yes – what did it say?”
“Well, this is the extraordinary thing – it told me to press down on some bit of plastic until I heard a click. So I did that – and then this horse told me to try the engine – and it started immediately!”
“Ah,” said the barman. “And tell me, what colour was this horse?”
“Colour? Colour? Whatever do you mean? The damn’ thing spoke to me, clear as day! In fact, it was a brown horse!”
“Thought so,” says the barman, polishing the next batch of glasses.
“Thought so? Didn’t you hear what I was saying? This horse dam’ well spoke to me!”
“Well”, says the barman, “I thought it would be her. The white one knows nothing about BMW ignition systems!”

Keep in mind that Normal Characteristic Maxima are not a hard and fast limit, merely a boundary beyond which Characteristics cost more. A GM is also not obligated to apply them to his heroic-level characters. When you look at Conan or Tarzan or Doc Savage, they clearly exceed what even well-trained athletes are capable of. Because they're heroes.
 
For comparison purposes, note that in the Champions genre book for superhero gaming, it suggests limits above NCM for human characters, beyond which they should be considered "superhuman," and have some setting-appropriate justification for how they became so exceptional. For example, that book sets the upper limit for humanly-possible STR, DEX, CON, and BODY at 30, SPD at 7, and INT, EGO, and PRE at 50.
 
In a fantasy game there can be plenty of justifications for a character to have Characteristics beyond the Maxima: barbarian or feral upbringing, enchantment or enchanted items, nonhuman or divine blood, training in esoteric disciplines, exposure to mind-expanding secret knowledge, etc.

In games like D&D and Pathfinder your characteristics are more important at early levels, but after you start gaining levels their impact on the game diminishes and your class abilities start to make more difference.  For example, in pathfinder if I have a first level elven wizard with and 18 STR vs a fighter with a 10 STR the elven wizard will probably defeat the fighter.  The +4 to hit and damage from STR gives the wizard the advantage.  But as the characters gain levels the wizard quickly falls behind.  By 4th level the fighter has gained enough BAB and feats  and extra HP that the odds are now with the fighter.  With Fantasy Hero characters start out stronger than other games, but don’t progress as quickly. Starting Fantasy Hero characters are closer to mid-level characters than starting characters in other systems. 
 
The other thing to consider is how the stats define the character.  In other games any character can usually use any weapon they know how no matter what their STR score is.  In Pathfinder for example I can have a 10 STR and use a bastard sword.  I may not get the bonus to hit and damage, but I can use the sword.  In Fantasy Hero weapons have STR min you need to meet or you take penalties to hit.  To use a bastard sword in Fantasy Hero requires a 13 STR if used in two hands or a 15 STR if used in one hand. 
 
If you are playing in an earlier edition the higher base damage allows you to achieve a higher max damage.  Prior to 6th edition damage for KA was capped at twice the base damage.  This is recommended in 6th edition Fantasy Hero as well. Your 10 STR character in Fantasy Hero would be limited to using a short sword and doing 2d6 damage with skill level and martial arts.  Your 15 STR character could use a bastard sword one handed and do a max damage of 3d6.  If you have a 17 STR you could use a greatsword for 2d6 damage and max damage of 4d6.   An extra die or two may not seem significant but in the Hero system it is really is.  
 
The other thing you are not factoring is that the Hero System has a lot more stats than the D20 based games.  In those you have 6 stats; in Hero you have about 20 depending on the edition.  When you look at all the stats you are going to get a lot more variance than if you are only considering a few.  DCV is going to be a lot more important to the lightly armored warrior than the one in full plate and shield.  Many heavily armored warriors favor blocking over dodging so don’t need the same level of DCV as the light warrior.  To them OCV is more important.  
 
As to the balance Fantasy Hero is better balanced than most other systems.  By design a point-based system is all about balance.  You pretty much pay for everything you can do.  

When Bob died, he left $30,000 behind with very specific instructions for his funeral. After the service, Jody came up to his widow Helen and said, "That was really a beautiful service. But tell me, how much did you really spend on it?"
 
"All of it," Helen responded. "$30,000."
 
"No way," Jody responded. "How much did everything cost?"
 
"Well, the funeral home charged $6500 for preparation, burial, the casket, and the plot," Helen said. "I donated $500 to the church. Food, drinks, and the speaker for the wake cost another $1000. The rest went to the memorial stone."
 
Jody did a quick bit of mental math. "The memorial stone was $22,000? How big is it?"
 
"Two and a half carats."

Talents and martial arts can make a big difference.  And specialization.  That's why I have spent a lot of time in my campaign coming up with enough really interesting, attractive, and exciting things to draw point spends, which makes people have to be more specific and narrow in their builds, creating specialization.  So yeah, you can all have 13-17 DEX which is a 1 point difference in rolls, but what you do with those rolls are more significant.

You do need to take into account when making skill rolls that you are doing so with 3 dice, which gives you a distribution curve rather than the flat probability result you get from a single 20-sided die.  Statistically speaking, there is a bigger step between 12- and 13- than there is between 11- and 12-.  A 14- isn't a guarantee, but highly probable, while an 8- is highly improbable.
 
The other thing about skills is that Hero has skill levels, while D&D is based on just your Characteristic scores (skill is rolled into levels).  This makes Hero more realistic and more flexible.  So don't just consider Characteristics when looking at different characters, but also the number of skill levels they have.  That makes a huge difference in how the character will play.
 
The actual characteristic scores for a character in D&D or in Hero are both typically going to be between 8 and 20.  A warrior-type will have higher score in STR, the wizard in INT, the rogue in DEX.  From that standpoint, you have the same variation in both games.  It is just that in Hero you will use skills to differentiate your characters, and because Hero is WAY more flexible with skills, you can customize your character to be anything you want rather than another D&D paladin clone or wizard clone that are nearly indistinguishable from each other.
 

Photo of Schrodinger's cat. 
 

In the early 2000s, I worked at a bookstore. A woman asked me for the Idiot by Homer Simpson. While this sounds like a humorous book that the creators of the Simpsons might have produced, no such thing exists, or existed at the time. The customer refused to believe us, going so fat as to show her the inventory system. After a bit of de-escalation, we pivoted and asked why she wanted this book so badly. They needed it for their child, who had to read it for English Lit class. At that point, the manager asked, do you mean the Iliad by Homer?
 
That was the book. 
 
End. 

If you don't have a good partner, you'd better have a good hand. -- Da Yoopers 

Active voice: "I loved your book."
 
Passive voice: "Your book was loved."
 
Passive-aggressive voice: "I love that you thought you should write a book."