FASA Games, Inc.

Page 433 of the Player's states that: A minimum Dexterity value of 7 is required to use a flail, quarterstaff, sap, or whip

I was wondering if it was an error (i.e. it meant a minimum Dex STEP of 7 instead of Dex VALUE) since the ONLY scenario where a character would have less than 7 in DEX would be for an Obsidiman who took the maximum -2 to an Attribute.

I checked the errata and could not find anything about this.

It's not an error, it's legacy code.

Back in ED1, you bought straight attribute values rather than modifying from a base starting point (and got more build points to do that with). Under this set up it was possible to have lower values and so the minimum DEX requirements were more relevant. This restriction was never cleaned up.

Even if you can't technically create PCs with those values as the rules currently stand, it is possible for GMCs to have scores that low for one reason or another, so it's worth keeping around.

I would argue that an a gmc with a sap and a dex value of less than 7 is inconsequential from a mechanical standpoint anyway.