Sorry for the delay in getting back to the boards.
Warring, thanks for taking the time to do your Magelo experiment. I'm not sure why it shows the two characters with equal hitpoints. It shouldn't, but it does. Most puzzling. I've tried to think of various reasons for this, but I'm stumped.
If you're willing to perform another experiment, it will show that different STA scores
do make a difference in hitpoints. Here's the gig:
1) Create a level 1 'toon of any race and any class, but make sure that no points are added to STA.
2) Enter the tutorial newbie garden and record your starting hitpoints.
3) Level the character to level 2.
4) Record the new hitpoint total.
Now, create a new level 1 'toon of the same race and class, but dump as many points into STA as possible. Repeat steps one through four. You will see that they have more hitpoints. The best 'toon to do this on is an Ogre WAR because the hitpoint difference is dramatic.
Also, I know from personal experience that increasing your native STA
does increase your hitpoints. When I was 51...way back in the day...I gained 5 AAs in STA before I leveled to 52. My native (no gear, no buffs) hitpoints increased by about 50 points from that 10 point increase in my STA. I did this experiment several more times with my wife's 'toons where we'd add 5 STA at 51 without leveling or changing gear, and sure enough, more hitpoints - both geared and nekked. Some classes will get more hitpoints that others, because the hitpoint bonus from STA varies by class type, but everybody gets more hitpoints with higher native STA.
Why the Magelo contradicts this, I do not know. All I know is that this is how it works in the game.
Regards.