Why don't you just check for when the tutorial ship is loaded (and when someone enters the party) and set a flag on that character. Then you just set all their attributes to 1, and give them attribute points equal to the difference. This approach is going to be far more compatible.
Also keep in mind that the game is designed around having 10 as a base-line. This would create massive imbalance between certain specializations (it would heavily favor Strength fighters as you can have 1 int/fin without reprocussions, but you can't have 1 str and expect to be able to play the game due to weight limit). You are always going to keep Memory at 10, otherwise you won't be able to equip abilities. You will want to keep vitality up because the penalty for having vitality below 10 is pretty huge.
