D&D Ability Score Quiz

[The Goblin King]

I want to DM a game with every player plays them self(to make things fun I'm allowing non-human races). Dose any one knows about any good ability score/alignment/race/class quiz's. The only good one I can find is from angelfire and its not all that great. Thanks for any and all help.

[Sinfonian]

The problem with this is that it's really dependent on how honestly the person in question is answering the questions. I personally generally answer ultra-conservatively, and so get maximum stats in the 14-15 range. I regularly see others with 4 scores of 17+. It could be that they're just better than me by that much, but somehow unlikely. It's very easy to manipulate as you wish.

[Amnestic]

I wouldn't. I really wouldn't. It's a terrible idea simply because people aren't always honest with themselves. Sometimes they overestimate, sometimes they underestimate, quizzes are almost universally flawed in some way and people can simply outright lie for better stats. It's just a generally bad idea. You'd probably get more accurates results by rolling 3d6 and applying them in order. That's how bad it is.

[Crow]

You'd probably get more accurates results by rolling 3d6 and applying them in order. That's how bad it is.

Pretty much.

[NNescio]

Some of them use pseudo-IQ quizzes to determine intelligence... but it's ridiculously easy to get a score of 18 anyway even if you're not cheating.

[Sacrieur]

Str: See how much they can lift overhead. Correspond to str score.

Dex: See how well they can juggle/throw things.

Con: Make them go run a 5k, then beat them up.

Int: Give them an IQ test, divide result by 10.

Wis: See how well they can notice details/pick up on things.

Cha: Eh, you can generate this yourself.

---

All in a single day. Beats rolling or point buy any day of the week.

[Geordnet]

Of all the stats, the only one that can be directly taken from real life in a scientific manner is Strength. But you'll probably end up with all 8's anyways... :smallannoyed:

[Croverus]

Also technically different people have different levels. For example, I'm 22 and have 2 years of military training, graduated highschool and completed 1 semester of college, and I'm a clerk at a hotel so I HAVE to have a decent charisma score since I deal with people on a daily basis. At the very least I have 11s and 12s in most of the stats (Wis might be an 8 or 9 cause I'm near sighted, but my glasses correct that mostly).

I can lift my own weight (130 lbs) over my head so I should have a Str of at least 12?

Having never fired a gun I scored almost perfect on my marskmen tests, so either my Dex is pretty good or I have a feat that lets me replace Int for Dex on ranged attacks (Though I also have good balance and reflexes). So my Dex is probably decently high.

Con is probably average, I ran long distance for track in highschool and had to have a lot of endurance or at least teh Endurance feat for military training, plus I rarely get sick.

My IQ scores regularly hit 170 or higher so Int is probably my best stat, at least 16.

Wisdom is below average as I said cause of poor vision, color blindness, and terrible attention span. On the other hand I do notice small details that others can miss.

And Charisma... this is hard to judge but I have been told I am very likeable and often use diplomatic capabilities to calm upset guests and make others feel much better.

As far as levels, I'm about a 3rd levels character, with at least 1 level in Fighter or Ranger, and the other two levels either as the 1st level or as a level of bard.

[Sarco_Phage]

Never give yourself class levels. Being a third level DnD character means someone could stab you about five times with a knife and you'd be fine.

[RaginChangeling]

IQ is an absolutely worthless measure and should never be used for determining Int score. Not to mention the fact everybody lies about their IQ score, and its pretty blatant and easy to tell when they do. IQ is not a measure of anything objective, rather it is a the sum of the scores every person who takes it placed onto a bell curve. You can get exactly the same 'score' year to year and have your IQ change, solely because it is only relevant in regards to other people's scores. There have to be a certain number of 100s, 120s etc, and every other person online claims to be within the top 5%. Now, its not inconceivable that they are all very intelligent, but they cannot all be in the top 5% of IQ scores. This is also why its pretty damn impossible to guess your own IQ, it'll change almost every time you take the test.

Only useful in a relative sense and totally useless for Int scores.

[Sarco_Phage]

Well, according to that time I took the MENSA test, mine's between 127-117...

[Kurald Galain]

Never give yourself class levels. Being a third level DnD character means someone could stab you about five times with a knife and you'd be fine.
So? Five nicks or cuts to the arm or leg are hardly fatal. Just because somebody successfully rolls to hit you doesn't mean they've just stabbed you full in the chest.

[Sarco_Phage]

But what about someone who rolled max damage each time and did stab you full in the chest? Thanks to your lovely ~18 hp, you're still standing.

HP, as represented by DnD's RAW, is hilariously not just an abstraction. Enough HP makes you enough of a meat shield to shrug off a fireball that just leveled the tavern.

[Ghostwheel]

I don't know how the quizzes that would give ability scores work, but one site told me that I would be a 6th level cleric. I think that 6th level Urban Ranger would be a better fit, but that site only dealt with core classes, no splat book classes were in the mix. It also said that I would be LG, when I know that I am NG.

My advice would be to allow your players the chance to recreate themselves in a fantasy setting. This is easily done by telling the players that after all modifiers the characters they create have a total of no more than x bonuses and that all of their ability scores are even numbers.

[DwarfFighter]

I assume you are looking for a quiz that will suggest a class, race and ability score for the players.

First off, I think this is a great idea. I've always liked the approach taken by The Elder Scrolls and the later (at least) Fallout games where you are posed a few questions regarding what action your character would take in various social, intellectual and combat challenges.

However, these questionnaires all work well because of the inherent single-player mode of these games: Your character is the one that gets to set the tone and decide how challenges are resolved. For a group of players, it is quite possible that a quiz will reveal that all the players should play, oh I don't know, dwarf fighters. While that is good for revealing individual preferences, it doesn't necessarily make for a well balanced party.

-DF

[Heliomance]

Int: Give them an IQ test, divide result by 10.

IQ/10 has a completely different variance to 4d6b3, or even 3d6. IQ/5-10 is far closer.


My IQ scores regularly hit 170 or higher so Int is probably my best stat, at least 16.

I find that extremely hard to believe. Are these official tests, or DIY internet tests?
http://static.onemansblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/intelligence-quotient-bellcurve.jpg
http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/6461/401pxiq4racesrotatehighresag8.png
Approximate cumulative IQ distributions in the U.S. based on Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale IQs for Whites (mean = 101.4, SD = 14.7) and Blacks (mean = 86.9, SD = 13.0) from (Reynolds, Chastain, Kaufman, & McLean, 1987, p. 330); distributions for Hispanics (mean = 91) and Asians (mean = 106) are less precise. Most reports estimate that the average IQ of Ashkenazi Jews (not shown) is greater than any other group (mean = 113).

If you have an IQ above 140, you're in the top 0.25% of the population already. Apparently, even Stephen Hawking doesn't have an IQ that high - most estimates place him at around 160 - though the only citation I could find on the matter had him saying "I have no idea [what my IQ is]. People who boast about their IQ are losers."
Incidentally, Bill Gates and Einstein are also estimated as having (had) IQs of 160. Do you really think you're smarter than those three?

[NNescio]

My IQ scores regularly hit 170 or higher so Int is probably my best stat, at least 16.

I find that extremely hard to believe. Are these official tests, or DIY internet tests?
http://static.onemansblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/intelligence-quotient-bellcurve.jpg


It's probably one of those flawed (Apparent Age/Chronological Age)*100 things with zero statistics involved whatsoever.

[Croverus]

I suppsoe I should edit in that I was exagerating on purpose... Meh, in any case, no, I probably don't have an IQ that's really that high, I'm maybe a 110-130 range. I scored high on ACTs and the military ASVAP (I got 97% or something but that's more knowledge than raw Intelect).

But on another note I agree that games that have you answering questions which can help determine your abilities are pretty cool, but best for single player, and most of those games let you pick for yourself anyway.

[Otherworld Odd]

If you're really hell-bent on doing it, there's this one:

http://www.angelfire.com/dragon/terragf/back/xstattest.html


It's pretty fun and actually requires you to get up and do stuff, so if you make your players actually do it then record the results, there you go.

[NNescio]

I suppsoe I should edit in that I was exagerating on purpose... Meh, in any case, no, I probably don't have an IQ that's really that high, I'm maybe a 110-130 range. I scored high on ACTs and the military ASVAP (I got 97% or something but that's more knowledge than raw Intelect).

But on another note I agree that games that have you answering questions which can help determine your abilities are pretty cool, but best for single player, and most of those games let you pick for yourself anyway.

http://ompldr.org/vODN4dA/ADOM_start_4.png

http://ompldr.org/vODN4dg/ADOM_start_5.png

[tcrudisi]

Str: See how much they can lift overhead. Correspond to str score.

Dex: See how well they can juggle/throw things.

Con: Make them go run a 5k, then beat them up.

Int: Give them an IQ test, divide result by 10.

Wis: See how well they can notice details/pick up on things.

Cha: Eh, you can generate this yourself.

---

All in a single day. Beats rolling or point buy any day of the week.

I like this idea but you have to realize that there's still a lot of room for error.

Dexterity? I used to be an incredibly good tap dancer (one of the best in North America). I haven't fallen since grade school, so I have incredible balance. However, I've never tried juggling, so I'm confident if you did this to me I would register as poor or average.

Wisdom? I don't notice things. Once someone gave me directions that involved an important building on main street of the city where I live. I had never seen that building before, to the shock of everyone around me at the time, despite the fact that I drove by that place on average of 3 times a week for my entire life. But - I can find 4 leaf clovers like they are painted orange.

Charisma? This is very much group dependent. I'm good when meeting new people and great at speeches. But my gaming friends have all grown up with me, so they haven't seen my personality evolve very much. Once we get settled into group roles, it's hard to break out of them. Depending on if you asked my gaming friends or my other friends you would get wildly diverging answers.

[Croverus]

http://ompldr.org/vODN4dA/ADOM_start_4.png

http://ompldr.org/vODN4dg/ADOM_start_5.png

D, I'll run away. And join a circus. That'll show the old codger!

[Eldan]

What's always funny about this test is that barely anyone has scores under 10. Similarly, a lot of people have scores of 16+, but scores of 5 or less, which should be equally common, rarely ever show up.

So, for every person with a "Gratz! You have 18 dexterity!" there should be one "We are sorry to tell you your constitution is 3".

[NNescio]

If you're really hell-bent on doing it, there's this one:

http://www.angelfire.com/dragon/terragf/back/xstattest.html


It's pretty fun and actually requires you to get up and do stuff, so if you make your players actually do it then record the results, there you go.

That's the one that gave me an INT of 18. I call shenanigans.

[Otherworld Odd]

That's the one that gave me an INT of 18. I call shenanigans.

Perhaps you're just being modest. =3


But yeah, it could the test. If he's going to do this thing and his players are gung-ho, it should probably be his responsibility to spot the flaws of the test such as generous scores and adjust them accordingly.

[thirsting]

I'd suggest you forget quizzes, and let every player stat everyone else.

Ie if you have three players and a dm, each PC gets stats determined three times (once by dm, twice by the other players), then average those results.

[elpollo]

I'd suggest you forget quizzes, and let every player stat everyone else.

Ie if you have three players and a dm, each PC gets stats determined three times (once by dm, twice by the other players), then average those results.

Reaaally don't do this. At best the friends are going to overestimate the numbers to preserve feelings and you've not solved the problem at all. At worst you've got the potential to gravely insult someone.

A good way to play yourself in D&D? Point buy. Give them all the same point buy and let them create the characters they think they are. You're playing a fantasy game - let them play a fantasy version of themselves. I mean, hell, you're not even having them as human. Why does it matter? The stats in D&D are woefully far from a realistic portrayal of a human's capabilities, and rightly so - it's a game, not some sort of ego-boosting-stat-yourself pastime. Regardless of how you do it, the stats will not accurately reflect the abilities of the person, so let them play themselves as they see them.

Then you start giving them challenges with DCs ever so slightly higher than normal to have them fail ever so slightly more than usual, apologetically stating "Oh, I guess you're not quite strong/fast/tough enough" when they do. After weeks or months of having their mental image of themselves fail at deceptively easy tasks, the players will become broken, egoless husks, and you may begin using suggestion (not the spell) to craft them into the start of your personal army.

[Sarco_Phage]

I dunno, I think I could reasonably represent myself with

STR 9
DEX 11
CON 9
INT 11
WIS 6
CHA 10

EDIT: Oh christ, I'm going to get stabbed to death by a goblin on the first go.

[tcrudisi]

I dunno, I think I could reasonably represent myself with

STR 9
DEX 11
CON 9
INT 11
WIS 6
CHA 10

EDIT: Oh christ, I'm going to get stabbed to death by a goblin on the first go.

Anyone wise enough to know their weaknesses should have at least Wis 18, and you, good sir, know your weaknesses.

It also takes a very honest man to be able to post those online. Honest people are very well-liked around these parts. I daresay that you are just being kind to us all by saying you are only Cha 10. In fact, that kindness and honesty are better represented by Cha 18.

I don't think you've properly represented your nimble touch with the keyboard, either. Rumor has it that you properly typed that out, instead of via hunt and peck. That kind of manual dexterity is only represented by a very small percentage of the world population. It is worthy of at least Dex 16.

And your Intelligence? Obviously you are smart enough to realize your short-comings in a fight against a goblin. Likewise, you are knowledgeable in the ways of either ancient Greek burial rituals or nuclear power plants. Such an intellectual must surely be highly intelligent. I shall conservatively guess Int 16.

The strength score of 9 also seems very low. I draw this conclusion by the fact that you posted your stats in ALL CAPS, almost as though you were banging the keys very hard while you typed. That form of angry shouting that can be done only through the hard button presses of multiple keys at the same time demonstrates both a unique dexterity and strength unsurpassed by few on the internet. I shall estimate your strength at 15.

Finally, you've managed to read this whole silly post. That surely means that your constitution is not as bad as you think it is. But let's be honest - there are harder things to do. Instead, I believe your Constitution is at least 12.

I hope I was able to clarify things for you a bit more. Good day!

[ShriekingDrake]

That's the one that gave me an INT of 18. I call shenanigans.

I agree. I got S12, D12, C13, I18, W17, CH16 just now on the same test. It can't be right.

[Thefurmonger]

I wouldn't. I really wouldn't. It's a terrible idea simply because people aren't always honest with themselves. Sometimes they overestimate, sometimes they underestimate, quizzes are almost universally flawed in some way and people can simply outright lie for better stats. It's just a generally bad idea. You'd probably get more accurates results by NOT DOING IT

This, Seriously.

A lot of people have tried it, it doesnt work.

[Anxe]

If we're trying to avoid quizzes, then Strength and Intelligence are easy to do as already mentioned.

Constitution, for most people playing D&D this will be 12 or above. Remember that 10.5 is average, and the average for the world is probably quite a bit below whatever your constitution is.

Wisdom could be done by playing those spot the difference games and seeing how fast it takes people. This only takes into account one aspect of wisdom, but its the easiest one to measure.

Dexterity and Charisma? You're on your own. You can either estimate or use the quizzes.

If you want quizzes, here are two more besides Angelfire.
Alignment, Class, Race, Level, and Stats (http://www.easydamus.com/character.html)
Stats (http://kevinhaw.com/add_quiz.php)

I find the second quiz is most accurate. Or at least it asks the right sort of questions. If you want something more accurate you can always just average the these two tests with the Angelfire test.

EDIT: Also, OP, are you the same Goblin King who was in KODT?

[Fiery Diamond]

I'd estimate my scores as something like this:

Str 6
Dex 7-8
Con 8-9
Int 14-15
Wis 10
Cha ??? (This one varies wildly based on whom I'm interacting with, from like 4 to 13)

And yes, my strength does stink that bad. 15+ lbs as medium load? Yep.

[Sacrieur]

If we're trying to avoid quizzes, then Strength and Intelligence are easy to do as already mentioned.

Constitution, for most people playing D&D this will be 12 or above. Remember that 10.5 is average, and the average for the world is probably quite a bit below whatever your constitution is.

Wisdom could be done by playing those spot the difference games and seeing how fast it takes people. This only takes into account one aspect of wisdom, but its the easiest one to measure.

Dexterity and Charisma? You're on your own. You can either estimate or use the quizzes.

If you want quizzes, here are two more besides Angelfire.
Alignment, Class, Race, Level, and Stats (http://www.easydamus.com/character.html)
Stats (http://kevinhaw.com/add_quiz.php)

I find the second quiz is most accurate. Or at least it asks the right sort of questions. If you want something more accurate you can always just average the these two tests with the Angelfire test.

Eh, how I would rate myself:

Str: 12
Dex: 11
Con: 14
Int: 14
Wis: 16
Cha: 15

I've worked on my strength bunches, and can lift 150 lbs. over my head.

Dex is meh, I can sorta juggle. My balance is trained. I walk on rails and nonsense to practice it.

Con sort of comes naturally to me, I actually am a bit of a masochist and am a competitive endurance athlete.

Intelligence is always easy, take your IQ and divide by 10, round down. I score 140s in IQ tests, so 14. Wisdom is insight and will power.

I've been told I'm incredibly strong willed and philosophy is really my thing, so I'll just nab a 16 in there.

As for Cha, I was the class clown. People keep telling me I'm super attractive, and meh.

---

That said, I really don't think anyone will have a score of 17 or 18. That's just unreasonable. Especially in something like int or str. 170 IQ? Yeah, maybe one or two guys on the entire forum. 180? Now that's just insane.

A strength score of 18 means you can power clean 300 lbs. I think it is reasonable to assume that no one on these forums can do that.

[ffone]

I want to DM a game with every player plays them self(to make things fun I'm allowing non-human races). Dose any one knows about any good ability score/alignment/race/class quiz's. The only good one I can find is from angelfire and its not all that great. Thanks for any and all help.

Consider that

1. whenever people take these quests, they lie rabidly. Generally males about Str and Con and Int, females about Dex and Cha. Underballing Wis is actually popular.

2. whenever players roll stats, they reroll (i.e. lie) rabidly if they can get away with it

Given that your proposal makes ability scores

A. doubly important, since both player ego and PC power are on the lne

B. highly subjective

What makes you expect any measure of honesty at all?

[Sacrieur]

Consider that

1. whenever people take these quests, they lie rabidly. Generally males about Str and Con and Int, females about Dex and Cha. Underballing Wis is actually popular.

2. whenever players roll stats, they reroll (i.e. lie) rabidly if they can get away with it

Given that your proposal makes ability scores

A. doubly important, since both player ego and PC power are on the lne

B. highly subjective

What makes you expect any measure of honesty at all?

BUT THEY'RE LG!

[Sarco_Phage]

I'd estimate my scores as something like this:

Str 6
Dex 7-8
Con 8-9
Int 14-15
Wis 10
Cha ??? (This one varies wildly based on whom I'm interacting with, from like 4 to 13)

And yes, my strength does stink that bad. 15+ lbs as medium load? Yep.

No way. That would make it hard for you to physically get up in the mornings.

[cfalcon]

Never give yourself class levels. Being a third level DnD character means someone could stab you about five times with a knife and you'd be fine.

No, it means that if you were in a knife fight, you'd last at least 30 seconds.

It's still not a good idea to give yourself class levels, but hit point loss doesn't mean blood loss, or an actual wound- you could have expended luck.

[Sarco_Phage]

No, it means that if you were in a knife fight, you'd last at least 30 seconds.

It's still not a good idea to give yourself class levels, but hit point loss doesn't mean blood loss, or an actual wound- you could have expended luck.

Uh huh.

I already covered this in a previous post.

They say that's what it means in the PHB. It actually doesn't. See, if hit point is an actual abstraction of luck, stamina, damage taken, mental state, and such, then all stats would give it a bonus, rather than just con.

HP bonuses being based entirely on con make it pretty clear that HP is actual damage taken.

It's silly, I know, but that's the RAW conflicting with the Fluff for you.

[cfalcon]

Untrue completely. Many things are boosted by only ONE stat, when in reality, many things would count. For instance, being diplomatic is also a function of wisdom and intelligence- charisma is the one used for determination.

At the worst, all it's saying is that you get extra hit points for being tough- the actual hit points added by your class levels don't go with this argument at all. And what is being tough? Certainly a Con 24 PC doesn't have a heart made literally out of steel- a knife punched at his heart would just be much likely to be a glancing blow, a superficial wound, or something that didn't actually "stab" him.

So yes, it's abstract, it's a measure of many things, and toughness is merely one piece of the puzzle. Just because they go up when you are tough and the other things are rolled into your experience doesn't make that invalid.

[cfalcon]

Trivially I also offer, hit points make no sense if this is not what they meant- which is why they have meant that since like, the 80s.

[Sarco_Phage]

And yet they justify the caster d4 versus the warrior d10 and d12 with the notion that the caster can't take a hit as well.

Also, "hit points make no sense" is my entire point, yes. Saying HP means something, again, doesn't make it actually mean so if the rules don't reflect it.

Also also, we're derailing the thread. :smalleek:

[Crow]

Ok so help me out here:

I can get 235 pounds over my head with a clean and jerk. Not sure where that rates on the strength tables. Deadline is only 415 right now. Can pick it up and stagger around.

I used to be a slackliner, now I also do parkour. Can walk handrails with ease. I shoot quite well but I think that comes from training rather than dexterity.

I am a competitive athlete who does crossfit, but I also get sick more often than the average person.

I consider myself probably a bit less intelligent than the people on this forum, but I am not the dumbest person I know. I have managed to teach myself some foreign languages.

I am prone to make snap judgements and the occasional dumb decision (balls over brain). But I do have 20/15 eyesight.

I am a straightforward person, bordering on jerk territory. Lots of people dislike this. Some people like it. Those who like it consider it one of my best features.



Sooooo..... str14 dex14 con10 int10 wis9 cha8 ?

[Heliomance]

Intelligence is always easy, take your IQ and divide by 10, round down. I score 140s in IQ tests, so 14. Wisdom is insight and will power.


I say again, that gives completely the wrong variance. 14s on 3d6 are not uncommon, 140+ in IQ is the top 0.25% of the population. IQ/5-10 is MUCH closer to the distribution of 3d6 (or 4d6b3) than IQ/10. If you have 140 IQ, you have an 18 in INT.

[F.H. Zebedee]

The other problem with trying to figure things: Some stats can easily have contradictions.

I'm great at finding solutions to people's problems, have very sensitive hearing, and an excellent memory. On top of that, I'm sharp enough at discerning reality that I actually recognize dreams and have actually deliberately broke nightmares I was having by forcing myself awake. So in theory, I should have an excellent Wis score. On the other hand, I have terrible vision and a tough time resisting any temptations or such, which either means I took two flaws, or I have a poor Wis score.

And on the physical side, I'm a tank. Sometimes, I just let people beat on me for fun, and shrug off whatever they do (including hitting me with sticks and metal rods). Most people hitting me barehanded injure themselves before they hurt me. I've gotten smashed in the face with heavy lead weights, and taken falls that other people were sure would kill me, and just laughed them off. On the other hand though, I have pretty much no long term stamina, and I'm constantly coming down with colds and infections, to the point where I'm visiting the doctor/hospital on a near monthly basis. So yet again, totally conflicting results that would take a bundle of traits to resolve. Possible? Sure. Easy to assign a single number to? Not so much.

I dunno. Maybe I have high Wis, a low Con, and all those flaws I mentioned were spent on Toughness feats? (Just spitballing: STR 12ish, DEX 14ish, CON 8ish, INT 12ish, WIS 16ish, CHA 13ish. I dunno. My CHA and STR could be lower, but I know I've got good Dex and Wis.)

Personally, I'd like the "Other Players Rate Eachother, Average The Stats". At least, that's a good method for those hard to quantify stats (WIS, CHA, DEX, CON)

Then again, I'm sure you could test Con and Dex. For Con, have the players jog laps, and use that to extrapolate how long it took them to become exhausted. For Dex? Well, it's trickier, but I'm go target shooting with them. Or maybe make a game out of it, some kind of dodgeball sort of thing. All in all, it sounds like it could be fun if you're willing to try some different methods.

[Sarco_Phage]

And on the physical side, I'm a tank. Sometimes, I just let people beat on me for fun, and shrug off whatever they do (including hitting me with sticks and metal rods). Most people hitting me barehanded injure themselves before they hurt me. I've gotten smashed in the face with heavy lead weights, and taken falls that other people were sure would kill me, and just laughed them off.

You're either a Discworld style troll/human hybrid, or making things up.

I thought we agreed not to make things up, in this thread. :smallamused:

[ffone]

Untrue completely. Many things are boosted by only ONE stat, when in reality, many things would count. For instance, being diplomatic is also a function of wisdom and intelligence- charisma is the one used for determination.

Your own definition of small-i intelligence and small-w wisdom, yes.

DnD ability scores are by definition a grouping of human attributes, though. Charisma affects Diplomacy b/c whatever parts of the human affect Diplomacy are grouped under 'Charisma'. The *names* of the ability scores do not define their function. Call them Ability Scores A, B , C, D, E, and F if you like.

Also, Int does affect Diplomacy via you being more likely to have more skill points spent on it.

[CleanDeceit]

But really, you shouldn't evaluate (or ask the player to evaluate) who they think they are / what they are capable of currently. The question is, "Given a chance to start from the beginning, what would you try to become based on what you think you could do, what you might try to do and why would you make that choice ?"

It isn't practical to try and translate "real life" into D&D mechanics, the system just isn't set up for that. This entire thread proves that. D&D is a fantasy "loosely" baised on the laws of reality only just enough for it to be understandable and relatable.

[Soranar]

Except for STR, every stat has so much subjectivity that it's probably impossible to really establish

the older forms of DnD had descriptions of what a character with a certain stat could do, 3.5 does not

-Consider that ageing automatically enhances your mental stats and automatically penalizes your physical stats yet some people get early onset dementia or alzheimer when they become middle aged (is that ability damage?). A fairly large portion of the population (about 17% if I remember right) also ignores the whole you get weaker as you age rule and just keep their muscle density regardless of their age.

Annd what does any STAT truly represent anyway?

Take dexterity, I'm fairly good at shooting things with a gun
but I'm terrible with thrown knives

now do I lack the proficiency?
do I have good BAB but bad DEX?
do I have a form of reverse brutal throw somehow (your STR score is a penalty to your thrown weapons? I'm fine with a bow btw, same with a crossbow. Just don't ask me to throw anything else than a footbal)

this just seems futile

hell some people have great endurance but terrible health (how many marathon runners die from heart attacks even though they trained for weeks without a hitch)

[Zanos]

I say again, that gives completely the wrong variance. 14s on 3d6 are not uncommon, 140+ in IQ is the top 0.25% of the population. IQ/5-10 is MUCH closer to the distribution of 3d6 (or 4d6b3) than IQ/10. If you have 140 IQ, you have an 18 in INT.
Agreed.

A regular person (3d6) has about a 2.7% chance of having an intelligence of 18. If we map that to the percentiles of IQs, that gets you an IQ of 129+ or so. Considering most IQ tests don't work particularly well for people over around 135-140 IQ, I wouldn't even bother trying to map higher than that.

I don't recommend people actually playing themselves in D&D, though.

[Jay R]

1. Read up on the Dunning-Kruger effect (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect) before you decide to do this. The most likely results are to annoy your friends with your low estimate of them, see arguments between them about who's the smartest, wisest, most charismatic, etc., or let them play prodigies.

2. There was an article about doing this in an early Dragon or Strategic Review. The only stat I remember was Wisdom, defined as 20 minus the number of hours per week you spend on D&D.

3. I played such a game of GURPS once, in which the GM designed the characters. It was a lot of fun to play the unfairly high version of me that he believed in.

[TheifofZ]

Since we're all strutting around statting ourselves up;
Strength: 9. I don't exercise much at all, all told, so it's reasonable to assume I'm on the weaker side of the 'average' human.
Dexterity: 12. I have some confidence in my sense of balance and hand-eye coordination, but I can't juggle very well and I'm not particularly limber.
Constitution: 13. I don't catch ill easily, and I tend to consider pain more of a nuisance than anything, but I'm still not very physically fit.
Intelligence: 15. or so. I know I'm far from a genius, but on average I'm also reasonably certain I'm comparatively more intellectually capable than the average person.
Wisdom: 7. I'm near-sighted, absent minded, and suffer a slew of interesting, exciting, and unpleasant mental disorders.
Charisma: 14. While my social skills are a cobbled together mess, being able to seem approachable and pleasant and being able to convincingly lie without blinking, convinces me that my Charisma is decent.