Strength definitions

[MarkVIIIMarc]

Another thread got me thinking. Man would it help to know what different scores meant.

So I made up a chart of what strength scores mean to me. Now I'm decent with charts, but I'm not really a D&D expert. I copied some of this from others and tried to adjust it to "our" system.

Given the fact a 14 strength fellow might be good at benching and could maybe out bench a 16 who really just squats every time he goes to the gym (funny image, huh), is this close enough or how would you all adjust it?

Score Strength
0 Too weak to move in any way. Unconscious.
1 Morbidly weak, has trouble lifting own limbs
2-3 Needs help to stand
4-5 Weak, knocked off balance by swinging something heavy
6-7 Difficulty pushing object of their own weight
8-9 Functional, has trouble lifting heavy objects
10-11 Can literally pull their own weight
12-13 Carries heavy objects short distances
14-15 Visibly toned, this person works out
16-17 May be the strongest person in the town
18-19 Breaks wood with bare hands, strongest in a capital city
20-21 Out wrestles work animals. May be strongest person ever
22-23 Perhaps an elephant is this strong?
24-25 A true titan

[Millstone85]

Fun fact, a punch does 1 + Strength modifier damage, minimum of 0.

So a character with less than 10 Strength can not punch for jack.

[Naanomi]

Strength in some ways is the easiest stat to equivocate to real life, because we have lift weights. While those are not 'how much can you bench' numbers per se; thinking about how much you can get off the ground and carry for a bit is a good start.

[MarkVIIIMarc]

Fun fact, a punch does 1 + Strength modifier damage, minimum of 0.

So a character with less than 10 Strength can not punch for jack.


That is funny and maybe not too far off real life. For the common retirement age female to punch a mature grown man enough to take away hit points he would have to be letting her.

[Naanomi]

That is funny and maybe not too far off real life. For the common retirement age female to punch a mature grown man enough to take away hit points he would have to be letting her.
I don't know, I'm not tiny and I've been hurt pretty good by the actions of small children at work. Critical hits happen

[Millstone85]

I don't know, I'm not tiny and I've been hurt pretty good by the actions of small children at work. Critical hits happenEven better! An unarmed strike doesn't have any damage die to roll twice, so it still deals 1 + Str mod damage on a critical hit.

Maybe this isn't the best thing to picture the value of Strength with. It is kind of silly.

[MarkVIIIMarc]

Even better! An unarmed strike doesn't have any damage die to roll twice, so it still deals 1 + Str mod damage on a critical hit.

Maybe this isn't the best thing to picture the value of Strength with. It is kind of silly.

Its not the worst I tell you.

Now you all mention it, if grandma or my kids land a hit to a critical spot it sure will hurt. lol. Its the relate able things which mean something.

Would a "healthy" strength 6 person be unable to ever hit the ball out of the infield no matter their dex or constitution?

[Unoriginal]

You're not healthy when you're STR 6 as an humanoid.

But to answer your specific question: hit the ball out of the infield is an Athletisms check, so the person might succeed with a bad STR

[rollingForInit]

I don't know, I'm not tiny and I've been hurt pretty good by the actions of small children at work. Critical hits happen

The vast majority of us are commoners, though. Commoners have 4 hp. So unless you were mortally injured by that child, it probably wasn't HP damage :P A person with 16 Strength would instantly knock out a commoner on a hit if they wanted to really fight. I see it a bit like ... a papercut can hurt like hell, but it isn't HP damage. Neither is hitting your toe on a threshold. Or getting bittten by a child.

[Naanomi]

The vast majority of us are commoners, though. Commoners have 4 hp. So unless you were mortally injured by that child, it probably wasn't HP damage :P A person with 16 Strength would instantly knock out a commoner on a hit if they wanted to really fight. I see it a bit like ... a papercut can hurt like hell, but it isn't HP damage. Neither is hitting your toe on a threshold. Or getting bittten by a child.
I work in a behavioral special ed school. I've been hospitalized by small children (some, admittedly, with improvised weapons and not unarmed attacks... though through 'grappling' as well)

[smcmike]

Here's a question for all stat-based theorizing: do you assume that the individual members of society roll for their stats, or is rolling something only for the extraordinary? If the distribution created by rolling is applied to the community of adults, an 18 really isn't all that uncommon, even using 3d6.

[ImSAMazing]

Here's a question for all stat-based theorizing: do you assume that the individual members of society roll for their stats, or is rolling something only for the extraordinary? If the distribution created by rolling is applied to the community of adults, an 18 really isn't all that uncommon, even using 3d6.

I'd say that rolling is only for extraordinary people, like adventurers. I believe the PHB says that for the average person, their scores lay between 9 and 11.

[smcmike]

I'd say that rolling is only for extraordinary people, like adventurers. I believe the PHB says that for the average person, their scores lay between 9 and 11.

Average, yes. The question is what percentage of the population is within that average band. You can have lots of strong and weak people and end up with the same average.

[MarkVIIIMarc]

I work for a furniture store and can heft king mattresses on my shoulders alone.

Impressive? I dunno. I doubt I bench 240 lbs anymore.

Even with the delivery guys considered in I don't think any of us are over a 14 Strength.

Our jobs aren't especially demanding but I think we are on the high end of common. The few people who lift more for a living are generally pretty fit (and get hurt alot!). Them 16's end up on IR from the railroad with bad backs way to often for my tastes.

[rollingForInit]

I think the vast majority of all people are in the 9-11 range, with some having slightly higher scores in one ability, maybe two. Could be either from natural inclination or hard work. Someone who works out a whole lot, and really puts in effort to build muscle, will improve their Strength score. A dancer would probably have better than average dexterity, etc. I don't think it'd be that rare for a person to have 14 in a single ability score, if that person has a career that requires a lot of training or is naturally talented. But that would really be the ones who are much better than the average person. The smartest kid in the class probably had an Intelligence score above 12, I'd say.

Those who "start out" with stats like adventurers are true prodigies, in multiple fields. Also consider all the skill proficiencies they get ...

[Mellack]

I think the vast majority of all people are in the 9-11 range, with some having slightly higher scores in one ability, maybe two. Could be either from natural inclination or hard work. Someone who works out a whole lot, and really puts in effort to build muscle, will improve their Strength score. A dancer would probably have better than average dexterity, etc. I don't think it'd be that rare for a person to have 14 in a single ability score, if that person has a career that requires a lot of training or is naturally talented. But that would really be the ones who are much better than the average person. The smartest kid in the class probably had an Intelligence score above 12, I'd say.


I think you would get a bit more variety than that. Assuming regular people get 3d6, that would put 68% of people for any stat within one standard deviation. That means 68% have between an 8-13. But it also means about 3 out of ten have outside that. If you had a random group of twenty students, three would have a 7 or less Int and three would have a 14 or higher.

[Unoriginal]

Score Strength
0 Too weak to move in any way. Unconscious.
1 Morbidly weak, has trouble lifting own limbs
2-3 Needs help to stand
4-5 Weak, knocked off balance by swinging something heavy
6-7 Difficulty pushing object of their own weight
8-9 Functional, has trouble lifting heavy objects
10-11 Can literally pull their own weight
12-13 Carries heavy objects short distances
14-15 Visibly toned, this person works out
16-17 May be the strongest person in the town
18-19 Breaks wood with bare hands, strongest in a capital city
20-21 Out wrestles work animals. May be strongest person ever
22-23 Perhaps an elephant is this strong?
24-25 A true titan

According to the MM, STR 16 is enough to break a stone statue into small pieces without equipment.


I think you would get a bit more variety than that. Assuming regular people get 3d6, that would put 68% of people for any stat within one standard deviation. That means 68% have between an 8-13. But it also means about 3 out of ten have outside that. If you had a random group of twenty students, three would have a 7 or less Int and three would have a 14 or higher.


Regular people don't get 3d6.


That being said, your average humanoid trained-to-fight-in-melee mook has STR 13 (technically without racial modifiers) while regular joe has 10 and most wizards have 9.

STR 16 is the stuff for elite melee combatants and battlefield leaders.