Exercise

[Kaelaroth]

Exercise. Can it up your character's physical stats, if you spend long enough doing it?
I am interested in your thoughts.

[Tyger]

Exercise. Can it up your character's physical stats, if you spend long enough doing it?
I am interested in your thoughts.


Yup. Its called the stat bonus you get at levels 4, 8, 12, 16 and 20. Mages exercise their minds, so they pump up INT. Fighters (usually) exercise their muscles, so they pump up their STR.

[OverdrivePrime]

Exactly.


Back in AD&D 2nd edition, I had a Fighter (barbarian kit) with 18/98 strength. I made sure to roleplay out ol' Gareth doing a thousand push-ups and sit-ups a night, religiously like a cleric. After three years of game play, my DM finally allowed me to raise his strength to 18/99 (which did nothing numerically, just placated me slightly). Meanwhile my friend who played the drow/ninja/archer/Oriental Adventures Martial Artist with the speed power managed to get every hand out in the book. Bloody bugger was better at whining than me.:smallsigh:

[kpenguin]

On a related note, how would you have a character get out of shape? Since there's no mechanic, I'm looking for some houserules here.

[AtomicKitKat]

On a related note, how would you have a character get out of shape? Since there's no mechanic, I'm looking for some houserules here.

Age penalties? You really don't notice most of the problems till your early 30s.

[Kaelaroth]

Grrrrr...

I was referrring to the idea that a character could spend weeks in a gym or palaestra working out. Not getting XP, therefore not going up levels, but putting on muscle. Does it work?

[Saph]

Grrrrr...

I was referrring to the idea that a character could spend weeks in a gym or palaestra working out. Not getting XP, therefore not going up levels, but putting on muscle. Does it work?

I think it's assumed that adventurers are all extremely fit; they're at their peak physical condition already (I mean, if your job involved fighting dragons, you would be, wouldn't you?). They've already exhausted all the easy ways of improving their physical stats, like exercising.

- Saph

[Jimbob]

well, in my old group if a character took time off to do what ever, they would get a skill increase rather then a stat increase. So my bard took 2 weeks out and all he did was sing and tell stories for that time, earnt a bit of money, but the dm gave me a +1 bonus to my preform check. At the same time the ranger spend 2 weeks in the forrest looking at plants and tracking animals, gaining him a +1 survival bonus.

Hope that answeres your question.

[starwoof]

I think it's assumed that adventurers are all extremely fit; they're at their peak physical condition already (I mean, if your job involved fighting dragons, you would be, wouldn't you?). They've already exhausted all the easy ways of improving their physical stats, like exercising.

- Saph

Everything she said and this: Imagine how incredibly game breaking it would be to be able to buff your stats with excercise. Not to mention ridiculous in some cases. :p

Fighter: I spend six months lifting weights to increase my str to 24!
Rogue: I spend six months practicing my archery to up my dex!
Wizard: I spend six months reading encyclopedias to up my int!
Bard: I spend six months seducing the local female populace to raise my cha.

[BardicDuelist]

Bard: I spend six months seducing the local female populace to raise my cha.

To put it simply...QFT

[Funkyodor]

1st Edition Unearthed Arcana Cavalier had rules for increasing physical stats (STR, DEX, CON) by +2D10% per lvl and when they got 100% their stat went up. The thing is that there was a racial stat cap that no longer exists in 3.X Ed. D&D. But AD&D has never been a good system to track increased physical/mental activity because exercise is tracked by time and level increases are sporadic. If you want to house rule it, then diminishing returns is the way to go, 6 months for one plus, 12 months for another, 2 years for another, and 1/2 the time in the other direction. Stop exercising for 3 months minus one, 6 months minus another, 12 months minus another. This is not just "I'm adventuring so that count's right?" mentality but, after adventuring taking an hour minimum for stretching, push ups, weights, running, full pack hiking, swimming, or reading, reading, uh... reading for mental stats and go to sleep exhausted. This is where addictive properties of potions could be house ruled in as well. Haste potion and Bulls Strength acting like speed and steroids in present day for some dramatic flavor and drawback of increased stat gain, etc.

[Crow]

If you have enough real-world knowledge, it is possible to house-rule this without it becoming too unbalanced.

The thing you have to remember is that without a disproportionate increase in the time spent working out (and eating...you'll be eating a lot), you will start to experience diminishing returns.

But mostly I just replied to this thread to plug Crossfit (http://www.crossfit.com/).