• The VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!

Ability Score Scale 1 to 20

Phasics

First Post
I'm just looking for an equivalence scale and haven't been able to find one.
Basically what I'm after is a scale showing what someone with a STR of 1 or a CON of 3 might have to deal with.

If you want to know why , its for making a race that is going to have some huge bonuses and even bigger penalties for attributes. But I'm just trying to work out how low is too low to be Role playable.

e.g. if I slug this race with a STR bonus of -8 minimum 1 is he going to be able to walk or will he need to be carried everywhere ? Similiary what would a WIS of 1 do to a character ?

I'm hoping there might already be a table of equivalence out there somewhere and I figured if anyone is going to know it'll be the ENWorlders ;)

Thanks in Advance
 

log in or register to remove this ad

Creeping Death

First Post
The lower your wisdom, the more like Rain Man you'd become. At least that is how I view it. Someone with an incredibly high Int but incredibly low Wis would be able to solve math and engineering problems, but then tell you that a suit of plate mail +5 would be 10 gp while an old cankered sword would be 5000gp. Very low charisma would be someone that is easily controlled, they would have a very weak personality, and could also be played as extremely socially awkward.

I think the PHB or DMG had a list of what you can lift or carry depending on your strength. The PHB also has, in the beginning, a section on what the various attribute scores mean and who fits where.
 

El Mahdi

Muad'Dib of the Anauroch
I use the following chart for my games. It only has Intelligence and Strength but it might give you a place to start. I've always seen Wisdom as "Common Sense" and "Willpower", Dexterity as "Coordination", Charisma as "Personality" and "Appearance", and Constitution as "Health" and "Toughness". Human average in any ability would be 10.

A low Wisdom (below 10) would be the "weak minded" that Jedi seem to be able to boss around so well.

A low Charisma (below 10) would be Ben Stein, a high Charisma (18-20) would be Tom Cruise or Oprah.

A low Dexterity would be like some of Chevy Chases characters, a high Dexterity would be a professional gymnast.

A low Constitution (below 10) would be that pasty white kid who is always sick, a high Constitution is that person who never gets sick.

I would probably keep the minimum score for a characters abilities at around 5 or 6 in order for them to be realistically functional. I would think that a person with scores below 5 or 6, in the real world, would be severely handicapped, and definitely unable to adventure.


Score ------- IQ -----------Strength
1 -----10 (Vegetable) --------------20 lb lift
2-3 --20-30 (Illiterate) ------------40-60 lb lift
4-5 --40-50 (Elem. school) -------80-100 lb lift
6-7 --60-70 (Middle school) -----120-140 lb lift
8-9 --80-90 (High school) -------160-180 lb lift
10-11 -100-110 (Average) ---------200-250 lb lift (min body weight 150)
12-13 -120-130 (College) ---------250-300 lb lift (min body weight 160)
14-15 -140-150 (Lower Genius) ---350-400 lb lift (min body weight 175)
16-17 -160-170 (Genius) ----------450-550 lb lift (min body weight 200)
18-19 -180-190 (High Genius) ----600-700 lb lift (min body weight 225)
20-21* 200-210 (Ultra Genius)* 800-900 lb lift (min body weight 250)*
22-23 Unmeasurable ----------1000-1200 lb lift (min body weight 275)
24-25 ------------------------------1400-1600 lb lift (min body weight 300)
26-27 ------------------------------1800-2000 lb lift (min body weight 350)
28-29 ------------------------------2400-2800 lb lift (min body weight 400)
30-31 -------------------------------3200+ lb lift (min body weight 500+)

*Un-augmented Maximum for Player Characters (Mortals)
 
Last edited:

Mephistopheles

First Post
Someone with an incredibly high Int but incredibly low Wis would be able to solve math and engineering problems, but then tell you that a suit of plate mail +5 would be 10 gp while an old cankered sword would be 5000gp.

By some accounts Isaac Newton was a good example of someone with high intelligence but low wisdom.

[quote='A Short Account of the History of Mathematics' (4th edition, 1908) by W. W. Rouse Ball.]

Many anecdotes of his extreme absence of mind when engaged in any investigation have been preserved. Thus once when riding home from Grantham he dismounted to lead his horse up a steep hill; when he turned at the top to remount, he found that he had the bridle in his hand, while his horse had slipped it and gone away. Again, on the few occasions when he sacrificed his time to entertain his friends, if he left them to get more wine or for any similar reason, he would as often as not be found after the lapse of some time working out a problem, oblivious alike of his expectant guests and of his errand.[/quote]
 



WayneLigon

Adventurer
I'm just looking for an equivalence scale and haven't been able to find one.

There really never has been one, save for the basic idea that INT *10 is your rough equivilant in standard IQ score. I'd say we can look at a 10 in anything as human average and go from there. Therefore on a 3d6, you get a 10 and then subtract 8 from it...

for Strength, you're going to be almost incapable of taking care of yourself.

For Wisdom, you'd be too naive to really function in anything less than a strict institutionalized environment where they can keep you from hurting yourself.

For Dexterity, you'd have the equivilant of some neuromuscular disease.

For Int, you'd be worse than most institutionalized people; you'd be literally less than a moron. A 2 Int for a sentient creature is profoundly mentally retarded; much less than Rain Man, since Dustin Hoffman's character was capable of language, dressing himself, etc; those tasks would be forever beyond someone with a 2 Int. A 20 IQ isn't even capable of learning a language, any language.

So, no, a -8 is too much.
 

Creeping Death

First Post
*snip*
Score ------- IQ -----------Strength
1 -----10 (Vegetable) --------------20 lb lift
2-3 --20-30 (Illiterate) ------------40-60 lb lift
4-5 --40-50 (Elem. school) -------80-100 lb lift
6-7 --60-70 (Middle school) -----120-140 lb lift
8-9 --80-90 (High school) -------160-180 lb lift
10-11 -100-110 (Average) ---------200-250 lb lift (min body weight 150)
12-13 -120-130 (College) ---------250-300 lb lift (min body weight 160)
14-15 -140-150 (Lower Genius) ---350-400 lb lift (min body weight 175)
16-17 -160-170 (Genius) ----------450-550 lb lift (min body weight 200)
18-19 -180-190 (High Genius) ----600-700 lb lift (min body weight 225)
20-21* 200-210 (Ultra Genius)* 800-900 lb lift (min body weight 250)*
22-23 Unmeasurable ----------1000-1200 lb lift (min body weight 275)
24-25 ------------------------------1400-1600 lb lift (min body weight 300)
26-27 ------------------------------1800-2000 lb lift (min body weight 350)
28-29 ------------------------------2400-2800 lb lift (min body weight 400)
30-31 -------------------------------3200+ lb lift (min body weight 500+)

*Un-augmented Maximum for Player Characters (Mortals)

According to this article: Mental retardation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Grade level children with an IQ below 70 would be classified as mentally retarded. Quote from the article: In early childhood mild mental retardation (IQ 60–70) may not be obvious, and may not be identified until children begin school.

In the US we begin school at 5. I seem to remember that some D&D designer said that you can't take the Int chart and multiply by 10 to get IQ, it just doesn't work that way.

D&D terms, I think an Int below 3 you are unable to communicate, this is the realm of animals, I don't even think they get an alignments or if they do it is neutral. Someone with that low of an Intelligence would be unable to destinguish between right and wrong.

Someone with really low Int would also be very childish and look at the world in childish views. Case in point, I have a younger brother who is retarded (actually it is Prader-Willie syndrome). Mentally and emotionally he is stuck at between 2-4 years of age, even though he has the body of 24 year old. It was interesting and a little disheartening when I had children and they got old enough to start liking the things he likes; power rangers, pokemon, and certain movies or cartoons. Now, my children 6 and 8 have pretty much out grown that, but my brother still likes that stuff and talks about it all the time.

I would peg an Int 3 as severely retarded and an Int 4 as mild to moderatly retarded. I would also tie it to wisdom as well. So high Int low Wis would be someone who has a ton of common sense but couldn't figure out 70% of 50 if there were a sale going on.

Low Int and Low wis, this would be mentally retarded. I am talking extremes here.

Low Wis, High Int, certain forms of autism.

High Int, low to moderate wis and a young age: watch the movie "Little Man Tate".

That's part of the problem with trying to tie D&D mental stats to real world mental abilities. There are so many things that we are tying to Int, Wis, and Cha. Look at Hitler, very high Cha, well loved by his followers hated by the rest of the world. Charisma is also dependant on the person's POV. Look at this years election, I think you have to have a high charisma to run for President, higher than most anyways. If you like one candidate chances are you don't like the other. Yet persuasion, diplomacy, and other such skills don't take that into consideration. One cadidate will speak and some will say yeah that's good, and others might say "Wow, what spin".

Dexterity has the same problem, just because I can dance across a tight rope 20 stories up on a windy day like it was nothing does not mean that I can from 100 yards away fire an arrow at a castle sending it through an arrow slit to hit the archer standing there.

Anyways, I'm starting to ramble. Basic point is you can't tie IQ to D&D Int, there are far too many other factors involved to do that. At best you can guesstimate.
 

Phasics

First Post
Good info thanks guys, ok so as far as stats go how do these sound with a 28 point buy in mind. Keep in mind this is not a fleshed out race yet and the obvious min/max benefits will be tempered and very much DM exploitable.

However from a purely mechanical point of view

28 point buy
Race X

STR +5
DEX +5
CON +5
INT -7
WIS -7
CHA -7

Role play restrictions to be outlined in the race for any score under 3, and semi restrictions for scores over 3.

Similiary

Race Y

STR -7
DEX -7
CON -7
INT +5
WIS +5
CHA +5


Some Basically stat blocks would look like

Some example stat blocks
along the lines of 15 14 14 8 8 8
or
21 13 13 7 7 7
or
18 18 17 5 5 5
or
19 19 19 3 3 3

Still toying with the racial ideas but what of the above stat blocks would be easily playable, just playable, playable with constant support and unplayable.
 


Remove ads

Top