Converting yourself to D&D stats

I had a bet with someone on how many posts it would take for the obligatory "my BMI is high but it's muscle" post! 4 replies (not counting my own) was actually longer than I expected!

Yeah, BMI is flawed. It's just a bit of fun. Miss that one out if you like, and just do the other two.

"Brad, as your doctor I'm required to tell you that you're Obese. Now will you please put me down!"


-Brad
 

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Fun exercise but deeply flawed.

What you can carry has little to do with your bench press for example. It is mostly in your hamstrings and glutes.

Carrying capacity is how much you can carry without being encumbered. I would think most people would not be able to carry around 150 lbs and walk their normal speed. This is mostly because it is annoying to track in D&D.

Push/Drag/Life is a better measure. You can lift 30 times your strength score. So if you can deadlift 300 lbs then you have a strength of 10.

BMI is also not a great thing to use in general and esp. for Con. When I was a fit young man I had a body fat % around 6-8 but I was on the verge of being considered obese by BMI. This is because of the muscle I had and my body type in general.
 

I had a bet with someone on how many posts it would take for the obligatory "my BMI is high but it's muscle" post! 4 replies (not counting my own) was actually longer than I expected!

Yeah, BMI is flawed. It's just a bit of fun. Miss that one out if you like, and just do the other two.

Well, BMI is only weight compared to height. So yeah, I'd expect a "BMI is flawed" response pretty quickly because it's a horrible way of measurement. And like I also mentioned, it's not the only flaw in that assessment. That's why I said it's a fun exercise, but nothing to take seriously or really base stats off of because it's not accurate at all.
 

Problem is I can't bench press much at all. I do however, have a really strong back, and once carried a full twelve people before. I'm pretty sure I couldn't bench press twelve people.

The thing is bench pressing measures how much you can lift (and with your arms alone, at that), not how much you can carry.
 

Well, BMI is only weight compared to height. So yeah, I'd expect a "BMI is flawed" response pretty quickly because it's a horrible way of measurement. And like I also mentioned, it's not the only flaw in that assessment. That's why I said it's a fun exercise, but nothing to take seriously or really base stats off of because it's not accurate at all.

Why would you take it seriously?
 

Fun exercise but deeply flawed.

What you can carry has little to do with your bench press for example. It is mostly in your hamstrings and glutes.

Carrying capacity is how much you can carry without being encumbered. I would think most people would not be able to carry around 150 lbs and walk their normal speed. This is mostly because it is annoying to track in D&D.

Push/Drag/Life is a better measure. You can lift 30 times your strength score. So if you can deadlift 300 lbs then you have a strength of 10.

These are all valid factors of strength. The fact is there's a million factors of strength, and turning real life physiology into D&D stats is a fundamentally impossible exercise. That doesn't stop us having fun with it though!

Bench press is something some folks might know. We could certainly add deadlift to the collection of tests (though I was generally trying o avoid things which needed gym equipment).

The average person can deadlift about 120% of their bodyweight. Let's call that 200lb average. The world record is 1,014.1lb (let's call that 1,000lb)

Ranging 200lb as STR 10 and 1000lb at STR 20 you get an 800lb range there with 80lb increments per ability increase.

So take your deadlift, and add or deduct 1 point from STR 10 for each full 80lb above or below 200lb you can do.

In other words, take your deadlift, deduct 200lb, divide by 80, add 10.

(deadlift - 200)/80 +10.

(I'll add this extra test to the OP for the sake of completeness. The more fun tests, the more fun!)
 

This is all pretty cool, but where it gets tricky is the mental stats.

I think it's safe to say that ENWorld attracts only the brightest and most charming people, so to save time let's just give everybody 1d6 + 14 in INT and CHA.

Wisdom on these boards is a bit swingier, in my experience; seems an old school 3d6 would model it pretty well. Sometimes changing on a daily basis.
 

Well. For strengh and constitution I'd rate 12 and 9 respectively (damn diabetes...).

For dexterity, how would ambidexterity rate? And yes before I had to put on glassed I was deadly with a rifle and bow. Now, not so. But still... I'd give myself a 16.

Intelligence. College applied science, Bachelor's degree in TESL (teaching english as second language), and Power engineer. How would you rate that?
Wisdom... not sure. Maybe 12 or lower?
Charisma... not sure either. about 12 too.

So I would be: St: 12, Dx: 16, Con: 9, Int: 15?, Wsd: 12, Cha: 12.
I'd be a wizard! Yeah!
 

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