Can you help me find an old article?

[Guilberwood]

Hi Guys,

Yesterday I was rereading the excellent article The Alexandrian - Misc Creations and it reminded me of another famous article I read some time ago about ability scores and their effective meaning.

If I remember correctly, the author compared ability scores in D&D with their counterpart in the real world. I remember it specifically compared the intelligence score of D&D characters and IQ’s, concluding that the average person would have a Int score of 10 or 11, and a person with 18 intelligence would be a one in a million case, a “once in a generation” thing.

There was more to the article than just that, but I really can’t remember right now.

Does anybody remember this article? Can you point me to it’s source?
Thanks in advance
Guilberwood

 

[Ringlerun]

Not sure if this is the right article but it does deal with ability scores and real life.

 

[Croesus]

Possibly the following article, published in The Dragon, issue 8(?).

So, You Want Realism in D&D?
by Brian Blume

We at TSR have heard several people express a desire for a system which gives more realism and variety to the method for determining the natural abilities of player characters in D&D. After minutes of exhaustive research, we have come up with an optional system which is designed to replace the old method of rolling three dice for each of a player’s abilities. This system is guaranteed to make a player character conform more to the abilities of the actual person owning them and will provide a great variety in these abilities from person to person.

STRENGTH — To determine strength, go to a gym and military press as much weight as you possibly can. Divide the number of pounds you lifted by ten; the result is your strength rating.

INTELLIGENCE — To determine your intelligence, look up the results of the most recent IQ test you have taken and divide the result by ten. This number is your intelligence rating.

WISDOM — To determine your wisdom, calculate the average number of hours you spend playing D&D or working on your D&D Campaign in an average week. Subtract the resulting number from twenty and this is your wisdom.

DEXTERITY— To determine your dexterity, go down to the track at the local High School and run 440 yards. Subtract your time in seconds from eighty, and the result is your Dexterity rating.

CONSTITUTION— To determine your constitution, figure out the number of consecutive number of months you have gone without missing a day of school or work due to illness. The number of months is equal to your constitution rating.

CHARISMA — To determine charisma, count up the number of times you have appeared on TV or have had your picture printed in the newspaper. Multiply this number by two, and the result is your charisma rating.

In order to try out this system, I tested it by figuring my own ratings. The results are interesting (I think?).

STRENGTH - 8
INTELLIGENCE - 12
WISDOM - 19
DEXTERITY- 4
CONSTITUTION - 9
CHARISMA - 14

 

[Achan hiArusa]

I would probably include the number of boy/girlfriends in the charisma number.

 

[Stormonu]

Possibly the following article, published in The Dragon, issue 8(?).

So, You Want Realism in D&D?
by Brian Blume

We at TSR have heard several people express a desire for a system which gives more realism and variety to the method for determining the natural abilities of player characters in D&D. After minutes of exhaustive research, we have come up with an optional system which is designed to replace the old method of rolling three dice for each of a player’s abilities. This system is guaranteed to make a player character conform more to the abilities of the actual person owning them and will provide a great variety in these abilities from person to person.

STRENGTH — To determine strength, go to a gym and military press as much weight as you possibly can. Divide the number of pounds you lifted by ten; the result is your strength rating.

INTELLIGENCE — To determine your intelligence, look up the results of the most recent IQ test you have taken and divide the result by ten. This number is your intelligence rating.

WISDOM — To determine your wisdom, calculate the average number of hours you spend playing D&D or working on your D&D Campaign in an average week. Subtract the resulting number from twenty and this is your wisdom.

DEXTERITY— To determine your dexterity, go down to the track at the local High School and run 440 yards. Subtract your time in seconds from eighty, and the result is your Dexterity rating.

CONSTITUTION— To determine your constitution, figure out the number of consecutive number of months you have gone without missing a day of school or work due to illness. The number of months is equal to your constitution rating.

CHARISMA — To determine charisma, count up the number of times you have appeared on TV or have had your picture printed in the newspaper. Multiply this number by two, and the result is your charisma rating.

In order to try out this system, I tested it by figuring my own ratings. The results are interesting (I think?).

Str 7
Int 14
Wis 14
Dex 0
Con 10
Chr 10

 

[Guilberwood]

I just found it, here's the link:

The Probabilities of Character Statistics

It was written for AD&D but it's still a good read, enjoy.

Thanks for the help folks.

 

[Achan hiArusa]

And actually with Intelligence if you are going to match the IQ bellcurve to the 3d6 die bellcurve it is more like your 10.5 + (IQ - 100)/15, but rounded up just to be nice.

 

[S'mon]

And actually with Intelligence if you are going to match the IQ bellcurve to the 3d6 die bellcurve it is more like your 10.5 + (IQ - 100)/15, but rounded up just to be nice.

For IQ 145 that would give INT 14.5.

AIR 15 IQ is 1 standard deviation, mean 100. So you can apply a normal distribution to the 3d6 bell curve: File:Standard deviation diagram.svg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - according to which only 1 in 50 people have IQ 130+.

For 4e I tend to treat 5 points of IQ over 100 = 1 of INT over 10, so INT 20 as ca IQ 150, genius level, INT 15 as a bright IQ 125. I'll normally treat points of INT below 10 as 1 point = 10 IQ though.

IQ is not a perfect measure of intelligence though, and IQ tests emphasise abstract analytical ability, whereas D&D INT emphasises learning ability and the ability to recall knowledge.