Converting yourself to D&D stats

[Morrus]

Over the years, there have been various "stat yourself" methods. They usually ask a bunch of questions - how much can you bench press? Do you smoke? What level of education did you reach? That sort of thing. You can probably Google a bunch of them.

This is just a bit of fun; it's not going to be used in a doctor's surgery or anything. The more fun tests we can add to each attribute, the more fun. Generally, for each ability, do all the test and average the result; if you don't know any of the values, just leave them out (but remember you did so when averaging the result).

Bounded accuracy changes things a little, so I figured why not revisit the concept for D&D 5E? For now, I'm happy to just keep it to ability scores. Let's start with Strength.

[h=4]STRENGTH[/h]
I'm using the average of bench press, pushups, deadlifts, and standing long jump (and include a way to determine your expected bench press if, like me, you don't know it). There are, of course, many ways to test strength, and, indeed, many interpretations of what strength is. I've chosen some which are fairly easy to determine - I doubt many people know how many lbs of weight they can carry on a long distance SAS march, so we'll go with things folks have a reasonable chance of knowing. If you don't know any, just leave it out and take the average of the things you do know.

Test 1: BENCH PRESS

According to the core rules, your carrying capacity is STR x 15. If you know what you can bench press, divide by 15. Round down.

STR 10 x 15 = 150lb. STR 18 x 15 = 270lb.

If you don't know your bench press (I don't have a clue what mine is), the American College of Sports Medicine says:

Men who are in the age range of 20-29 years should lift 106% of their totally body weight for 50th percentile, 122% for 70th percentile, and for 90th percentile they must lift 148%. For men who are between 30-39 years of age, 93% for 50th percentile, 104% for 70th percentile, and 124% for 90th percentile. Men who are between 40-49 years of age should lift 88% for 50th percentile, 93% for 70th percentile and 110% for 90thpercentile. Men between 50-59 years of age should lift 75% for 50th, 84% for 70th and 97% for 90th percentile.

Given below are some examples for men's average bench press based on the age and the body weight. You can calculate yours according to what has been discussed above.


[TABLE="width: 100%"]
[TR="class: firstRow"]
[TD]Age[/TD]
[TD="width: 240"]Body Weight (Pounds)[/TD]
[TD="width: 257"]Average Bench Press[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="bgcolor: #EFEFEE"]
[TD="width: 81"]24[/TD]
[TD="width: 240"]170[/TD]
[TD="width: 257"]180[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 81"]33[/TD]
[TD="width: 240"]180[/TD]
[TD="width: 257"]167[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="bgcolor: #EFEFEE"]
[TD="width: 81"]46[/TD]
[TD="width: 240"]183[/TD]
[TD="width: 257"]161[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 81"]53[/TD]
[TD="width: 240"]187[/TD]
[TD="width: 257"]140[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

Women from 20 to 29 years of age should lift 65% of their body weight for 50thpercentile, 74% for 70th percentile and 90% for 90th percentile. Women from 30 to 39 years of age should lift 57% of their body weight for 50th percentile, 63% for 70thpercentile, and 76% for 90th percentile. Women from 40 to 49 years of age should lift 52% of their body weight for 50th percentile, 57% for 70th percentile and 71% for 90thpercentile. Women from 50 to 59 years of age should lift 46% for 50th percentile, 52% for 70th percentile, and 61% for 90th percentile.


[TABLE="width: 100%"]
[TR="class: firstRow"]
[TD]Age[/TD]
[TD="width: 233"]Body Weight[/TD]
[TD="width: 264"]Average Bench Press[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="bgcolor: #EFEFEE"]
[TD="width: 134"]27[/TD]
[TD="width: 235"]130[/TD]
[TD="width: 264"]84[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 134"]34[/TD]
[TD="width: 235"]145[/TD]
[TD="width: 264"]82[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="bgcolor: #EFEFEE"]
[TD="width: 134"]48[/TD]
[TD="width: 235"]150[/TD]
[TD="width: 264"]78[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 134"]55[/TD]
[TD="width: 235"]160[/TD]
[TD="width: 264"]73[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
This is't very exact, of course. You can be lighter and stronger or heavier and weaker, but it's a start.

In theory, my STR therefore is 11 using the average charts.

TEST 2: PUSH UPS

The next test is to see how many (good form) pushups you can do. A big of Googling suggests that the average man can do 27; 36 is considered excellent; US military apparently requires 45 to graduate, with 75 being the high end target.

If 27 is STR 10.5 (average), it's close enough to multiplying by 2.5. Find how many pushups you can do and divide by 2.5

I can do 40, which gives me STR 16.

TEST 3: STANDING LONG JUMP

Another of measuring strength, according to this website. When taking multiple values, remember to average them - Go jump! An average standing long jump is 5 feet, and the world record is about 12 feet. That's easy; if 5 feet is 10.5, then just double your standing long jump (in feet).

I can jump 6', give or take. That gives me STR 12.

TEST 4: DEADLIFT
Don't worry if you don't know this one. Just average the scores you do know, and leave out the ones you don't.

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)

To determine your STR, take your deadlift, deduct 200lb, divide by 80, add 10.... (deadlift - 200)/80 +10.

YOUR FINALLY TALLY

Take your four STR scores (one from each test) and find the average. Round down.

I have three different values for STR: 11, 16, and 12 (I have no idea what I can deadlift so left that one out). The average, and my final STR score, is 13.

 

[CasvalRemDeikun]

I don't know my bench press, but I can do over 50 push-ups without any real effort (in two minutes for an US Army PT test), and my Long Jump is around 5 ft. So myou scores are 20 and 10. So my Str score will likely be a 12 or so (even if I can only bench 50% of the average for my height, the average of the scores don't change much).

 

[jasper]

Cha 9000! roll 1 rats okay Cha 8
Str 10, Int 10 Wis 7 (have you seen my first wife and her relatives), Dex 10, Con 10.

 

[Morrus]

[h=4]CONSTITUTION[/h]
Again, we will take the average of multiple values. I have decided not to include illnesses and the like in this test.

Test 1: Push Ups

Take your push up STR score from the strength test. You will be using that again. Mine was 16.

Test 2: Hold Breath

The world record for holding breath is 22 minutes. This requires special training and preparation, however, and so is not useful as a measure of Con. Also note that humans can hold their breath for much longer underwater as on land, for various reasons. We will be sticking to on land for this test.

The average person can hold their breath for about a minute, and people in excellent health about two minutes.

Hold your breath and divide the number of seconds you manage by 6 to get a CON score. I managed 80 seconds, which gives me 13.

Test 3: BMI

Your BMI is your Body Mass Index. It is your weight (kg) divided by the square of your height (metres).

You can use this calculator to determine your BMI (or Google one of about a million on the web). You may need to convert from lbs and feet; you're a gamer - you can do that easily.

[TABLE="width: 500"]
[TR]
[TD]BMI[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Modifier to CON[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"]<15[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]-6[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"]15-16[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]-2[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"]16-18.5[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]-1[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"]18.5-25[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]0[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"]25-30[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]-1[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"]30-35[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]-2[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"]35-40[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]-4[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"]>40[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]-6[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

Mine is 22.5, which gives me a 0 modifier.

YOUR FINAL TALLY

Take the average of your push up and hold breath scores, and then apply the BMI modifier. Mine is 16 and 13 (average 14), no modifier.

Optional Modifiers

Allergies? -1
Do you get at least an hour's walking/running/aerobic exercise per day? +1
Have you ever completed a marathon? +2
Do you get winded climbing stairs? -1
Do you have diabetes, asthma, or another serious illness? -1
Do you play a sport or run regularly (does not stack with the walking, above)? +1

 

[GameOgre]

I was initially very excited to finally be able to accurately stat myself out but then it hit me this is a totally broken system. You can't go over 20! So basically not one single stat of mine can be accurately rated in order to stay within the limited confines of the 3-20 D&D range.

By the strict D&D standard I'm simply too amazing to be believable.

Frankly, its a hard burden to bear.

 

[Sacrosanct]

These are fun little exercises (no pun intended), but nothing that should actually be used because there are so many things that go into such broadly defined attributes. And IME, most people either wildly overestimate or wildly underestimate their what their own stats would be.

For example, for strength, nothing there is for actual carrying capacity. My bench or long jump values have nothing to do with how much I can carry and for how far. I've done plenty of road marches in the military carrying 100lb rucks. And with Constitution, we already know the flaws in BMI (highly muscular people still have a high BMI even if their body fat is really low), and there's not much there for actual health. For example, I don't get sick. Ever. I never even missed a single day of school from K-12. Not one. But I know my BMI is probably a little high. Even though I'm in my 40s, I'm still in pretty good shape and work out frequently, but my BMI is enough to call me overweight. I'm 6'3" and 215 lbs, but if you look at me, I don't look fat at all.

 

[Bawylie]

These are fun little exercises (no pun intended), but nothing that should actually be used because there are so many things that go into such broadly defined attributes. And IME, most people either wildly overestimate or wildly underestimate their what their own stats would be.

For example, for strength, nothing there is for actual carrying capacity. My bench or long jump values have nothing to do with how much I can carry and for how far. I've done plenty of road marches in the military carrying 100lb rucks. And with Constitution, we already know the flaws in BMI (highly muscular people still have a high BMI even if their body fat is really low), and there's not much there for actual health. For example, I don't get sick. Ever. I never even missed a single day of school from K-12. Not one. But I know my BMI is probably a little high. Even though I'm in my 40s, I'm still in pretty good shape and work out frequently, but my BMI is enough to call me overweight. I'm 6'3" and 215 lbs, but if you look at me, I don't look fat at all.

I'm 6'3" 280lbs. But I'm sort of a beast. My BMI is indeed obese but I am not globe shaped. (I could lose a few, sure. But I've got dad bod, not Jabba the Dad bod).

Anyway I got STR 16 and CON 14.


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[green_destiny]

I will have to determine my stats but so far here's what I know about my real-life PC...


LEVEL: 10
RACE: Human
ALIGNMENT: Lawful Good
BACKGROUND: The happy geek


PATRON: THE FIANCEE
- My will, gold and how many spells I can cast per day are currently bounded with my patron the fiancee
- Magical item: Engagement Ring
- Character advancement - Patron: The Wife


RESISTANCE: Cold
WEAKNESS: Girls, Chocolates
FEATURES:
* Can sleep anywhere
* Metabolism slowing down
* Sense of humor (somehow)
* Introvert forced to be an extrovert
* Haunted past: ex-girlfriend


SKILLS:
* Computers
* Hobbyist
* Driving
* Swimming
* Drawing

 

[Morrus]

[h=4]DEXTERITY[/h]
Dexterity is a little harder to measure, but we'll give it a try! There are many tests used in scientific studies, so we'll be borrowing from them without making the test too much hassle or require special equipment. Note in D&D, this also includes spatial ability and aiming. The standard tests involve pegs and holes, but we can't do that here.

But you know what a lot of us do do? We play twitch-based video games.

With these tests, do not keep practising them. We're testing your natural Dex, not your ability to learn a skill.

TEST 1: NUMBER PICKS

Take this online test. Don't worry, it starts really slow but speeds up as the numbers disappear.

400 seconds is average. Take the number of seconds and divide by 40. Take the result away from 20. I did quite badly - 451 seconds which gives me a Dex score of 9.

TEST 2: REACTIONS

Take this online test. The average is a score of 250 (note it doesn't count people faster than 100ms as no human can do that). Deduct your average time from 500 and divide by 25. I got 228ms, which gives me a Dex score of 11.

TEST 3: ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS THREE

Take the average of your two Dex scores above and apply the following modifiers.

Can you juggle? +2
Assuming you are of legal age, can you drive? If not, -1.
Can you dance? +1
Do you do acrobatics, gymnastics, or martial arts? +2
Do you play a sport (does not stack with the previous question)? +1
Are you generally sedentary? -1

YOUR FINAL TALLY

The average of my two scores (9 and 11) was 10. I can't juggle, do drive, can't dance, don't do acrobatics etc., but am not sedentary. No modifier. My Dex is 10.

 

[Morrus]

These are fun little exercises (no pun intended), but nothing that should actually be used because there are so many things that go into such broadly defined attributes. And IME, most people either wildly overestimate or wildly underestimate their what their own stats would be.

For example, for strength, nothing there is for actual carrying capacity. My bench or long jump values have nothing to do with how much I can carry and for how far. I've done plenty of road marches in the military carrying 100lb rucks. And with Constitution, we already know the flaws in BMI (highly muscular people still have a high BMI even if their body fat is really low), and there's not much there for actual health. For example, I don't get sick. Ever. I never even missed a single day of school from K-12. Not one. But I know my BMI is probably a little high. Even though I'm in my 40s, I'm still in pretty good shape and work out frequently, but my BMI is enough to call me overweight. I'm 6'3" and 215 lbs, but if you look at me, I don't look fat at all.

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.