Fun with high ability scores.

[RangerWickett]

Just a random thought after staying up all night:

Should a 20 Wisdom represent second sight? I mean, you are really good at reading people compared to the average Joe, so shouldn't you have some sort of telepathy?

Should 20 Charisma folks have, like, theme music?

People with 20 Dexterity just never fall over, stumble, or drop things.

Maybe if you have a really high stat, you ought to also get to Take 10 on appropriate skills all the time.

Sure, you only get a +5 modifier, and magic and stuff can get you an even higher modifier, but the flavor effects of having such ridiculously high scores need to be more interesting.

 

[Kemrain]

A 20 isn't all that ridiculous. With a +2 from race, you can start at 1st level with a 20. If you wanted to make the same statement about 30's, I might be inclined to give it some thought, but, I've seen far too many 20's in the stat box to be terribly impressed by them.

- Kemrain the Desensitized.

 

[Laurel]

Especially with feats, eqipment and such... 20 still really cool seeming, but obtainable.
30 much harder. I do agree that it would be nice to see just how out of wack some people see these 30 and over stats.
And the chart goes for abilites over 30, so what happens at 40 for some of those?

I have heard mention of at a those way high numbers things like dex start to be more broad impacting, like the PC gets speed increase (though this is countered that it is actually a strength stat.)

 

[knifespeaks]

Just a random thought after staying up all night:

Should a 20 Wisdom represent second sight? I mean, you are really good at reading people compared to the average Joe, so shouldn't you have some sort of telepathy?

Should 20 Charisma folks have, like, theme music?

People with 20 Dexterity just never fall over, stumble, or drop things.

Maybe if you have a really high stat, you ought to also get to Take 10 on appropriate skills all the time.

Sure, you only get a +5 modifier, and magic and stuff can get you an even higher modifier, but the flavor effects of having such ridiculously high scores need to be more interesting.

Get some sleep.

 

[Victim]

A 20 isn't really impossible or ridulous at all. If you start assigning quasi-supernatural effects on a 20, then what about when a character has 30 or higher. Or for the super stats of elite monsters.

Also, it's a bit harder to come up with cool effects for all abilities. What does super STR do that isn't already quantified.

However, in some cases, super stats are going to grant amazing effects. If you assume certain things are going to be represented by attribute checks, then with a high bonus, a character would never fail. A character with a 30+ INT would probably never forget anything set to memory.

 

[Bihor]

The character with high STR could have a jump speed. (remember the Hulk)

 

[RangerWickett]

I know a 20 isn't that impressive in D&D gamer lingo. But in the world of people who tend to have 10 Strengths, it's frikkin' impressive. I just thought, y'know, it isn't that cool to have a 20 Strength. What if, beyond 18 Strength, your maximum lifting ability increased at an accelerated rate? So a person with a 20 Strength ought to be able to lift a car over his head. It's not broken, just cool.

 

[Al]

Even in real life, a 20 isn't way out there in the realms of superherodom. The elderly college professor has probably got a 20 Int assuming that he's got a 17 base (1 in 50, so not that unlikely), +2 for aging and +1 for levelling.

 

[Baronovan]

I think that it takes more than a 20 to accentuate something this much. A 20 Int, like was mentioned, isn't hard to achieve statistically. If you wanted to attribute "tricks" for higher ability scores, begin at the 30s and move in increments of 10.

 

[LazarusLong42]

As a comparison with the one stat that can be checked vs. reality, the world record clean-and-jerk (i.e. lift over head) mass is 263.5 kg, or about 580 pounds. That represents a Strength score of not quite 23... and one assumes the other weightlifters in that class are probably pretty close in competition, meaning we have some couple dozen people roaming the Earth with Str 22.

Without magical enhancement. (Chemical enhancement, well, that's something else...)