GMs altering established campaign setting elements to suit players?

[John Morrow]

I wouldn't stop a player playing a 1st level female human with STR 18 (it's certainly well within real-world parameters, as noted) but they better not make her a 95lb waif. Make her 200lb & 6'6" and I'm fine with it.

Would you stop the player from exceeding a 20 STR (World Record level strength for women) at 12th level, by adding +1 to STR at 4th, 8th, and 12th level? Just curious. No need to answer if you are afraid of being taken to the woodshed by the PC police.

 

[John Morrow]

There's plenty of things I'd object to in a game. Vampire protagonists, for instance.

Hallelujah!

 

[S'mon]

Would you stop the player from exceeding a 20 STR (World Record level strength for women) at 12th level, by adding +1 to STR at 4th, 8th, and 12th level? Just curious. No need to answer if you are afraid of being taken to the woodshed by the PC police.

No, of course not (in D&D) - IMC at any rate, a level 12 D&D PC is a legendary hero far above mortal limits. If Xena is a 20th level Fighter with STR 16 at 1st level, I don't have a problem with her having STR 21 at 20th (plus magic boosts, most likely).
I'd have more trouble with a normal-looking 1st level female Cimmerian in the Conan RPG having STR 20 (Cimmerians get +2 STR), and if I ran 'realistic' d20 Modern or Traveller20 maybe likewise - but d20 isn't a good system for realistic settings, anyway.

 

[S'mon]

The point I'm trying to make is that the "average male fighter" can come very close to being "average male" when the normal ranks of fighters are drawn from the general population while "average female fighter" can come very close to being "strongest female" when the pool is small and drawn mainly from the top. I'm not talking about the demographics of a modern military (I'm well aware of what they look like from looking into military studies on the subject) but more of the sort of situation where the a large segment of the male population becomes Fighters but only a small segment of women -- the Xenas, Red Sonjas, etc. -- are warriors.
An exceptional woman can clearly be stronger than an average man. All it would take for the average woman fighter to be stronger than the average male fighter is for the average female fighter to be drawn from the exceptional pool near the maximum and the average male fighter to be drawn from closer to the average. That could easily happen in a situation where the average male fighter is drafted and trained to be part of an army or guard unit while the average female fighter has to fight her way into her profession.

So the males are conscript draftees (Commoners) and the woman is an exceptional character (a Fighter) - yes, in that case clearly the woman will have higher STR. I was thinking more of people with a similar level of training & experience.