High Str Low Con?

[Calico_Jack73]

There was a guy that I went to Basic Training with (USAF) who had fantastic upper body strength... they guy could do push ups all day long. However, when it came to do our run he couldn't even complete the first half-mile. He ended up getting washed back because he was in horrible cardio shape. To me a High STR, Low CON is the exact same way... great strength, no endurance.

 

[S'mon]

I don't think it was any of them: He wasn't a main character, but was a rather stylish extra... Seem to recall he worked for an evil empire, in which almost everyone wore masks, different types to represent different castes. Got a funny feeling it was in the Runestaff books?

It's been so long since I've read any of his stuff. Having a strange desire to dust them off for a re-read.

Oh, right, in the Hawkmoon books!
One of Hawkmoon's sidekicks - not Oldann or Count Brass, I can't recall his name, I think he came from Granbretan (the evil neo-British empire) and was a consumptive aristocrat type? Great books BTW, must reread them sometime & remember how great Moorcock used to be...

 

[S'mon]

IRL the best elite infantry soldiers seem to mostly have a "lean and rangy" look, almost the opposite of the Schwarzenegger bodybuilder-stereotype. Too much gymnasium muculature is just extra weight you don't need.

 

[Djeta Thernadier]

You could have a strong guy (or girl) who can benchpress hundreds of pounds yet still be deathly allergic to a food, or a bee sting. Or have a weak stomach. Or a psychological disorder that makes them break down.

All of these could easily transfer to a game/fantasy world. To me CON is how you hold up under various circumstances.

If you have a high STR but yet are allergic to a certain type of food and you eat it, your level of holding up would certainly then go down.

 

[Darklone]

Friend of mine has a bard character with str 18 now and Con 10. He rolled bad for level 2... so he took a barbarian level at 3 and picked up a glaive. Speedy lean guy with quick strong cuts but can't take a hit.

 

[Jeremy Ackerman-Yost]

A muscle is capable of pulling 3-4 kg/ square centimeter of cross section. That's really all it's about. Some people might be able to pull 4.5 kg/square centimeter and some people 2.5 kg but still the strength of a muscle is directly proportional to how big it is. But:

1) The size of the muscle and the size of for example an arm doesnt have to be the same thing, especially not in an obese person.

2) All instances of muscle use is improved by practising; this is most obvious in martial arts but that's true even for weight lifting. In martial arts you almost never use one muscle so a small, wiry guy with exceptional coordination can practically be very strong. But isolate the wiry guy's muscle in an exercise and you see that his strength isnt really that dramatic. For D&D purposes I would say that you are right, though.

This is sort of a semantic issue, but really, what's the more "dramatic" strength? The big burly guy who can bench press 350 lbs but can't throw a punch, or the wiry guy who benches 175 and hits like a ton of bricks. Explosiveness and sheer strength are not strictly linked, after all.

And the length and density of the muscle is just as important as its girth. For example: I'm 6'3". A friend I work out with is 5'7". Both of us have 16" biceps. Mine, however, are a few inches longer than his, due to my height. As a result of these differences, he outperforms me handily on bicep isolating exercises. In fact, he outperforms me on almost every well-isolated exercise. As an added irritant, on him these biceps look massive, and on me they look about average. My only consolation is that his advantage disappears when we start doing mixed muscle groups and my endurance is substantially greater.

Furthermore, there are substantial differences in muscle density between people, as well as muscle shape and the ratios of short and long twitch fibers. It's just about the only place where one can find statistically significant differences between racial groups. Africans tend to have denser, stronger, better shaped muscles than anyone else. There are always exceptions, of course, but generally, they don't have to work as hard for equal gains.

In any case, the strength of a muscle is related to how big it is, but there are many other factors.

 

[Kalendraf]

By high str, low con, I'm taking this to mean a character with something like a 16 strength, but only an 8 con...or worse. Since stats are determined independently, this is reachable during character construction whether you use dice rolling or point buying methods.

I'd simply view this character as muscular and powerful, but likely unhealthy or accident-prone. An overweight, out-of-shape person could fit the model, as could someone with almost any kind of health problem.

As for using a character like this, if their dex was good, I could see them using a mighty bow to stay out of harms way, but still take advantage of their strength for damage. However, if their dex is also poor, then they might want to use a melee weapon with reach, and try to stay behind other front row melee types. In either case, decent armor is advised, since their still going to get hit from time to time, and their hit points are likely to be rather low.

Here's a question, what class would you play if all your stats were 10 or less, except your con was 18?

 

[jerichothebard]

Here's a question, what class would you play if all your stats were 10 or less, except your con was 18?

Hospitalar, in the literal meaning of the word. Basically, nurse in a plauge ward.

Either that, or "designated diversion".

 

[Jeremy Ackerman-Yost]

Here's a question, what class would you play if all your stats were 10 or less, except your con was 18?

Barbarian/Rogue. Played as a brawler who can take a lot of hits, but isn't terribly swift or skilled.

 

[buzzard]

IRL the best elite infantry soldiers seem to mostly have a "lean and rangy" look, almost the opposite of the Schwarzenegger bodybuilder-stereotype. Too much gymnasium muculature is just extra weight you don't need.

That's in real life today. Weapons are powered nowadays by chemical reaction. In an era of muscle powered weapons I suspect things were rather different. For example a Welsh longbowman of quality would use a bow with a pull well over 100 lbs. Lean and rangy isn't going to cut in when it comes to that.

buzzard