D&D General Strength

[Yaarel]

The nice thing about separating Strength and Afhletics into two separate abilities is, one can distinguish between a lumbering brute and an athletic rabbit.

 

[Charlaquin]

I’m not sure that such a definition covers non- ability check uses of Strength such as carrying capacity and jump distance in the edition you’ve quoted

True. In that case I would add that it also represents those two things.

or the bonus or penalty to experience for having high or low Strength that fighters had in earlier editions.

Oh, yeah, I missed that the tag said general, my mistake. I don’t think Strength can be said to represent one thing in D&D generally; it represents different things in different editions. Though, my general preference is to treat ability scores as what they do and not really sweat what they “represent.”

 

[Shiroiken]

Size can and should impact your ability to lift, pull, and carry. However, that doesn't change your ability to focus your power into an impact. Thus, while a 19 Str Halfling can't carry as much as an 19 Str Ogre can, he can pack just as much of a wallop.

 

[Hriston]

True. In that case I would add that it also represents those two things.

Oh, yeah, I missed that the tag said general, my mistake. I don’t think Strength can be said to represent one thing in D&D generally; it represents different things in different editions. Though, my general preference is to treat ability scores as what they do and not really sweat what they “represent.”

The OP is asking for a definition of Strength in D&D rather than asking what it represents. I’m not sure those are the same question. I agree that the best way to answer is to look at what the Strength score does in the various D&D games, and I’d say that definitively and across editions it influences chances of success in melee and tasks that require brute force and more generally at being effective and progressing as a fighter.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

While you often think it is the first one, in DnD 5e it is rather the second bullet point. So it becomes a mixture of both.

The first is usually achieved by multiplying your strength with a size factor.

 

[payn]

I went with a mixture of the two. From the examples I see Andre the giant as somebody with a high strength score. The gymnast is likely somebody with above average in str, dex, and con. Which explains their ability to pull off feats most folks cant, despite some of them like Andre being well above average in a single stat.

 

[Rogerd1]

Strength in D&D strength is often discussed here. I thought it might be nice to gauge the definitions we may have for strength. We know in 5e they define it as "natural athleticism" and "bodily power," as well as "athletic training and the extent to which you can exert raw physical force." Both of those things seem to skirt the actual definition we use in the modern world, which is either: The amount a person can lift, push or pull or the amount a person can lift, push or pull comparative to their own weight.

For example, a gymnast is incredibly strong in the fact that she can push her own body weight through the air much higher than an average person. A male gymnast can do handstand pushups for days. But neither of them could lift as much as what Andre the Giant could with one arm. Yet, Andre couldn't do either one of the things the gymnasts could do.

So what is your take? When you are a player of a character with high strength, how do you usually describe them? When you are a DM, how do you usually describe creatures with a high strength? How about NPCs?

Strength is a weird one to be honest, and pretty much highlights how strength scales utterly fail in most rpg's, as both calisthenic / gymnasts are incredibly strong in some ways.

For lifting weights you start light, and gradually add weight.

Calisthenics is all about do the exercise progressions, which are damn tough. With calisthenics you can spend literally six months failing, such that you pick yourself up and keeping pushing in. It requires a certain fortitude of mind.

You have wiry, but incredibly strong lifters like Athlean-X (Jeff Cavalier) who cannot fully match the calisthenics but fills the middle ground. Even Thanos rates him!

Then you get Erik Barsi who has taken calisthenics to a level to virtually rival the Shaolin monks!. He does a full planche on four fingers (two fingers on each hand).

Then you get the Mountain who can out lift them all many times over. Ask him to do ten pullups and he'll fail as physics does not allow it in human beings. Same way that a full one armed handstand push up, off a wall is physically impossible for us. You would literally need to lift a ton on one arm.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Strength is mostly raw power. But some of it is relative power. It's not able to be perfectly 100% either thing, because the stats in D&D are not clean representations of physical phenomena. They have value because they are loose descriptors of traits generally bundled together by human intuition. These intuitions help to create a believable and grounded world, but are extremely unreliable outside their niches, and the more a backstory gets examined and explored, the more those niches will be revealed to be imperfect intuitions rather than reliable bedrocks of reality.

Ultimately, the intuitions are useful but limited. They help us engage with otherwise meaningless numbers. But those intuitions, despite many claims to the contrary, are not and cannot be actual "physics engines." Pulling at their corners will always eventually reveal the machine underneath.

 

[DND_Reborn]

As others have pointed out, there are all sorts of Strength, but I see Strength as the application of your muscle. Of course, the more you have of it, the more you can apply it. But trained skill is a huge factor as well.

The problem isn't with Strength so much as it is with a single Strength-based skill: Athletics, which is how Strength is applied.

So, we added two new Strength-based skills: Brawn and Grapple. Brawn is useful for acts of raw strength (bending, lifting, etc.) and Grapple is used for when your Strength is contested against another (grapple and shove).

This allows Athletics to just be used for moving yourself (climb, swim, jump).

Thus, a "strong-man" type PC would have proficiency in Brawn, etc.

Honestly, even Athletics is too "general" IMO, since there are many people who excel at climbing, swimming, or jumping, without being good at the others...

 

[le Redoutable]

well, is Climb Walls the art of Appraisal Difficulties
Jumping the Art of Entering/Exiting of Opponent's Combat Sphere
( and Swimming ? I don't know how to swim : I flow ( french couler ) )