What do the numbers in D&D ability scores mean?

[Klaus]

Do you know someone who seems to be constantly making poor judgement calls (getting involved with the wrong people, doing something unsafe or stupid and getting hurt, etc.)? Those are the slightly-lower-than-average Wisdom people.

Do you know anyone who isn't necessarily super attractive, physically, but they seem to make others' faces light up when they enter the room? They make you feel special when they acknowledge you? Those are slightly higher than average Charisma people. They don't "charm" or dominate you, but you do go out of your way to please them a little bit more.

I have a DM who is just really sharp about memorizing things and doing math on the fly. He's got a moderately high intelligence.

edit: Oh, by the way, in my experience a moderately high Charisma person who is also a moderately low Wisdom person is a really dangerous combination because he/she has this way of convincing others to also engage in foolish behavior...

Y'know, 4e should have a new age category:

Teenager: -4 Wis. Alignment shifts one step towards Chaos.

 

[Roman]

Do you know someone who seems to be constantly making poor judgement calls (getting involved with the wrong people, doing something unsafe or stupid and getting hurt, etc.)? Those are the slightly-lower-than-average Wisdom people.

Do you know anyone who isn't necessarily super attractive, physically, but they seem to make others' faces light up when they enter the room? They make you feel special when they acknowledge you? Those are slightly higher than average Charisma people. They don't "charm" or dominate you, but you do go out of your way to please them a little bit more.

I have a DM who is just really sharp about memorizing things and doing math on the fly. He's got a moderately high intelligence.

edit: Oh, by the way, in my experience a moderately high Charisma person who is also a moderately low Wisdom person is a really dangerous combination because he/she has this way of convincing others to also engage in foolish behavior...

Good ideas!

 

[rgard]

I would be interested in reasonable interpretations of what the specific numbers in D&D ability scores mean when translated into real-life examples.

For example, say a character has a dexterity score of 8. What would he be like in real life?

There was an article in the early days of the Dragon magazine that examined this. The only stat I can remember off the top of my head was Intelligence. Divide your IQ by ten and that was your intelligence. I think maybe the Strength score was equivalent to what you could bench press divided by 10 again.

 

[Roman]

There was an article in the early days of the Dragon magazine that examined this. The only stat I can remember off the top of my head was Intelligence. Divide your IQ by ten and that was your intelligence. I think maybe the Strength score was equivalent to what you could bench press divided by 10 again.

Do you remember which article it was?

 

[Roman]

*bump*

 

[Roman]

Did anybody manage to find the article?

 

[Philotomy Jurament]

It's probably "The six main skills: what AD&D game abilities mean in real terms" from issue #107.

Helpful link: Dragon Magazine Article Index

Self-serving link: my "musing" on ability bonuses in OD&D

 

[kenobi65]

The only stat I can remember off the top of my head was Intelligence. Divide your IQ by ten and that was your intelligence.

Yes, that's the rule-of-thumb I'd often read, esp. in the old days...but it doesn't really map well onto anything like a 3d6 bell curve.

In the real world, an IQ of 140 puts you in the 98th or 99th percentile of scores...but a 14+ Int (on 3d6) comes up (I think) 16% of the time...or, in other words, a 14 Int only puts you in the 85th percentile. Or something like that.

 

[rgard]

It's probably "The six main skills: what AD&D game abilities mean in real terms" from issue #107.

Helpful link: Dragon Magazine Article Index

Self-serving link: my "musing" on ability bonuses in OD&D

You know it could be that, but I could swear I saw it earlier than 107. May have been an OD&D article that was updated for AD&D in issue 107.

I'll look for it tonight.

Thanks,
Rich

 

[Roman]

Thanks!