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

[Zireael]

Anyone found the older article?

 

[Yora]

Given the subject of this thread, I assume this one is highly relevant:

The Alexandrian - Calibrating Your Expectations

But you have to specify "older article".

 

[amerigoV]

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.

In 1e, Str is based on military press (the lift straight up over your head). Its Military Press/10 (see PHB 1e under Str).

(If it was bench press, I had a 30.5 Str in High School But I had about 140 lbs Military Press IIRC).

 

[Zireael]

In 1e, Str is based on military press (the lift straight up over your head). Its Military Press/10 (see PHB 1e under Str).

What source is this info from? PHB?

 

[Mercurius]

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.

85th percentile of adventurers, not normal people. Big difference.

As for the OP, I think as a general rule think in terms of these descriptors:

3 imbecilic
4-5 terrible
6-7 poor
8-9 mediocre/below average
10-11 average
12-13 good
14-15 very good
16-17 excellent
18-19 great
20+ legendary

While older versions of D&D and 3.x and 4E are rather different, with the latter two editions' open-ended ability scores making scores up to 30 possible, this is somewhat reconcilable if we think of 3-20 as the "normal" range of an inexperienced individual after they finish their undergraduate degree or basic training; 21 or above represents some kind of further development. So a math genius might graduate MIT with a 20, go to grad school school and have a 22 by the time they're done, then go on and develop their intelligence through further research, work, theorizing, etc, and peak out in the upper 20s in their 50s.

 

[Janx]

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

I have a friend, who is able to swordfight, play rugby, and other athletic stuff just fine.

However, he is known as Sir Spillsalot, as he is always knocking cups over and spilling drinks.

I could accept that his DEX is 8. He is easily able to function and not be tripping over his feet, yet he fumbles simple things like drinking cups often enough to have been noticed and dubbed.

 

[Corathon]

What source is this info from? PHB?

Its from the first edition DMG. The rule is good up to 18 STR, exceptional STR was capable of pressing much greater weights.

 

[trancejeremy]

The early article in Dragon was a somewhat tongue in cheek article by Brian Blume. Issue 8

STRENGTH — To determine strength, go to a gym and military press
as much weight as you possibly can. Divide the number of pounds
you lifted by ten; the result is your strength rating.
ing.

INTELLIGENCE — To determine your intelligence, look up the results
of the most recent IQ test you have taken and divide the result
by ten. This number is your intelligence rating.

WISDOM — To determine your wisdom, calculate the average number
of hours you spend playing D&D or working on your D&D Campaign
in an average week. Subtract the resulting number from twenty
and this is your wisdom.

DEXTERITY — To determine your dexterity, go down to the track at
the local High School and run 440 yards. Subtract your time in seconds
from eighty, and the result is your dexterity rating.

CONSTITUTION — To determine your constitution, figure out the
number of consecutive number of months you have gone without
missing a day of school or work due to illness. The number of
months is equal to your constitution rating.

CHARISMA — To determine charisma, count up the number of times
you have appeared on TV or have had your picture printed in the
newspaper. Multiply this number by two, and the result is your charisma
rating.

 

[wingsandsword]

3E changed all of this. It established 10-11 as "average" and really put no upper limit on stats. In this scale it's harder to interpret. An old 18 intelligence could be Einstein, or the elite genius types of the world. In the new scale with no real upper limit, I'm not sure where to place the best because another could later be better. This non-ending scale is nice for the purposes of character advancement, because the player always has somewhere to improve. It's also great for superhero games like Mutants & Masterminds where superhumans have stats much higher than mundanes.

In a "real world" model it's harder to set in stone because I can't really fit a probability curve if there is no upper limit. I can't say if the person is the best out of 200, the best out of 1,000 or more.

18 is still the maximum for a starting human. That's the upper limit of raw human potential. Anything above that is augmented by one means or another.

Without becoming Epic Level (which really bends realism so much that modern-day, real world people should NOT be Epic) or magical (or technological) assistance, the highest a human can reach is 23, by starting with an 18 and adding to it every 4th level. 24+ is inherently impossible for a human being without some kind of external assistance through magic or technology.

18 is still the top of "normal" progression, with anything higher being due to magical augmentation, technological augmentation, extensive practice and development (i.e. level based ability raises) or superhuman potential (non-human race ability score bonuses).

All 3e did was make the scale linear above 18, instead of arbitrary, so if you saw the stats for a Hill Giant, a Stone Giant, an Iron Golem, or a Titan you could look at their strength stat and know just how strong they were and it would be easier math than having to reference a chart in the back of the PHB.