D&D 5E What Does a Strength 20 Look Like (In Real Life)?

[Garthanos]

I find it odd/interesting that these discussions on how to translate Str score into real world metrics (jumping distance, deadlift, bench press, throwing distance, etc.) come up fairly often.

Sometimes Int gets discussed as correlating to IQ, probably because in a previous edition it was defined as IQ/10.

But what about Dexterity, Constitution, Charisma, and Wisdom? I'm sure I've missed discussions, but I've never once seen anybody try to correlate those scores to anything actually measurable. ("Your Dexterity modifier is the number of bowling bins you can juggle.")

It seems we all just accept those other four scores as more abstract. How nice if we could treat Str and Int the same way.

There are more non-abstract clues for Strength at least (even IQ is somewhat nonsense in the real world it might as well be abstract),

 

[Haplo781]

The comparing what a person with STR X can do compared to the world record holder in strength-related event Y strikes me as a bit problematic in that it often seems like the person with the maximum strength is expected to be at the human maximum in every such Y (or even multiple Y).

Long distance swimmers/runners don't typically win the short distances. Single athletes don't typically win every even in the de/heptathalon. Olympic long jumpers don't typically win olympic high jump. Weight lifters don't win wrestling. Fencers don't typically win gymnastics. etc...

People can't throw fireballs in real life either.

 

[CleverNickName]

The comparing what a person with STR X can do compared to the world record holder in strength-related event Y strikes me as a bit problematic in that it often seems like the person with the maximum strength is expected to be at the human maximum in every such Y (or even multiple Y).

Long distance swimmers/runners don't typically win the short distances. Single athletes don't typically win every even in the de/heptathalon. Olympic long jumpers don't typically win olympic high jump. Weight lifters don't win wrestling. Fencers don't typically win gymnastics. etc...

This is an excellent point.

 

[Cadence]

People can't throw fireballs in real life either.

Sure. But if we compared the effects of fireballs in the game to real life I'd be really perplexed why stuff in the game didn't burn just because someone was carrying it, and I'd be befuddled by anyone who wanted it to work the same as lightning bolt.

Is everyone in the game worlds who qualifies for an STR Olympic event from a big country at 20 STR? If so, are they all essentially tying, or are their large differences? If differences, is it based on rolls that use proficiency? If so, why does being a 20th level wizard (with an athletic background from back when) make me better at jumping than I was at 5th level?

I'm not defending the way the game does it, but some of the asks seem almost as strange to me.

 

[Garthanos]

, your ability scores don't matter as much as you think they do.

That means chaos means more (does not sound good to me)

 

[Beleriphon]

GURPS 3E was a good example of the dangers of trying to force these concerns as being important -- high level strength, like all attributes over a certain point, cost 25 points per attribute point (but the lifting formula was static). Thus trying to build superheroes with reasonable lifting capacity meant thousand point characters with nothing but a high Str score. Enter about five different fixes, none of which were very satisfying. 5e's 'don't look too closely/think about it too much' solution isn't great, but it's better than hyper-focusing on it for such an edge case.

And thus why I like Mutants and Mastermind's solution: the scale is exponential for all things, and there is a super power that lets a character lift enormous weights (Superman's official stats let him push around Saturn for example) while the Strength score only effects combat.

I also liked that in 3.x that quadrepeds and creatures larger than medium had multipli

But there is no magic number. I hit a similar problem recently painting a group of dinosaurs (Jurassic Park gray is really boring) because they're real animals. Even worse in some ways painting a giant hyena and a tiger for my wife's druid; they were hard to paint because I know what they should look like. The spots on hyenas are particularly "solid" and good luck making a tiger orange* without looking like they're auditioning for the cover of a cereal box.


*I ended up cheating and making it a white tiger.

If helps you want to do another go of it realistic tiger colours are browns and yellows. Doing a series of layers can help immensely there, but if you're just doing a quick job that might not help so much. Really what you want is like a burnt sienna or ochre colour, not out of the bottle orange paint.

 

[CleverNickName]

That means chaos means more (does not sound good to me)

You're not wrong. Ability scores DO matter; just not as much as that d20. Randomly-generated numbers, and the ways we try to account for them, are what drive the tension in the game.

I think this is a good thing, myself. I think the game would feel boring with more certainty than randomness.

 

[Garthanos]

If so, why does being a 20th level wizard (with an athletic background from back when) make me better at jumping than I was at 5th level?

Because adventuring is demanding? In fact that my saving throws are pretty much not all improving I find far more odd,

 

[Garthanos]

You're not wrong. Ability scores DO matter; just not as much as that d20. Randomly-generated numbers, and the ways we try to account for them, are what drive the tension in the game.

For me bounded accuracy killed the sense of progression for skills... its relatively ok in combat which has hit points dealt and multiattacks but 4 bips on a d20 is bleh.

In effect there is barely anything you couldnt do near the beginning of the second tier that you can do at level 20

 

[Cadence]

Because adventuring is demanding? In fact that my saving throws are pretty much not all improving I find far more odd,

Demanding where I can march and fight all day seems different than demanding I can win every Olympic event with no specialized training all in one day back to back with no rests.

On the other hand, it is fantasy and Captain America could probably do that if we're taking that as the 20th level fighter. Not sure why a mage with STR 20 who played football in middle school gets to too.