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

[Garthanos]

the bard is happy, since the fighter has to kiss the air into everyone

Cute...

 

[CleverNickName]

I have played GURPS games that uses 3D6 (how would that work with advantage??? and disadvantage it sounds contrary to a lot), One negative of that is that you reduce human ability to umm understand/predict the meaning of DC in terms most understand for both DM and Player. Linear odds are surprisingly understandable for most people.

The way I've heard Advantage and Disadvantage done under the 3d6 system is:
Advantage: roll 4d6 and keep the highest 3
Disadvantage: roll 4d6 and keep the lowest 3

I can't vouch for it, myself...I've only ever used a d20. This is just what I've heard on the 'net.

 

[Garthanos]

Sure. One could also have non-magical human fighters throw beams of electricity by swinging their swords really fast,

Or pounding the ground real hard giving off sparks if you like

shoot fireballs by lighting their farts*, animate the dead by yelling really loudly at their corpses

No that would be wrestling with "death" ... competitions with supernatural entities for service is not an uncommon theme

and inspiring the shadows of their.departed souls to arise, blink in and out of combat by running really fast, and conjure animals from thin air instantaneously by whistling

Batman trick its pre-planned and arranged.. the ultimate preparedness trick

and having them zoom in at near the speed of light.

When you allow these all as options for your non-magical human fighters and NPCs in 5e I assume it winds up with some really fun situations and stories! (Any fun play reports to share?)

* This one is a joke.

Nods I know, as was my lets strip casters down to level 2 spells (but I you know that all the battlemaster maneuvers are things that are appropriate to using at character level 3... ie about when level 2 spells are appropriate.

Note how the web spell is a thousand times (dramatic license) more useful and more commonly a situation that will come up, than Beowulf's ability to fight actively underwater for days

b I bet doing it by breathing alcohol through a torch is probably in some movies or cartoons though. (I mean the fart one is almost certainly in some too, but seems a bit low brow for my tastes).

Sigh but you typed it anyway.....for shame

 

[Garthanos]

The way I've heard Advantage and Disadvantage done under the 3d6 system is:
Advantage: roll 4d6 and keep the lowest 3
Disadvantage: roll 4d6 and keep the lowest 3

I can't vouch for it, myself...I've only ever used a d20. This is just what I've heard on the 'net.

I can go look it up... though i have found most of their recommended alternate rules less than satisfying or seemingly not well thought out... that is not terrible.

It also borks with criticals come to think of it. Which can have an impact

 

[Garthanos]

the bard is happy, since the fighter has to kiss the air into everyone

That is quite clever I like that. (not logical at all but great from turning a single character ability into a team buff... and flavor perspective)

 

[CleverNickName]

I can go look it up... though i have found most of their recommended alternate rules less than satisfying or seemingly not well thought out... that is not terrible.

It also borks with criticals come to think of it. Which can have an impact

Well yeah. The beauty of the linear distribution d20 is that critical hits (and failures, if you use them) are just as likely as any other result. Switching to a bell curve distribution will give more reliable results (you're 20x more likely to roll a 12 than you are a 3), so crits are going to be a lot less common.

Critical hits aren't really compatible with bonded accuracy. I get the feeling the whole point of critical hits was to break bonded accuracy.

Sorry, I'm getting off-topic. This isn't the thread for dice curves and probabilities. This is about comparing real-world athletes to those puny, wimpy D&D dragons.

 

[Garthanos]

Sorry, I'm getting off-topic. This isn't the thread for dice curves and probabilities. This is about comparing real-world athletes to those puny, wimpy D&D dragons.

it is a bit of an odd topic but real world athletes can be extraordinary. Similarly there are real world archers doing snap shot barrages of arrows in attempts to duplicate some historical techniques that have been scoffed at.

 

[CleverNickName]

it is a bit of an odd topic but real world athletes can be extraordinary. Similarly there are real world archers doing snap shot barrages of arrows in attempts to duplicate some historical techniques that have been scoffed at.

Oh man, for real. I've seen some of those archery demonstrations on YouTube that would put a 20th level D&D Ranger to shame. To say nothing of some of the world-class martial arts demonstrations, and how they measure up to D&D monks.

 

[ECMO3]

(A fitness/athletics appreciation thread)

According to the Player's Handbook:
When you make a long jump, you cover a number of feet up to your Strength score if you move at least 10 feet on foot before the jump. This rule assumes that the height of your jump doesn't matter, such as jumping across a stream. No ability check, no dice rolls, no feats or proficiency bonuses or anything. Distance = Strength score.

So here's Mike Powell completing an 8.95 meter (29.4 foot) long jump. This is what a Strength score of 29 looks like in real life:

Incredible.

So I would say a few things to this.

First off this is in 2020 with modern shoes etc, running more than 10 feet. 100 years ago the world record was around 6 feet less than this.

Second, I would argue that as a world class athlete he has the "Remarkable athlete" ability which would make his base jump 25 feet with a 20 strength.

Finally the jumping rules are for jumping with no skill check and the rules afford an option to jump further with a skill check. I would argue the 29 feet is more than his normal jump distance and he made a good skill check to do that.

So if I had to boil it down, I would say he has an 18 strength and remarkable athlete giving him a base 21 foot jump. He also has expertise in athletics for a +16 to the skill. 29 feet is probably about a 30DC, so he rolled well and made that 29 foot jump. With a poor roll it would have been 27 or with no roll 23.

 

[Zardnaar]

And while we're on the subject, how about Constitution?

The Player's Handbook says you can hold your breath for a number of minutes equal to 1 + your Constitution modifier. Without training, most of us can manage about 90 seconds underwater before needing to take a breath...so most of us have a Constitution score of 10-13, which sounds about right.

Well. On 28 February 2016, Spain's Aleix Segura Vendrell achieved the world record for breath-holding, with a time of 24 minutes. That's a Constitution modifier of +23, which means his Constitution score is at least 56.

I suspect they have feats which double or triple the time they can hold their breath.

Same with the lifters. 29 strength but class/feats that let then lift more.