D&D Ability scores compared to RL

[SniptheShadow]

How do the creators of D&D view ability scores compared to RL people?

I mean, what is a 16 strength? What is an 18 intelligence compared to an actual living and breathing human being?

Is Einstein a man with an 18 intelligence or does he have a 25?

Is a black belt in say...Aikido a person with a strength of 18 or would that only be those guys with no necks that drag VW bugs hooked to ropes around with their teeth?

Who would have an 18 charisma? Jessica Alba or Ghandi? (Eek! Not two folks one should think about simultaneously. Sorry.)

But you see what I mean? How do they come up with the scores?

An entire new forum topic could be listing our own real life stats. But we would need to know the realistic range. Or would we all just have 10's and 8's and maybe the occasional 12 or 14 in our scores? Dunno.

I'll go out on a limb, since I have no clue on how they compare it, and list my own RL stats from what I'd LIKE to believe are as:

str: 14
Int: 12
wis:14
con:10
Dex: 16 (I study aikido in RL and always get compliments on my speed and trippy balance)
chr: 12

Feel free to list your own thoughts on your RL stats along with your comments on how the D&D creators may have come up with these rules for our D&D characters.

Thanks for the comments.

Snip

[sirgog]

In D&D, commoners have stats determined by rolling 3d6 for each statistic.

Mathematically, in a given stat this means that 50% of people will have scores between 3 and 10, the other 50% having 11-18, with about 49% having 9, 10, 11 or 12.

That's the stats you generally have - some things, of course, such as serious back injuries, taking steroids, brain damage etc. can change them.

Alternately (and I prefer this method), if you've done any statistics, you can extrapolate from the approximation that is 3d6 that the mean ability score is 10.5, and the standard deviation is about 3. Assuming a normal distribution, this ends up meaning that 50% of people have 10 or less, 84% of people have 13 or less, and 97.5% of people have 16 or less in a given score. Continuing this pattern, 75 people in 100, 000 have a score of 20 or more in a given attribute, and 1 in 100, 000 has 23 or more.


So that would make the scores mean the following (I'll take Constitution and Intelligence as examples)

4 Con: Frail. Can walk 200 metres with the help of a frame, then is exhausted.
4 Int: Generally considered mentally ********. Vocabulary/memory of a three-year-old.

7 Con: Can run 400 metres, then is puffed and unable to continue.
7 Int: Completed Year 10 education, failed year 11 and dropped out

10 Con: Can run a kilometre, very uncompetitive time
10 Int: Completed Year 12, average results

13 Con: Can run 5 kilometres in a time that would be good enough for third place in a typical school race (assuming about 20 in the race)
13 Int: A-grade student at school, C-grade at university

16 Con: One of the best in their year level at their school in long-distance, didn't set any records.
16 Int: Top of the class at school, A- grade student at university

18 Con: Marathon runner, never wins but always finishes well
18 Int: A+ student at university, considered a genius

21 Con: Marathon runner, world class, Olympic medal prospect but probably not taking home the gold
21 Int: Respected authority in their field, not a household name (e.g. Emmy Noether, mathematician)

24 Con: Capable of feats of endurance that make people think OMG***BBQ - able to run at a solid pace (say 15kph) for 24 hours, swim non-stop in frozen water for 24 hours, etc.
24 Int: World-renowned authority in their field, made major quantum leaps in ideas, household name (e.g. Albert Einstein, physicist)

[SniptheShadow]

In D&D, commoners have stats determined by rolling 3d6 for each statistic.

Mathematically, in a given stat this means that 50% of people will have scores between 3 and 10, the other 50% having 11-18, with about 49% having 9, 10, 11 or 12.

That's the stats you generally have - some things, of course, such as serious back injuries, taking steroids, brain damage etc. can change them.

Alternately (and I prefer this method), if you've done any statistics, you can extrapolate from the approximation that is 3d6 that the mean ability score is 10.5, and the standard deviation is about 3. Assuming a normal distribution, this ends up meaning that 50% of people have 10 or less, 84% of people have 13 or less, and 97.5% of people have 16 or less in a given score. Continuing this pattern, 75 people in 100, 000 have a score of 20 or more in a given attribute, and 1 in 100, 000 has 23 or more.


So that would make the scores mean the following (I'll take Constitution and Intelligence as examples)

4 Con: Frail. Can walk 200 metres with the help of a frame, then is exhausted.
4 Int: Generally considered mentally ********. Vocabulary/memory of a three-year-old.

7 Con: Can run 400 metres, then is puffed and unable to continue.
7 Int: Completed Year 10 education, failed year 11 and dropped out

10 Con: Can run a kilometre, very uncompetitive time
10 Int: Completed Year 12, average results

13 Con: Can run 5 kilometres in a time that would be good enough for third place in a typical school race (assuming about 20 in the race)
13 Int: A-grade student at school, C-grade at university

16 Con: One of the best in their year level at their school in long-distance, didn't set any records.
16 Int: Top of the class at school, A- grade student at university

18 Con: Marathon runner, never wins but always finishes well
18 Int: A+ student at university, considered a genius

21 Con: Marathon runner, world class, Olympic medal prospect but probably not taking home the gold
21 Int: Respected authority in their field, not a household name (e.g. Emmy Noether, mathematician)

24 Con: Capable of feats of endurance that make people think OMG***BBQ - able to run at a solid pace (say 15kph) for 24 hours, swim non-stop in frozen water for 24 hours, etc.
24 Int: World-renowned authority in their field, made major quantum leaps in ideas, household name (e.g. Albert Einstein, physicist)

Okay, I can see this.

According to this method I short-changed myself on both Int and Con. With this to utilize I'd be more in line with both scores at 14 or so. Well, that just makes me feel all warm inside!

Thanks so much for this in depth reply. If you ever have the time and interest I'd love to see a lay out of the other stats: Str, Dex, Wis and Con.

But either way this absolutely rocks! Thanks

Snip

[frugal_gourmet]

D&D ability scores don't equate to anything in real life. They are a simplified way to simulate different hero archetypes having strengths and weaknesses.

[feynman]

Remember, too, that there were originally 7 stats: Jessica Alba would have had a very high comeliness score

[frugal_gourmet]

Remember, too, that there were originally 7 stats: Jessica Alba would have had a very high comeliness score

Comeliness was not an orginal stat, but it was an optional rule in the first AD&D Unearthed Arcana.

[stupnick]

i believe you gave more people the benifit of the doubt. The standard person in the word is straight 10-11's. trained are about 14-16 and people like einstein would be 18-20...

here is a place for you to figure out your D&D Stats
http://www.angelfire.com/dragon/terr...xstattest.html

[unionyes]

i believe you gave more people the benifit of the doubt. The standard person in the word is straight 10-11's. the professional athletes are about 14-16 and people like einstein would be 18-20...

here is a place for you to figure out your D&D Stats
http://www.angelfire.com/dragon/terr...xstattest.html

So I go there, and I need to buy some tomes due to all the odd numbers.....

Str 14
Dex 15
Con 11
Int 11
Wis 15
Cha 15

Looks like an only partially gimped battle cleric, bard, or all purpose rogue who needs a search item.