What Is Constitution Anyway?

[systemstate]

This is just a thought experiment really. I'm not asking for the "wiki" definition of constitution- I'm curious to see what others think the CON score means, and want to understand the thought process behind the attribute itself.

Today, I was wondering what my constitution score would be in real life (dorky I know). Then I thought, "What exactly is CON a measure of anyway?"

For example, let's say we have two level 1 fighters. One with a CON of 10 and the other a CON of 16. They are both hit with say... Burning hands.

If we were to envision the scenario correctly, would both fighters exhibit the same burns and blisters? Are both of them equally damaged? If so, this means that CON is simply one's ability to ignore pain and continue to fight.

Or, does the fighter with a higher CON score somehow resist the physical blistering effects of being burned? If this is the case, it raises the question of what Hit Points are a measure of.

I'm just trying to wrap my head around how two characters can be equally physically damaged and yet one of them is much better off than the other. Is this just an inherent design flaw that we choose to ignore for convenience?

Again, I'm perfectly fine with the game as is, and have no desire to change it. I just want to understand it better.

[Plattt]

A dump stat

[shadow_419]

Constitution is like a fitness score. The healthier you are, the more likely you are to recover quickly from wounds and fight through pain.

[stainer]

Constitution is a score that determines how tough you are, and your ability to play through the pain. Here are real life examples.

European soccer players have a CON score of 3 on average. They often faint if a butterfly lands on them.

Rugby players have a CON score of 17 on average. They can survive a hit and run from a semi truck and still go on a pub crawl.

I hope that clears everything up for you.

[Alabore]

European Soccer Players Have A Con Score Of 3 On Average. They Often Faint If A Butterfly Lands On Them.

...



...

Love Hockey myself...

[kaidendager]

CON is indeed a variety of things as people are saying, just as CHA represents many things (Telling jokes vs. negotiations, people will have different measures of each).

Hit points become tricky as we "fill them up" so frequently. Think of a boxer in the ring, he can take many good blows, but eventually it will take just one (that may or may not be stronger than the others) to knock him out (take him to 0 hp). In between rounds the boxer's corner "heals" him for a partial amount of the damage he has taken, but he won't come out of his corner feeling the exact same way that he did at the beginning of the match, indeed it takes many days of rest to naturally recuperate such wounds without potions (ie medicine) or spells (ie morphine).

[donfilibuster]

The sourcebooks comment on stats vary by edition but 2e PHB had it like this:

Any stat of 2 was animal like, you had to be 3 to function like a normal person.
12 was the average for a normal person, a commoner would have low stats of 10.
Even kids and elders would have 10, 8 is too low, like would u get labeled for dumb, weak or clumsy.
14 to 16 goes for above average, as in athletic or trained persons.
18 is stat for the heroes, set apart from the crowd.

From 18 to above you could draw comparisons with monsters and creatures.
Str was easy to chart since each type of giant had one more point of str ranging from ogre to titan.

Needless to say this apply to a down to earth simple medieval style setting.
Here the basic d20 rules are balanced and every +1 matters so feats like negotiator are actually useful.

For the high magic settings you are assumed and expected to have stats and power prowess above the norm.
The 18 would be just the beggining, and you are no longer ranking the physical stats in physical measures, like visible muscle, all would be raw superhuman power.

[jcTharin]

hp is how far you can go before you give in. you get beaten on until your body gives in. as you go up in levels you have been in more fights and your body is more accustomed to it and is toughened.

just make a comparison between a normal civilian and a solder or something. give them both the same beating and who will go down first? the civilian. the solder got hit just as hard but he was able to just shrug it off because he is healthier and his training has made him tougher.

as for being able to fight fine until you get to 0, i would just write it off as adrenalin. that's the best answer i can think of

[TFPAQ]

Constitution is a score that determines how tough you are, and your ability to play through the pain. Here are real life examples.

European soccer players have a CON score of 3 on average. They often faint if a butterfly lands on them.

Rugby players have a CON score of 17 on average. They can survive a hit and run from a semi truck and still go on a pub crawl.

I hope that clears everything up for you.

... is the guy who drives everyone home from the pub crawl...

[ZodacBKB]

I'd say Constitution is the general measure of healthiness and toughness of a character.

It sounds like the question you're asking is: what are hit points? This is a very good question.

Is it that high hp characters can take a lot of physical damage; do they actually survive 100 sword blows? It's hard to imagine how one person can be impaled by a spear and die, while a level 20 character get impaled 3 times and laughs it off.

Is it that they are experienced and avoid the damage; they twist and none of the hits are telling, and only the last hp is the mortal blow? Then why does cure light wounds top off a low level character, but barely help a high-level character?

[SINIBYTE]

It sounds like the question you're asking is: what are hit points? This is a very good question.

A digital measurement of an analog concept.

Think of it as endurance to withstand injury and pain before finally succumbing to your wounds. There needs to be a break point that says "this is enough". Going below zero is just the straw that broke the camels back.

[PresentTense]

As far as making sense of HP goes, it does get a little absurd at high levels. That's why some people prefer the vitality/wounds system.

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/ad...oundPoints.htm

Vitality damage is damage you dodge, not hundreds of HP in damage you just soak up.

[systemstate]

Haha, so many fantastic answers! Good thing I didn't have a drink in-hand while reading through them.

Seriously though, like most I suspect CON/HP is a somewhat imperfect system that works well enough to get the point across.

One can only guess as to what Gary and Dave envisioned when they came up with the stat in the first place. But whatever their thinking, I suppose it works as intended by giving us an easily measurable metric.

[systemstate]

A dump stat

"Dump Stat"

[biggin]

Brett Favre

[therobb]

All of life's questions can be answered by Bruce Willis movies.

In this case, think of Bruce's character David Dunn in Unbreakable. In PnP standards, his con is probably in the high 20s.

His godlike con gives him a higher tolerance for pain and physical resistance of damage.

His bones are harder to break, skin harder to cut, etc., than a normal person.

If he were to actually be wounded, he'd have some amazing regenerative abilities on the level of Wolverine.

On the other hand, his nemesis Mr. Glass is a drow sorc with con as a dump stat. He feels minor pains more keenly (call it a weak nervous system), his immune system can't fight off the most common bacteria, his bones are brittle, etc.

See also: http://www.jinx.com/Content/Product/461p_0c_1b.jpg

[Tiamos]

Con is a measure of how fat you are


In all seriousness, that's a good question. All the analogies I could think of would just as easily apply to strength as constitution, or only applied to part of the equation (IE some people are extra resistant to getting sick but prone to spraining their ankles).

In all likelihood, hitpoints were just designed as a catchall meter to determine how close your character is to losing (death), and Con was designed as a stat to give the player some control over that meter. It's likely that Constitution was just chosen as the word because the real definition is close to the concept. Boring answer I know, but it's seems the most probable.