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Stats from a roleplaying perspective.

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  • FinneousPJFinneousPJ Member Posts: 6,455
    @Yannir Bodybuilders are overweight. There is such a thing as too much muscle, even. Compare a heavyweight fighter to a bodybuilder and you'll get my point.
  • NukefaceNukeface Member Posts: 91
    Oh, god, stop overthinking it.

    Strength: How much you can lift. Muscle tone.

    Dexterity: How well you perform a complex task. Muscle memory.

    Constitution: How well you can react to physical stressors. Mental toughness.

    Intelligence: How well you can perform tasks involving higher functions of the brain. Executive functions.

    Wisdom: How well you can perform tasks involving emotional intelligence. Empathy.

    Charisma: How well you can influence others. Confidence.

    You don't want this to be realistic - what was simply a measure of rolling a character becomes an exercise in futility. Lemme show you as a rough base what's going to go into calculating a simple approximation of a male body:

    Body type: 1-5 (1, 3, 5 are pure types/2, 4 combined types)

    Type 1: 35% positive modifier for DEX, 35% negative modifier STR/CON
    Type 2: 35% postiive modifier for DEX, 15% negative modifier STR/CON
    Type 3: 15% positive modifier for DEX/STR/CON
    Type 4: 35% positive modifier for STR/CON, 15% negative modifier for DEX
    Type 5: 25% positive modifier for STR, 50% positive modifier for CON, 35% negative modifier for DEX

    Height: 1d100 -
    100 = 7'
    97 = 6'10"
    95 = 6'8"
    90 = 6'6"
    80 = 6'4"
    70 = 6'2"
    60 = 6'0"
    45 = 5'10"
    30 = 5'8"
    15 = 5'6"
    8 = 5'4"
    3= 5'2"
    1 = 5'

    Str Chart percentile adjustment -
    5' - 50%
    5'2" - 55%
    5'4" - 60%
    5'6" - 75%
    5'8" - 90%
    5'10" - 100%
    6' - 105%
    6'2" - 110%
    6'4" - 125%
    6'6" - 135%
    6'8" - 150%
    6'10" - 175%
    7' - 200%

    Male hormone levels:
    1d3
    1: -10% physical stats, + 10% mental stats
    2: no modifier
    3: +10% physical stats, -5% mental stats

    Predominant Muscle Type:
    1d3
    1: Fast Twitch Muscle Type: +30% STR/DEX
    2: Combined Type: +15% STR/DEX/CON
    3: Slow Twitch Muscle Type: +50% CON, -30% DEX

    Sensory Information:
    Roll 1d100 seven times and apply to each sense:

    Auditory:
    Olfactory:
    Proprioceptive:
    Somatosensory:
    Gustatory:
    Vestibular:
    Visual:

    (Refer to imaginary chart for breakdown of 1d100 rolls)

    And that's about 1/10th of the crap that would actually go into making it "REAL". Even then it's just a bunch of numbers that have been assigned meaning - unless you absolutely have to go for sequentially generated content just go ahead and use your imagination. This stuff is only really useful in programming. Your brain can make a much more interesting depiction than the numbers ever could.

    This stuff isn't connected nearly as much as people like to think it is. Forget the numbers and focus on the character.
  • wubblewubble Member Posts: 3,156
    @Nukeface I didn't read all of that but I think I take your point. Btw how long did that take to type? :wink:
  • NukefaceNukeface Member Posts: 91
    @wubble The fact you didn't read all of it is exactly the point :smile:

    About 10 minutes - this is stuff I work on for fun so it's not exactly outside my normal frame of reference.
  • YannirYannir Member Posts: 595

    @Yannir Bodybuilders are overweight. There is such a thing as too much muscle, even. Compare a heavyweight fighter to a bodybuilder and you'll get my point.

    Technically yes. The whole point of bodybuilding is gaining strenght while sacrificing constitution and dexterity. I have a childhood friend, a former classmate, who is a pro-bodybuilder and I hit the gym regularly as well, so I do know what I'm talking about and I do get the point. :smiley:
  • VallmyrVallmyr Member, Mobile Tester Posts: 2,459
    edited February 2015
    One that might be interesting to note is according to the "Forgotten Realms Heroes Lorebook" Drizzt's stat total is a 96.

    So maybe a stat roll that high is standard for heroic characters?

    Maybe start BG:EE with a stat roll of 88 and get the 8 tomes throughout the game?

    Reference:
    http://www.candlekeep.com/library/articles/drizzt-2nd.htm

    Edit: Corrected number of tomes from 6 to 8 (I always use the 2nd Wisdom tome for the subquest).
  • SkatanSkatan Member, Moderator Posts: 5,352
    @Nukeface: I read it all and I would like to have all that and more.

    Besides, "Forget the numbers and focus on the character"; the numbers IS the character. No matter the fluff and flavor you add in your mind or write down in the biography, those six figures define the character fully.
  • GrumGrum Member, Mobile Tester Posts: 2,100
    Just wanted to say, to everyone who is bothered by overpowered stats:

    My inquisitor, due to a godly role, is now sitting pretty with:

    Strength: 20
    Dexterity: 20
    Constitution: 20
    Intelligence: 14
    Wisdom: 17
    Charisma: 20

    And this is before the hell trials. I'll probably sacrifice a point of charisma to round the numbers out. However, it does mean that until she loses her bhaalspawn abilities, she can quickly push all of her physical stats up to 25...

    It certainly does put you in a different mindset from a RPing perspective when a character truly has godly stats.
  • FinneousPJFinneousPJ Member Posts: 6,455
    @Grum I don't think you can sacrifice cha.
  • GrumGrum Member, Mobile Tester Posts: 2,100
    So I found out.... :(
  • lroumenlroumen Member Posts: 2,508
    The little guy killed by sarevok in the opening movie (in original bg it might be more clear) did not seem to have any super stats and he was a bhaalspawn too.... To be a bhaalspawn you don't need godlike stats. I'd rather like the underdog position from a role playing perspective
  • VallmyrVallmyr Member, Mobile Tester Posts: 2,459
    Skatan said:

    @Nukeface: I read it all and I would like to have all that and more.

    Besides, "Forget the numbers and focus on the character"; the numbers IS the character. No matter the fluff and flavor you add in your mind or write down in the biography, those six figures define the character fully.

    Yeah, I feel like the numbers are a summary of your character. So while not the most accurate, I feel like if you have a 19 strength half-orc it'd be odd to say he's scrawny and RP that he has no muscle in weak. Then suddenly in combat he crushes a guy's face with his merely his hands. XD
  • SkatanSkatan Member, Moderator Posts: 5,352
    edited February 2015
    Yeah, I feel like the numbers are a summary of your character. So while not the most accurate, I feel like if you have a 19 strength half-orc it'd be odd to say he's scrawny and RP that he has no muscle in weak. Then suddenly in combat he crushes a guy's face with his merely his hands. XD
    Exactly, and the opposite is even more true: it's hard to imagine and RP that the same halforc would crush a troll's skull with a single blow with a more common 14 strength.

    IMHO: the character is in the figures, ergo more and better defined figures/abilities leads to better defined characters.
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