Average Aliens

[Steve]

Since the average human is listed as having an 8 in all of their primary characteristics, is this the number that people apply the racial modifiers to, or do you add it to a base number of 10? For example, Malvans have +3 PRE. Does this mean the average Malvan has an 11 PRE or a 13 PRE?

[NuSoardGraphite]

No!

You add it to the base of "10".

10 is considered the "average" for a PC.

8 is considered the "average" for a couch potato. The unwashed masses, so to speak. This is an individual who isn't very active physically, and doesn't use their noggin on a regular basis.

10 is based on societies standard of "average"...i.e. an adult male is supposed to be able to bench press their own body weight (provided they weigh something reasonable). Average I.Q. is supposed to be around 100. So on and so forth. Characteristics of 10 represent these ranges.

A characteristic of 8 represents someone is still falls within the lower range of "average" (measured between 8 and 12) but isn't active enough to garner a full 10.

So to answer your question, the "average" Malvan has a PRE of 13, not 11.

[Tempuswolf]

I suppose if the alien's demographics and physiological changes during the aging process are similar to the human model, then averaged over the whole species population the average Mon'dabi's Con would be 8+2=10. Though if a species has different demographics (huge numbers of children that don't make it into adulthood) or metamorphic stages (egg, nymph, pupa, etc) or never stops growing as they age like alligators, the population average could end up skewed just about anywhere. I would probably just use the 10 as the base since most interactions would be with competent adults for most aliens.