Results 1 to 6 of 6

Thread: Strength and Human Weight

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Norfolk, Virginia
    Age
    29
    Posts
    806
    Rep Power
    0

    Strength and Human Weight

    I've been worrying about Strength and human weight again -- namely, the fact that every adult human is assumed to weigh 100 kg (220 lbs), which is a lot, and that with a STR of 10, you can just barely lift said 220 lb person off the floor and carry them a few feet.

    Well, theoretically, any adult human female is going to weight HALF of that, or a little more, unless they're fairly tall and/ or overweight. I weigh 220 pounds myself, oddly enough, and I'm 5'8", but I'm quite muscular. Most human females my height are going to weigh half of that....

    I mean, 220 lbs is NOT a fair weight to assume for just about any female, and that DOES factor into combat and other things; picking someone up and throwing them, carrying someone a distance, etcetera.

    I'm rambling, aren't I? Oh, well. I suppose I'll have to try and assign a realistic weight to each character. 220 pounds is a little heavy to be considered the human "standard".

    What do you all think?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Pittsburg, CA
    Age
    44
    Posts
    4,646
    Rep Power
    417964

    Re: Strength and Human Weight

    100kg is just the default assumption for gaming mechanics, because it is a nice round number. Feel free to set it higher or lower as you see fit, for individuals or as a group. I'd guess that most people weigh more than 50kg and less than 100kg.
    Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones. -Marcus Aurelius

    Gary Denney
    >>>-----Archermoo----->
    SETAC Archer

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Float Temple
    Posts
    2,128
    Rep Power
    328837

    Re: Strength and Human Weight

    100Kg is assumed to be the average for a 6' tall male who is in reasonably good shape (STR 10). Since its just an average, any character you make can be adjusted to your whim.

    The starting point for the Characteristics assume this as well. Dex, Body, Str and Con all assume a healthy male around 6' in reasonbly good shape. You should adjust the characteristics based on your characters concept (note that the Mental characteristics are based on the "Average" educated human of no specific race or gender)

    This is why the Characteristics of "Joe Average" are listed around 8's. This is the average guy in his mid-30's who's let himself go a bit. He's not as strong and as quick as he was in his youth and he might be a bit slow on the take (INT 8) but he gets along just fine. However, he's got some education and/or life experience and he's probably really good at one or two hobbies (fixing cars or videogames or movie trivia or something). Thats where those CP's saved on characteristics end up going.

    I assume the "average" female's physical characteristics fall into this category here:

    STR:5 (many average females can't even lift 50Kg, so I'm being generous)
    DEX:11 (most women can dance better than the average man)
    CON:11 (Many women are also a bit healthier and they have babies..nuff said)
    BOD: 7 (much smaller and lighter than men on average)

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    Denver, CO
    Age
    35
    Posts
    17,733
    Blog Entries
    100
    Rep Power
    1064266

    Re: Strength and Human Weight

    first I don't know any 5'8 women who weigh 110lbs (not even the thin ones)... I'd say that 100kg is just a baseline, not even an average. Just a place to start.

    If you need that average to be 80kg set it to that. Remember, in 5E there is no need to pay points to be less/more than the baseline. If the average weight in your campaign is 80kg for men and 72kg for women (I picked them out of the air..) then that's what it is.

    Simple as that.
    Audio-Bomb - A Music Blog, updated every weekend
    There Are No People Here - tumblr blog of urban photography

    SETAC - Bloody KAs!

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Pittsburg, CA
    Age
    44
    Posts
    4,646
    Rep Power
    417964

    Re: Strength and Human Weight

    Quote Originally Posted by NuSoardGraphite
    100Kg is assumed to be the average for a 6' tall male who is in reasonably good shape (STR 10).
    Or actually a 1" (i.e. 2 Metre) tall male. Which is to say a little under 6'7".

    Which is to say that they went for numbers that were nice and round and easy to deal with in the metric system. Why they decided metric back then? Who knows, though I'm personally quite happy about it...

    Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones. -Marcus Aurelius

    Gary Denney
    >>>-----Archermoo----->
    SETAC Archer

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    London, England
    Posts
    574
    Rep Power
    21836

    Re: Strength and Human Weight

    Quote Originally Posted by NuSoardGraphite
    STR:5 (many average females can't even lift 50Kg, so I'm being generous)
    DEX:11 (most women can dance better than the average man)
    CON:11 (Many women are also a bit healthier and they have babies..nuff said)
    BOD: 7 (much smaller and lighter than men on average)
    This actually highlights a general problem with females in RPGs. Because there is a driving urge to make men and women game balanced, but the truth is that this is not necessarily true.

    STR should certainly be lower. BOD I'm not sure about, because the ambiguity over what it means. But while women *may* be able to dance better, but Dancing is a skill. Dexterity represents a much broader level of physical attributes, and I'm not sure there's any reason to suspect women are better or worse than men. As for "Many women are also a bit healthier and they have babies..nuff said" - no, not enough said! Clearly running speed and physical strength also comes into the equation, but I dont know of any sports endurance records which are held by women.

    That's why I think it's best, as much as possible, to try and handwave such differences altogether. Because the 'facts' of sexual differences (and racial, for that matter) are not clear and highly emotive.

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. Magic Items go here!!
    By Xandarr in forum Fantasy Hero
    Replies: 83
    Last Post: May 13th, '12, 03:24 AM
  2. Campaign Notes so far
    By Shikarr in forum Champions
    Replies: 37
    Last Post: Apr 16th, '07, 05:04 AM
  3. Ultimate Grimoire Letter S Part Two
    By shadowcat1313 in forum Fantasy Hero
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: Feb 27th, '05, 07:15 AM
  4. Look what I found
    By JmOz in forum Champions
    Replies: 12
    Last Post: Jan 18th, '04, 05:51 PM
  5. Advice for Anime Hero [Long]
    By Fireg0lem in forum Fantasy Hero
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: Jan 2nd, '04, 07:42 AM

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •