Heroes in Dungeons & Dragons have various talents and abilities through which they can shine: particularly strong, smart, charismatic. But how would the real people behind the characters perform? A guide shows how to find that out.
What kind of guide is this? In the Dungeons & Dragons subreddit, a Reddit user NYY15TM shared a guide titled “So you want realism in D&D?” The guide dates back to 1977, making it almost 50 years old, and was created by Brian Blume, a former game designer who also contributed to Dungeons & Dragons in his time.
The guide is for players who desire a method to translate their realistic, “natural” abilities into attribute values like in the game. This should provide an alternative to rolling for ability scores to create a character that closely resembles one’s real self.
To this end, Blume found a method for each ability (Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Dexterity, Constitution, and Charisma) to calculate total attribute values.
Here you can see the presentation of the role-playing game “Daggerheart,” created by Critical Role:
Guide reveals bitter truths to players
How are the real attribute values calculated? Blume reveals with his document how these calculations need to be carried out:
- Strength: To determine your strength, go to a gym and press as much weight as you can overhead. Divide the number of pounds lifted by 10. The result is your strength value.
- Intelligence: To determine your intelligence, look at the results of your most recent IQ test and divide the result by 10. The result is your intelligence value.
- Wisdom: To determine your wisdom, add up all the hours you spend per week playing D&D or working on your D&D campaign. Subtract the result from 20. That is your wisdom value.
- Dexterity: To determine your dexterity, go to the track of the nearest school and run 400 meters. Subtract your runtime (in seconds) from 80. That is your dexterity value.
- Constitution: To determine your constitution, try to determine the number of consecutive months in which you did not have to call in sick to school or work. That is your constitution value.
- Charisma: To determine your charisma, count all the times you have been seen on television or in the newspaper. Multiply the result by 2. That is your charisma value.
Here you can see the original document of the guide as it was shared on Reddit:
What does the community say about this guide? The community jumped on the new opportunity for attribute calculation but notes that the results can quickly go to extremes—and can sometimes be quite nasty:
- Ribky writes: “With the wisdom calculation, he really hit a home run.” (via Reddit)
- Sushi-DM notes: “Americans must really have high constitution values because they can’t afford to miss work.” (via Reddit) AnotherBookWyrm adds that “an attribute value of 40 would be in the realm of divine power, meaning the average American citizen would be a deity” (via Reddit)
- Colinleep finds: “Charisma should be completely redefined with social media.” (via Reddit)
- dougc84 notes: “I didn’t even know I could have a dexterity and constitution of 0” (via Reddit)
Those who follow this calculation method by Brian Blume during character creation might end up with a character quite different from what they would normally play. But who knows, maybe some of you could become powerful heroes in the world of Dungeons & Dragons, even with your real attribute values. However, that won’t stop your Game Master from making you feel insecure: Game Masters reveal their dark secrets, sharing the best ways to unsettle their players in Dungeons & Dragons
