[RD] Your Personal Stats

[tjs282]

So I did the linked quiz just for fun/ because I can't resist such online self-assessments.

Had to wing a couple of the questions, either because I never engaged in that activity, or because how the hell would I know what my 'reputation for whatever' is? My results:

STR:8
INT:17
WIS:15
DEX:11
CON:12
CHR:9



Yeah, no, not buying that. These are all out of 20, yes? So INT + WIS both look (much) too high to me, CON + DEX too low.

(OK, STR + CHR are probably about right!).

I get a 20 for procrastination though.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

I come down more on @yung.carl.jung's side in terms of the arguments, but I can appreciate where @hobbsyoyo is coming from.

I don't know that I really have a 'side' in this thread other than to defend my ego and point out that negative stereotypes are negative stereotypes.

 

[Synobun]

I don't know that I really have a 'side' in this thread other than to defend my ego and point out that negative stereotypes are negative stereotypes.

Whatever you say, Einstein.

 

[Gorbles]

I don't know that I really have a 'side' in this thread other than to defend my ego and point out that negative stereotypes are negative stereotypes.

Hah, sorry, that was my bad, I have a (good?) habit of typing it in quotes normally, because two relatively contrasting opinions aren't sides anymore than every single poster in a thread is. I just picked up on the general discussion going and you were the ones I saw debating intelligence.

Which is something I often like to rail about but rarely get the chance.

 

[Farm Boy]

Farm boy from earlier calling smart people bad using the word capricious and then rating himself 8s.

Ok, I'm still a little lost how this was your takeaway. The order is backwards, for one. Smart isn't bad anymore than big is bad or strong is bad. In fact, it's highly lauded like big dumb strong guys were even moreso in the past. Like professional knife murderers, you need them, badly. At times. Like doctors, or nurses, that are good at what they do, for another. That's both capacity and practice.

But, like strong, smart is a modifier. Take the tone more as equivalent to this, hopefully it gets the feel more right. He's reacting wisely in the video, for what it's worth.

Spoiler :

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Hah, sorry, that was my bad,

I was not offended in the least and the apology is unnecessary.

 

[Synobun]

I was not offended in the least and the apology is unnecessary.

Gorbles is a solid 18 on the Apologies stat.

 

[EgonSpengler]

well put. what most people consider intelligent really is an ugly caricature. just imagine that there are people out there who genuinely think that someone like Ben Shapiro or Kermit or god forbid Sargon of Akkad (the YouTuber, not the actual guy..) or the Amazing Atheist are the 21st century Einsteins. so much of it comes down to talking confidently, talking rapidly, sounding vaguely educated and authoritarian. this goes for enlightened new atheist lefties as much as for red-pilled internet "activists".

In the context of a D&D character, this would be the Charisma-related skills "Persuasion", "Deception", "Intimidation" and "Performance", nothing to do with Intelligence at all. We definitely see people in real-life who can effectively convince an audience that they're intelligent, but really aren't. Some of those people can get themselves elected to public office, get a job in the media or business, and whatnot.

 

[Farm Boy]

I always sort of liked explicitly separating charisma as a type of "social intelligence" from "attractiveness" to two different stats.

 

[EgonSpengler]

I always sort of liked explicitly separating charisma as a type of "social intelligence" from "attractiveness" to two different stats.

Each of the D&D characteristics rolls a lot of unrelated stuff together. Awareness of your surroundings and willpower are both Wisdom, for example. I do think of attractiveness as part of Charisma, but not physical beauty. When I GM'd campaigns, I always just let my players decide how good-looking their character is, like height and weight, race* and ethnicity, reasoning that it can be alternately beneficial and detrimental, depending on the situation, and it isn't something the person has much control over.

* To clarify, for non-D&D players, "race" means species - Human, Elf, Dwarf, etc.

 

[Farm Boy]

Attractiveness as separate from appearance? I thought the data was pretty strong that people are way shallower than we'd like to believe on that front. Not that downplaying it wouldn't be good for role playing.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

I always sort of liked explicitly separating charisma as a type of "social intelligence" from "attractiveness" to two different stats.

It's a lot easier to be persuasive if you are physically attractive. Sad but true. So the character that rolls a fifteen charisma might be very plain looking but highly skilled in the art of persuasion, or they might be a bombshell that's just moderately skilled. The stat is results oriented and not indicative of the method.

 

[AmazonQueen]

In the original Chivalry and Sorcery (which never missed a chance to overcomplicate game mechanics) Charisma was calculated as the average of your Appearance, Bardic Voice, Dexterity, Intelligence and Wisdom then modified by various things like height and social class.

 

[EgonSpengler]

Attractiveness as separate from appearance? I thought the data was pretty strong that people are way shallower than we'd like to believe on that front. Not that downplaying it wouldn't be good for role playing.

It's a lot easier to be persuasive if you are physically attractive. Sad but true. So the character that rolls a fifteen charisma might be very plain looking but highly skilled in the art of persuasion, or they might be a bombshell that's just moderately skilled. The stat is results oriented and not indicative of the method.

I'm thinking of movie or television performances by actors or actresses who are not conventionally beautiful, but they're able to turn up the heat when they want to. The classic example, in my mind, is Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction. I remember a woman I used to know saying that Philip Seymour Hoffman was "kind of hot" in Punch-Drunk Love - and she sounded surprised, even as she said it. I've known people in real life who are like that too - just less so, as they weren't professional actors.

 

[Farm Boy]

Of for sure Tim, and I agree Egon. Dad met Eisenhower once. He remarked that he was a shorter man, but he "seemed tall." That's charisma. Attractiveness definitely is persuasive, and a lot faster than the slower forms of emotional intelligence, things like honesty and integrity that are endearing on scale, quiet humor, that sort of stuff. If we limit down physical attractiveness though, it has a pretty dark side. A, it's really more persuasive than is probably good for us. B, it turns quick. If a bombshell is nice to you, you might be over the moon. Buy a car, cheat on your wife, do something, anything, stupid for favor. But if that bombshell is cruel or mocking? Are slights perceived? That attractiveness definitely veers into powerful negative modifiers, no? Let's take a 2019 example of internet vapidry and guys being stupid. On an internet full of bombshells doing internet porn and nearly porn modelling, why were the creepy and angry so drawn to hating on Belle Delphine(NSFW)?

 

[Timsup2nothin]

I'm thinking of movie or television performances by actors or actresses who are not conventionally beautiful, but they're able to turn up the heat when they want to. The classic example, in my mind, is Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction. I remember a woman I used to know saying that Philip Seymour Hoffman was "kind of hot" in Punch-Drunk Love - and she sounded surprised, even as she said it. I've known people in real life who are like that too - just less so, as they weren't professional actors.

When I was selling cars I had this guy on my team that annoyed the heck out of me. If you put him in the right costume and stood him outside a theater where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was showing he could have signed autographs as Robert Redford all day long...and left sensible people wondering at how he hadn't aged a day, of course, since at the time the movie was probably twenty years old. Anyway, this guy sold cars despite being just dumb as a stump. The core of our system was presentation of the basic "four square" deal worksheet, and he not only could do the presentation, he generally couldn't remember what went in which square. Plus he was genuinely scared of men so he would just awkward clam up around them unless they really worked at setting him at ease, which as a general rule is not in the customer's job description. But he rode consistently right above the minimum monthly sales, so clearly his looks gave him at least an average charisma.

 

[civvver]

I feel like people's frame of reference is all over the place as the average self rating of intelligence seems to be around 17.5.

Strength - 12. I'm strong for my size, was benching around 200 lbs and squatting 300 but I'm only 5'7". I'm an overweight 200 lbs, but my lean weight would be around 170, so not a huge dude.

Dexterity - 7. I have poor balance and am not very flexible. I'm a terrible athlete too, just not coordinated or fast so stuff like basketball, baseball are not my thing.

Constitution - 9. I'm pretty healthy, don't take many sick days. I can walk a long ways and have good endurance that way but running winds me fast due to my excess weight. So I think I'm very average or slightly below.

Int - I'd say I'm around a 16 or so. I think these things are kind of bell curved, not linear. I scored 97th percentile on my college entrance tests, got a full academic scholarship and took a lot of high level math in college getting my bachelor's in computer science. I had a 3.9 GPA through my Jr year but kinda of bombed a couple classes my Sr year cus I already had a job lined up and just didn't feel like working that hard any more. And world of warcraft came out that year lol. I'm very book smart. No advanced degrees but considering my brother is getting his Phd in computer engineering right now and I've seen his code and read some of his papers, I'm 100% sure I could get one too if I desired to. The only academic field I think I would suck at is medicine. I'm not particularly squeamish but still wouldn't be able to work on people.

Wisdom - 12 I guess. I know what to do about most things, but don't really do them myself, so how wise am I really?

Charisma - 12. This is really difficult to gauge cus I can be very charming and charismatic. I'm good at giving speeches, performing, having conversations, but I'm a loner. I don't seek out friends or have many, and I feel awkward in large crowds. I prefer small gatherings. I'm not a life of the party kind of person.

 

[Tee Kay]

Hang on let me lock my self-hatred in the cupboard for this one

Okay I can still hear it banging on the door but I think I'm good to continue

Strength - 10. I'm not a big dude, I don't really have any muscle to speak of, but I'm not a scrawny twig either, actually I'm more on the overweight side. But I also don't have any trouble opening jars. And I can carry up to 20kg pretty easy, I don't know if that's a lot or not. I guess I'm more of a big burst of strength kind of person - useless in a one-on-one fistfight, but I can hit someone hard enough that they flinch from the surprise and allow me to duck behind someone stronger.
Dexterity - 8. My hand-eye coordination is terrible, my balance is poor, even when I'm drawing my hands have a tendency to shake. I can be quick and flexible and multitask when I need to, but only in short bursts.
Constitution - 6. I have pretty bad depression and anxiety, I basically get constant fatigue and I take a long time to recover from illness and injuries. I can push myself to do long/busy days several days in a row, but then I need three weeks to recover afterwards.
Intelligence - 12. A bit above average, but not by much. Don't really have that many hard skills and take a long time to get my head around learning new ones.
Wisdom - 16. Okay, maybe it's a bit cocky for a 20-something to give himself a 16 for wisdom but hear me out. I find that if I follow my gut instincts, things usually work out, and even if they don't, I don't regret my original decision. I would say 97% of the people I choose to hang around with turn out to be upstanding, responsible, kind, helpful, loving people. I don't have a lot of hard skills sure but I seem to be able to figure out ways around my limitations pretty well, whether that is where to look it up (and which source to trust), knowing who to go to for assistance, or eliminating the need for it altogether.
Charisma - 14. People like me apparently?????? I'm still confused as to how that happened. I'm not the handsomest most social alpha person out there but I seem to manage it with the people who matter.

 

[Hygro]

Ok I did the test.

STR:11

INT:17

WIS:16

DEX:10

CON:6

CHR:18

 

[downtown]

I did the test:

STR: 11
INT: 15
WIS: 16
DEX: 9
CON: 8
CHR: 16

That's probably about right. The older I get, the more skewed I'd probably be towards wisdom and charisma than skills that would fit anywhere else.

if I was doing this myself, I'd probably take a point or two away from strength or wisdom and stick it in charisma tbqh