Average Human Stats?

[LucasJamison]

What's representative of Infinity?  The moment it becomes finite, it no longer represents the whole of infinity.  Really, really big is not the same as infinite.

I'd say that the infinity discussion is irrelevant, because the Nexus/Multiverse can't even be infinite in game, and as far as we the players are concerned, while the number of conceivable options is extremely large, it is by no means infinite either.  We're still talking stupid-big sets of information that I'm not sure any of us can realistically process into meaninful averages, but it's at least possible in theory.

Dave, out of curiosity, how did you arrive at those stats?  What was the logic you used to get those numbers?  Why 6th level?  Or, as Math Teachers always say.... can you show your work, and how you got to that answer? 

I noted, of course, that this was worked off of (I believe it was Alf's) note that an average human is still better off than most level 1 Avatars, so I just built a normal person and tried to figure out what level they'd need to be.

Six level was by accident - it's just the first level those point totals work for.  But since it's the level at which you gain enough of a foothold to have a Special item, and that's also really the level when you see characters start to resemble their former selves (unless they were really hard to represent in the Nexus or some silly god character), I figure it makes a certain amount of sense.

I tried to think, secondary stat-wise, how most people I know would be able to perform.  I should've given number ranges for all of those stats, but didn't feel like running multiple calculations since I was doing it all in my head.  Life 20 is a solid number - means that a few cuts or bruises or punches won't kill you right off, but a bullet or two, or a boulder, or a nuclear blast do you in instantly.  Pretty average, human-wise, yeah?  The other stats, same sort of thing.  Then I worked out primary stats that supported them, trying to keep the feeder stats pretty evenly divided, and also keeping an eye to skill pre-reqs - didn't want this theoretical person to qualify for certain skills.  It was actually a lot like building Lucas again.

The skills I chose, well, normal people can use any normal item they encounter, just maybe not well.  So all the "can't use this Item unless you have this skill" skills go in by default, and then a normal person could easily have a few more of the standard Avatar skills as well, but not TOO many, and nothing beyond stacking tier 1.  For the most part.

[Socket]

I chose 5 as an average stat based on an IG scale.

Wielding the Telephone Pole usefully as a Blunt weapon requires a STR of 40.  I figure it would take about 8 "joe averages" to have that kind of beef.  Maybe less.  I certainly wouldn't put "average" at a STR of 20 with this particular scale of reference.

Also, I probably shouldn't generalize to one number specifically, as how many "average" people are as strong as they are smart, or vice versa?  What are the numbers for % of the population with a higher education and what kind of numbers does that give? High school education?  I agree with CON point.  People on average can take a beating and still walk away (or stagger at least).

I also agree that the infinity discussion is irrelevant as the original question was in reference to a defined frame of reference: 20^th/21^st century Earth.  So perhaps a better discussion would be: what IG scales of reference are provided so that we can determine a more definitive answer for this particular frame of reference?

[LucasJamison]

I chose 5 as an average stat based on an IG scale.

Wielding the Telephone Pole usefully as a Blunt weapon requires a STR of 40.  I figure it would take about 8 "joe averages" to have that kind of beef.  Maybe less.  I certainly wouldn't put "average" at a STR of 20 with this particular scale of reference.

Also, I probably shouldn't generalize to one number specifically, as how many "average" people are as strong as they are smart, or vice versa?  What are the numbers for % of the population with a higher education and what kind of numbers does that give? High school education?  I agree with CON point.  People on average can take a beating and still walk away (or stagger at least).

I also agree that the infinity discussion is irrelevant as the original question was in reference to a defined frame of reference: 20^th/21^st century Earth.  So perhaps a better discussion would be: what IG scales of reference are provided so that we can determine a more definitive answer for this particular frame of reference?

I think it makes more sense to view it on a non-linear progression.  STR 20 might be normal average, but 30 or 40 is beyond the realm of human reach.  A standard red cedar telephone pole, at about 45 feet total pole length, is half a ton.  To dead lift a half-ton, I'm not sure if the strongest humans ever are that strong.  To comfortably weild one, holding onto one end?  No way.  No combination of people is enough to wield one in the manner Socket does, though 8-10 people of moderate strength might get it off the ground.

Of course, and I mentioned this in my response to Geoff, an average person's stats are best described with a range, but if you look at the "average human" as a composite of humanity, the stats would all be mid-range and similar, unless the overall population contains more brainy people than brawny people, or any other similar disproportion...

[Saint_Moko]

Really, my main concern was that, with my impending Lordship, I was thinking of integrating Stat and Skill Pulls during adventures, and was tinkering with what the Target Numbers would be for feats of various difficulty.

[Saint_Moko]

**  But what is being asked is "if an average everyday shmoe were to appear in the Nexus, what would their stats be?"  it's not a matter of apples and oranges because STR is STR, CON is CON.   Yes, powers would be different, but that's not the question.


    As an aside, I used a WoD conversion for my Vice City tabletop and it worked quite well for avatars - using that system an average (2 dots in WoD) was between 16 and 24

Did you ever finish with Nexus d20?

[`_100003005030 (Zero)]

Saint Moko posted:

Really, my main concern was that, with my impending Lordship, I was thinking of integrating Stat and Skill Pulls during adventures, and was tinkering with what the Target Numbers would be for feats of various difficulty.

Well, now that the can o' worms has been opened.  I'd really like to continue (for my own nefarious purposes, of course.)

As far as FoR is concerned, the one that seems to be referred to here (and would be the one I'm inquiring about) would be real, honest-to-goodness, 20th-21st century Earth.  Remember Earth?  The (so far as we know) genunine article?

By the way, is it just me, or when we get into discussions like this about comparisions to Real Life (circle-R, TM), why do people keep dragging it back into fantasy?  (The Nexus doesn't work like that/infinite numbers of peeps/how many L5R samurais can dance on the head of a goblin, etc.)  Real Life, people!  Like some of us live the REST of the time! 

Reminds of trying to run a Star Trek RPG years ago with a non-gaming, but rabid Trekkie/er, friend.  She got to play her hero, Capt. Kirk (or at least she *thought* she was him), but couldn't get the idea of RP at all.  "OK, Captain, you've beamed down with your team.  Now what do you do?"  "Well, Capt. Kirk would never ask his men to do what he wouldn't ..."  "YOU'RE Capt. Kirk.  What do YOU do?"  "Well, Capt. Kirk always ..."  "WHAT DO YOU DO, CAPTAIN?"  (long, long silence, accompanied by completely blank expression.)  [One of my first GMing experiences, nearly traumatized me for life.]

Linda

[Alf Cunha]

Really, my main concern was that, with my impending Lordship, I was thinking of integrating Stat and Skill Pulls during adventures, and was tinkering with what the Target Numbers would be for feats of various difficulty.

**  As far as making stat pulls, Cassie and I have worked out that sort of thing before, I believe we decided on a target number of 4*level.  The reason the target number is variable is because it gives lower level characters some influence in the game (if the target number is always 45, no one but Socket and Cappy will be able to do anything insofar as strength is concerned, and the newbies will get squashed every time).  Over time, as an avatar neglects one attribute over others, the ones that were neglected get harder to use (yeah, I have a STR of 40, but my AGI of 6 means I'm not sneaking past anyone at level 5 unless I get a nice Luck-assisted pull).