No, that isn’t an Up In Smoke reference.  Earlier, we talked about treating yourself like a character in a game system where you have stats you can develop through your questing exertions.

Conveniently (and unsurprisingly) enough, there’s a tool out there that can give you a mock-up of what your stat sheet might look like in AD&D (or maybe World of World of Warcraft).

This quiz will calculate your attribute scores if you were to wake up one morning and suddenly discover that you were an AD&D character. Simply answer the questions below and click on the “Click for your values” button at the bottom of this page.

Okay, I readily admit I’m a stat-head.  I know better than to take the class and alignment quizzes (also on offer at the above link), because, regardless of what they say, I invariably end up playing a surly, axe-wielding son of an Orc. This differs from real life primarily in the axe and parentage departments.

Setting aside any of the myriad Mary Sue stuff in the fantasy genre that underpins a lot of pen-and-paper gaming, the characters tend to fall into two categories at the beginning of the narrative — they’re relative nobodies thrust into having to do more than anyone thinks they’re capable of, or they’re stupendous badasses. Personally, my preference is for the former, though occasional popcorn-fests in the latter territory can be fun. The granddaddy of the dungeon crawl gives us a handful of each type, and casts a very, very long shadow.

True, D&D and its ilk are fantasy-based, but it’s interesting to see how real-world aptitudes would map to that world. As freshly-rolled first-level characters, which the vast majority of us would be if we were to spontaneously re-enact A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur’s Court — but with dragons and zombies and magic and stuff — how do we stack up to our dice-powered minions?

The answer is, “Not as badly as you might think.” Not too many of us are probably rolling many 18’s, but we should be able to hold our own in the low teens for most stuff.  That said, our party is probably going to woefully short on fighters and barbarians and GARG SMASH types.

For instance, I appear to be excellent cannon fodder, though I may or may not be smart enough to duck occasionally (or convince somebody else to need to duck instead).

STR:13
INT:13
WIS:16
DEX:13
CON:14
CHR:15

Time to work on leveling up my +STR and +DEX.  And maybe see about paying attention to those +WIS articles.

Related posts:

1. Re-Roll Your Diet/Exercise Routine
2. We see them rollin’, we cheerin’
3. SEAL clubbing