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Physique
The most obvious of all abilities, Physique
is comprised of Physical Fitness, Strength, Bodily
Attractiveness, and Health. High Physique ability
scores indicate a body that is trim, strong, well-proportioned,
and resilient.
Physical Fitness: Often considered endurance
or stamina, a character’s Physical Fitness is not
concerned with the size or strength of the muscle,
but its ability for durative exertion. Characters with
high Physical Fitness have low body fat and are able
to perform exerting activities for long durations, such
as sprinting. Physical Fitness may affect another subability
of Physique: Bodily Attractiveness. Physical
Fitness determines a character’s Sprint speed per
round according to their height (see Chap. 2: Body).
The Sprint skill in Chapter 8: Skills has more information
on sprinting, running, jogging, walking, and
forced marches. To determine the distance in terms
of miles walked per hour, divide the Sprint speed
by 20. This sub-ability may be increased with Persistent
Exercise, as detailed at the end of this chapter.
Physical Fitness affects skills such as Climb, Contortion,
Jump, Mountaineering, Sprint, and Swim.
Strength: This refers to the size of the
character’s muscles and the amount of force that
may be generated. Strength may be affected by
height and weight. Characters with high Strength
are able to exert considerable force and move impressive
amounts of weight. Specifically, Strength
entails measurements of the Clean and Jerk (amount
in pounds that may be lifted and pressed above the
head), Bench Press (pressed away from the chest),
and Dead Lift (lifted from the ground, but unable
to carry it). If the Clean and Jerk is attempted with
only 1 hand, then 40% of the weight on the table
may be pressed. In Chapter 9: Equipment, the amount
listed for Dead Lift will determine a character’s Encumbrance;
2 other measures are included: Pull and
Push. Strength has a Skill Modifier for use with the
skills in Chapter 8: Skills, such as Blacksmithing, Brasssmithing,
Coppersmithing, Hewing, Mountaineering,
Silversmithing, Stonemasonry, Swim, and Wrestling.
Strength also affects the amount of damage a
character inflicts with melee weapons. For instance,
a Strength score of 115 causes an additional 9% of
normal damage, depending on the weapon. Strength
also affects Life Points (see Chap. 10: Combat). Finally,
Strength is affected by exercise. For information,
see Persistent Exercise, which is detailed at the
end of this chapter.
Bodily Attractiveness: Usually, this portion
of a character’s Physique represents the attractiveness
of their frame and how appropriately
muscles and fat are distributed over their skeletal
frame. For example, characters with low Bodily
Attractiveness 1 may have disproportionately long or
short arms, legs, or upper body. Physical Fitness
may affect Bodily Attractiveness. Males with high
Bodily Attractiveness tend to have high Strength and
height (see Chap. 2: Body), while females with high
Bodily Attractiveness tend to have large Cup Size
(see Chap. 2: Body) and low weight (see Chap. 2: Body).
Female reproductive capacity correlates with a sharp
contrast between waist and hips. Bodily Attractiveness
affects skills (see Chap. 8: Skills) such as Seduction
and Sexual Adeptness.
Health: Healthy characters are not sickly
or prone to illness, have fewer allergies, are unaffected
by poison ivy, vomit only rarely, have better
hearing (see Sound in Chap. 8: Skills), have more
Life Points (see Chap. 10: Combat), and maybe most
importantly, respond well to shock and injury. The
modifiers for Allergies and Intoxication are explained
in Chapter 2: Body. Regarding skills, Health is useful
with Urinating.
Chapter 3: Abilities
1. The standards for female Bodily Attractiveness have been referenced from Life in a Medieval Castle, by Joseph and Frances
Gies. For more information, see the References section at the end of this book. Gies claims that “Nicolette...physically
exemplified the medieval feminine ideal...”, and quotes the source who describes the following female: “Her breasts so firm
that they showed beneath her vesture like two rounded nuts; so frail was she about the girdle that your hands could have
spanned her...” A thin waist and large, round breasts are physical standards of female attractiveness, and are historically
accurate.
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