EXCEPTIONAL STRENGTH

(An In-Depth Look At What It Is and Why It Works The Way It Does)

At first glance the 1e and 2e fighters' trait of Exceptional Strength may seem simply like greater degrees of ordinary strength. In fact, one can hardly be blamed for reaching this conclusion since it almost works exactly like that, not to mention that it might be difficult to imagine it as anything other than greater degrees of ordinary strength, endurance, and stamina, since the bonuses that come from it are identical to the types of bonuses from ordinary strength. Yet the Exceptional Strength ability is unique and unlike ordinary strength in one vitally important way - amongst the races acceptable as PC choices, only members of the fighter classes (fighters, rangers, and paladins) may achieve it. If it were simply more of the same ordinary strength, there is no satisfactory explanation (that I have ever seen, to date) to explain why non-fighters cannot attain that level of strength.

As gamers, we know many game rules are imposed upon the game world environment as a matter of game balance. The class of Magic Users, for example, cannot employ metal armor since to allow them to do so would make them too powerful in comparison to the other classes. Is this because the universe abhors a class that is too powerful and goes out of its way to prevent it? Of course not; gamers, however, do abhor it, lest too many players gravitate toward the same narrow range of choices, and a lack of variety would make the game less interesting and quickly stale, or players who make other choices and take other classes would always feel shortchanged or cheated.

As players we accept these rule limitations, but what about our player characters? Should your Magic User character, for example, accept the armor prohibition because he or she is aware of the Meta game's needs? That would be absurd. Thus, to make the game environment more palatable, an In Character (or IC) explanation or justification must be contrived, crafted, invented, discovered, or what have you, to stand in as a plausible IC explanation player characters could find and would accept as a natural law of their universe, and from which logical, plausible, reasonable, and even desirable consequences would naturally arise.

Unlike many board games, after all, where our game pieces act more like unaware, unquestioning simple markers or place holders on the board, roleplaying games are populated with characters (PCs and NPCs) that are capable of questioning their world's existence, so it had better make a fair degree of sense if we wish our characters to be capable of logically negotiating their way through it. When game rules do not seem to have plausible explanations on the IC level, characters may perceive them and question them and recognize them as illogical and even absurd properties of their universe - almost like the universe itself is alive and trying to thwart one's efforts. This is known as perceiving The Gamer's Footprint, and as roleplayers we would like to avoid these occurrences wherever possible. Thus, we strive to craft our game rules so if and when characters may perceive them, they would appear as natural, indifferent laws of their universe and not seem odd or inconsistently peculiar or malevolently capricious.

Again, as gamers, when confronted with a game rule, like the Magic User armor prohibition, we might be given a suggestion or two by the authors of the game as to why the rule might work as it does, or we could alter those suggestions, if we wish, or craft better ones we find more desirable and that have better, or more acceptable logical consequences. You may like some suggestions, you may hate some suggestions, but as roleplayers (as opposed to "roll" players), you would probably agree it would be more desirable to have a good IC explanation than not, so our characters won't needlessly be pondering peculiar inconsistencies of their universe instead of concentrating on more important matters to the campaign.

In particular, for this article, we see the 1e or 2e Exceptional Strength trait of the fighter and fighter sub classes was not given an IC explanation. In fact, the authors didn't even make a suggestion. Of course if it were simply more strength, it wouldn't need an explanation, but since non-fighters would almost appear to be "magically" and inexplicably bared from those levels of strength, we conclude it cannot possibly be simply more or greater degrees of ordinary strength. If it were, why can't a cleric character (of a god or war and strength, no less) achieve that degree of strength? Obviously, something else is going on that prevents non-fighters from attaining Exceptional Strength, but what?

At times like this, roleplayers must craft plausible IC explanations, or, if they can't, they may have to excise or alter the Meta game rule. Indeed, if game balance is in jeopardy without the rule, the rule must stay, but it should be altered in some way so some IC explanation may be accepted. If the game rule is judged to be unnecessary, however, it may be far simpler to just scrap it and take it out of the game. This is also an acceptable avenue, though since the authors probably had the benefit of a great deal of play testing - probably more than a relative new comer to the rule might initially appreciate - one might at least try their best to craft an IC justification for the rule before deciding it is hopeless, unreasonable, broken, or a clear blunder or mistake on the authors' part. Personally, I try longer than many other gamers I've seen to make a rule work, but even I have been known to scrap a rule or two. The Exceptional Strength rule, however, is not one of them.

How ever the authors of 1e and 2e may have meant it, the Exceptional Strength trait acts in many ways like a 3e feat with two prerequisites; first, one must be of the fighter class or sub classes, and second, one must have a minimum of 18 STR. Since Exceptional Strength is, therefore, not just more ordinary strength, but a combination of skills and knowledge unique to the fighter classes, this is a sufficient IC explanation to justify why non-fighters may not attain that level of strength. Quite similar to why only fighters have the better 10-sided hit dice or get better THAC0s than other classes, the fact fighters alone get this knowledge of "applied" strength is not particularly troublesome or unaccountable on the IC level and does not reveal the Gamer's Footprint. Of course, it's not that others cannot learn this great body of work and skills, but that if they do, they are learning so much that they are, in effect, becoming members of the fighter class. Similarly, like a non-mage who desires to cast a magic missile spell, one might think they could learn this single skill, but to do so would effectively be learning enough to qualify one as a member of the Magic User class. To reiterate, therefore, the specialized knowledge and all the myriad things fighters must learn to be fighters is a prerequisite to employing the Exceptional Strength feat, so the fact non-fighters may not attain this ability is not inexplicable or unacceptable.

More problematic is why only fighters of 18 STR may utilize this specialized knowledge. Why couldn't a fighter with 17 STR benefit, even a little, from this same knowledge? Again, similar to 3e strength-based feats, like CLEAVE, IMPROVED BULL RUSH, POWER ATTACK, or others, there is a minimum level of required strength necessary to employ the skill or feat. We do not particularly question this seemingly arbitrary minimal requirement. If we accept the cutoff point has to be drawn any where at all, an 18 STR is as acceptable as another arbitrary point, lest this line of questioning ensue: if 18 STR can, why not 17 STR - and if 17 STR can, why not 16 STR - and if 16 STR can, why not 15 STR, etc. all the way down to asking why a 3 STR isn't enough, too. So unless one cannot grasp the justification for ANY minimum STR requirement, one should be able to accept an 18 STR minimum as a reasonable IC explanation and prerequisite for the fighter class's Exceptional Strength feat.

By this time, one may be feeling dissatisfied by my explanation of what Exceptional Strength really is. Yes, I think I've shown why it can't simply be more ordinary strength, and I think I've adequately justified how it works on the IC level such that the details are subsumed in the gray area that explains exactly what comprises the fighter classes, so even though the Gamer's Footprint is not revealed, I haven't really explained what EX STR might be - only how it works and who gets it and who doesn't on the game mechanical level.

It's not necessary, of course, to explain all aspects of the game in such rich detail before one may play it. We don't explain exactly how magic works, after all, or spell out the details of exactly why a rogue character can't learn how to cast a particular single 1st-level spell - as opposed to learning so much one would have many 1st-level spell slots and many options for different spells. Yet it even seems to make sense that it would be easier to learn, for example, just magic missile and nothing else, forever more, than leaning how to be a real full-fledged Magic User. But we don't allow this. 1e and 2e doesn't "allow" many things that might seem reasonable to allow, but I suspect this isn't because they can't happen or even don't happen so much as we agree, by fiat, it would take more time and effort or greater sacrifices than our characters would be willing to spend. But that's a different topic.

Nevertheless, greater details as to what Exceptional Strength may be could be offered as a possible IC explanation or suggestion. You may like it or you may hate it, as with any suggestion to the reason behind the rules, but I think what I'll now offer is reasonable, so I will at least make the suggestion for your edification. I even hope, if you take exception to this suggestion, that you will write to me and explain your reasoning so we may craft a better IC justification together.

Email Jim Your Comments (Send Praise, Critiques, Complaints, Suggestions, Ideas, Corrections, Or Submissions.)

Like all STATS that range from 0 to 25 (in 1e and 2e), STR also ranges over those integer scores. Just as INT or WIS or CHR or CON or DEX may go from 1 to 2 to 3 . . . to 17, to 18, to 19, to 20, etc. up to 25 in integer steps, so, too, does STR go from 1 to 2 to 3 . . . to 17, to 18, to 19, to 20, etc. up to 25 in integer steps. This assumes, of course, the GM allows some means to augment stats and takes some limits as "suggestions" for character generation and not as absolutes. For example, 18/00 is listed as the maximum human male STR score possible in 1e. Yet elsewhere, 1e has magic items that might permanently augment STR beyond that. Is this an inconsistency in the game rules? Possibly, or it may be taken to mean 18/00 is the maximum attainable score during character generation, and what happens afterwards during play if left up to the GM's discretion. Besides, other 1e source material even gives examples of humans with 19 or higher STR, so it seems they meant it as a possibility. Whether from magic items or the spell Wish, or other extraordinary means, stat augmentation was a possibility.

NOTE: I don't think it's overly wise to allow STAT augmentation beyond 20 (lest we are attempting to roleplay traits so far above our understanding we can't help but play them badly), but it was and is possible to augment stats, even in 1e and 2e.

STR, however, seems different in that there are possible Exceptional Strength bonuses crammed in between 18 STR and 19 STR. It may even look odd or seem like a peculiar discontinuity of ordinary STR if one had an 18 STR (with +1, +2 etc. bonuses) and it jumped to 19 STR (with +3, +7 etc. bonuses) in one shot, bypassing the five categories of Exceptional Strength bonuses. Is there no middle ground for non-fighters, or even monsters? Must they always go from +1/+2 at 18 STR to +3/+7 at 19 STR and skip the possible bonuses in between?

Monsters, of course, may be given any bonuses the GM wishes, and justified in any number of ways, such as size, reach, razor-sharp claws or teeth, tenacity, disregard for personal safety or ferocity, magic, of course, or even something akin to levels and skills, all of which may be something other than raw strength. Despite this, it would seem odd a cleric, for example, went from 18 STR (+1/+2) to 19 STR (+3/+7) in a single step, but the rules do not allow non-fighters to do otherwise, so what could this mean?

Part of the justification is simply the natural 18 limit of PC characters - at least in the area of STR. If this is, or near enough is, the racial limit, there is no great cause for concern when most are limited to that STR score or less, regardless of class. Thus, the question isn't why can't non-fighters get stronger so much as why can fighters exceed the normal racial limit? In this way you don't have to justify the non-fighter limit so much as you have to justify the fighter class's ability to surpass it.

I suspect part of the justification is the difference between finesse and brute strength, and the difference between normal PC physiological make-up and a supernaturally enhanced one. The quantum leap in bonuses from 18 STR to 19 STR is just brute strength, and in the great scheme of things, how much damage a weapon or an attack does, what hit points are, what armor class is, all is subsumed in a fuzzy picture of combat so AD&D combat isn't hopelessly bogged down in excruciating details too numerous to track, lest we could spend many hours even on meaningless random encounters and still not be so realistic we could claim fantastic perfection in combat modeling. Yet anything less than thousands of variables handled by super computers second-by-second as they are continuously altered is undoubtedly going to be unrealistic on many levels, anyway, so while AD&D combat isn't supposed to be the epitome of realism, it's not much worse than many other systems that take much longer to perform and might claim greater realism even when they aren't. So I think we can accept the leap in bonuses from 18 STR to 19 STR in much the same way we can accept the bonuses from 18 INT to 19 INT (where 18 INT has zero immunity and 19 INT suddenly has complete and total immunity to ALL 1st-level illusion/phantasm spells), or other similar leaps in bonuses from 18 (normal maximum for humans or most PC races) to 19 or more (quite extraordinary scores well beyond normal limits for PCs and possibly the result of supernatural means, materials, or alterations to the normal mortal limits).

But what of the Exceptional Strength bonuses in between? As a measure of finesse and applied skill or feats of great strength, other bonuses are justified in much the same way monsters may have their bonuses justified. In fact, monsters and fighters are often quite similar when it comes to combat. But exactly what is Exceptional Strength if it's not just more strength?

Exceptional Strength, unlike ordinary strength, is still a measure of greater strength, endurance, and stamina, but it has a mental component that is required to achieve that level of strength, and that makes it temporary since it only comes into play with concerted and deliberate mental effort made possible by intense mental training. A fighter may rise to the challenge by steeling themselves and summoning upon mental training, or channeling their chi (a form of spiritual energy) to temporarily augment their normal 18 STR and achieve things normally beyond the capabilities of ordinary PC strength. So bending an iron bar takes a certain amount of strength, and even if a cleric with 18 STR doesn't have enough power to do this, a fighter with 18 STR may. How? He or she temporarily summons the will to call upon more power or endurance, to allow the brain to let the body's muscles release more of its stored energy, and they do this via training found in the fighter classes not found in the non-fighter classes.

As it turns out, according to some real-world research, humans normally can only use about one third of the power their muscles are actually capable of producing. The brain doesn't normally allow them to press beyond that limit since it tends to damage the body if it allows it, yet in extreme conditions the brain may bypass this limitation since to do otherwise would be even more detrimental. Sometimes in dire emergencies humans lift things many times heavier than they normally could lift. They may injure themselves a lot, a little, or maybe in no appreciable way at all, but it is possible. Yet, if asked to perform such a feat of strength again when there is no emergency, they cannot do it. So ordinary STR isn't a measure of what one is capable of, but what one is normally and consistently capable of without injuring oneself and as a matter of sheer muscle.

Real-world monks, martial artists - and apparently 1e and 2e fighters, rangers, and paladins - are capable of temporarily bypassing normal limits and summoning Exceptional Strength on a regular basis, all without damaging themselves. To what degree is determined by the random 1d100 roll all fighters get once they attain 18 STR in a permanent fashion. 17 STR fighters who have been striving toward this goal finally get the knack of that training once they reach 18 STR, and this avoids problems of sudden development, while <17 STR fighters work on it, but never achieve significant results to qualify for game bonuses unless or until they attain an 18 STR. True, they may achieve subtle differences, but not enough to qualify for further game bonuses.

NOTE: The Strength spell, of course, may augment ordinary STR for normal classes, or give or increase EX STR to fighters, rangers, and paladins, and thus it obviously may help temporarily augment the existing or sometimes incomplete mental training of the fighter classes, but this isn't an unreasonable thing for magic to do. Furthermore, since there is no particular level of intelligence required to benefit from this mental training, it would be wrong to conclude one's EX STR would temporarily vanish if one's intelligence were temporarily diminished, so such training is probably second nature to the fighters, rangers, and paladins and can be summoned without great mental effort, much as their 10-sided hit dice and combat prowess would remain (even when more realistically, any drop in intelligence probably should affect such things). This suggests EX STR isn't beyond other class's intelligence but merely takes a great deal of training those other classes do not take years to learn as those of the fighter classes have done.

NOTE: Be mindful, the bonuses given for an EX STR rating include the normal bonuses given for a normal 18 STR rating. Thus, for curiosity's sake, one can calculate how much further the EX STR class ability temporarily augments the normal, ordinary 18 STR bonuses, but it isn't necessary to do so and players just take the total bonuses for those EX STR scores and needn't bother breaking down the components that make up those bonuses. However, if one did they could see those extra EX STR bonuses stack with ordinary 18 STR bonuses.

From this we see Exceptional Strength is actually greater degrees of power, endurance, and stamina, if one were to measure it as a snap shot of a physical quantity, but it's different from ordinary strength inasmuch as it only temporarily and briefly surpasses the ordinary 18 STR limit. Even encumbrance, as this is a measure of endurance, is temporary, despite a fighter having to do it for hours on end. Thus, bonuses to hit, to damage, for weight allowances, to open doors, or to bend bars or lift grates, are all explained via a mental component to augment an already impressive 18 STR. Exceptional Strength Bows, too, require extra power beyond the normal 18 STR limit to pull and hold the bow at the ready, but this comes from the mental conditioning that allows the fighter to have their brain release more power, and via conditioning not to cause themselves damage while doing this.

Despite the skill, it's still less impressive than the super human brute strength from 19 STR or more. Once a PC uses powerful magic to surpass normal mortal PC limits, we may be looking at enhanced bones, muscles, sinew, tendons, and even greater blood flow by magical or artificial means from augmented hearts, altered blood chemistry, or what have you, all to at least partially account for this greater, though ordinary brute STR, as it comes no longer from mental training to surpass normal physiological limits, but from magical augmentations of the materials that make up the body itself.

One may wonder why, however, a fighter can't use this applied knowledge to augment their greater, magically enhanced brute strength. I can only surmise when one "swings away" with all their might, which is required to enjoy the super human bonuses of 19 STR or greater, the comparatively smaller bonuses cannot simultaneously be employed, so one can use either their EX STR (in the 18/01 to 18/00 range) or the 19 or greater STR, but not both. Even more likely, the training to make a normal brain have a normal muscle release a greater fraction of the normally stored energy doesn't work when one no longer really has a normal brain, normal muscles, or normal anything since they have been surpassed by and augmented via supernatural means.

Does this make sense? Considering EX STR is comprised largely of mental conditioning to overcome natural limits that simply no longer apply once one attains or exceeds 19 STR via unnatural means, I think this makes perfect sense.

And what of real-world weight lifters who surpass the 18 STR limits? Are they fighters with EX STR? No, but it's not unreasonable to assume a sort of specialty class (weight lifter, for example) could learn a limited form of this trick with a much narrower application than that enjoyed by fighters, rangers, and paladins. It would be wrong to assume, for example, a weight lifter capable of lifting heavy objects also enjoyed the same combat bonuses of a highly-trained fighter, or the weight lifters knew how to apply that strength in combat. Thus, NPCs who can achieve extraordinary feats of STR can do some of what it normally takes EX STR to accomplish, and maybe even surpass it, but by fiat, and to have an even playing field, we agree as players our PCs won't be amongst those limited applications. Doesn't this reveal the Gamer's Footprint? Not really since PCs could quit adventuring and become weight lifters, I guess, but it would take them out of the game, so most players wouldn't have their PCs make such choices and there is no apparent prohibition against that so much as a practical reason why PCs don't make such choices. Unlike the EX STR being just like normal STR suggestion, no PC would willingly choose not to employ EX STR, if they were capable of that, and so the Gamer's Footprint can be perceived in that fashion, and that's why we can't allow EX STR to be thought of as simply greater degrees of ordinary STR.

Yet, is all this thought worth the effort? Again, I think so, since it's the only way I can fathom to both keep the non-fighter exclusion rule and justify it on the IC level that I can find. Yes, one could toss out the non-fighter exclusion rule and allow all classes to enjoy EX STR, but you'd be altering the game and current game balance, and this might not be a good thing. The authors certainly felt the rule was necessary after all their play testing, but GMs are free to make up their own minds.

Fortunately, none of this takes any extra work during game play. It's one of those things, a new vista, a new way to perceive something, which allows one to justify how the rules work on the IC level and doesn't require a rule alteration or needless bookkeeping chores or any extra work, really. You just acquire a new understanding of what EX STR is, why non-fighters can't have it, why <18 STR fighters don't have it (yet) and why the STR table is arranged as it is.

Some GMs I've conversed with prefer thinking of STR as a single physical measurement, but I can't grasp why non-fighters would be precluded from attaining higher degrees of strength, if that is all it is. And some GMs have suggested rewriting the whole EX STR system so it doesn't use the clumsy non-integers between 18 and 19, and would instead use a recalculation of a new integer scale, but that is based upon the notion EX STR is the same as regular STR in the entire range, and I've explained why I have a problem with that, and it seems like a lot of extra work, besides.

Frankly, I think reading this article, despite its length, and appreciating STR and EX STR with a new understanding is the better option. But you be the judge.

Now, I'll finish this article by reproducing in large part the section of another article that concerns STAT augmentation since it deals with Wish spells and EXCEPTIONAL STRENGTH and it might be helpful to have those comments here, as well.

The Power Of A Wish

First, I must confess that I came into my knowledge of the relative power of the Wish by experience and not by virtue of the written word. To my dismay, I have subsequently found that the written word seems to have Wishes as less powerful, more commonplace, and more ephemeral than I have come to regard them. Naturally, my careful and considered opinion when this happens is to say "screw the book," so I have ignored it here as well since I felt having Wishes as more powerful, harder to obtain, and more costly, as well as more permanent things, to be desirable. So they are on my world.

One of the most common uses of the Wish spell is to change one's statistic scores via a process known as STAT augmentation, so I think a few thoughts on that matter may help.

The 1e or 2e Wish spell doesn't clearly spell out what a Wish will do for stat augmentation, and many may assume +1 anywhere and everywhere to be reasonable, but I do not. I believe the higher the statistic, the less probable it is, the more valuable it is, and the more it should cost. I also dislike players trying to play stats that are so far above the player's own they can't help but play them badly. This is mostly for INT, WIS, and CHR rather than STR, CON, and DEX since the latter three are rolled for rather than roleplayed, more often than not, but I digress.

As a house rule for my world, no statistic of any human (actually, for fairness, any member of the standard PC races) may ever permanently be raised beyond 20 - in 1e or 2e games. I simply don't believe the mortal human frame is capable of anything higher. Second, the effect of Limited Wish and a full power Wish on statistics is well documented in the biomagical journals. By that I mean players do not have to needlessly worry about how to precisely word the spell as it is assumed if they desire to use the spell for STAT augmentation, the prescribed way and wording is already crafted to maximize the spell's effectiveness.

Now, a Limited Wish will raise any statistic straight to 14, then to 15 with another, and then to 16 with another. After that, a Limited Wish will raise said statistic only by +10% of an integer point each casting. Ten Limited Wish spells will take a statistic from 16 to 17; ten more will take it from 17 to 18. A Limited Wish will not help beyond that point. Of course, there is no game bonus advantage of a 16/20 over a 16/10, except in STAT vs. STAT rolls, and using the Limited Wish past 16 is virtually pointless, anyway, so it hardly ever happens, particularly since a Wish has the same effect on 16/10 as it does on 16/20, for example. So once 16 is attained, it's best to wait for the full power of a Wish if one desires to augment their stats beyond that point.

NOTE: As an optional rule, it may be more realistic to think of very low stats, like 3, 4, 5, and 6, to actually represent some physiological problem or abnormality or injury. As such, it may take more power to raise those stats to average levels as the power of the spell overcomes the unusual impediment. Thus, GMs may insist stats that low first be augmented to normal or average levels with one Limited Wish before allowing them to proceed to straight to 14.

A full power Wish is essentially the same but with different numbers. So, it is straight to 16 no matter where it started below that, then to 17 with another casting, then to 18 with another casting. After 18, each Wish is + 10% until 19 is attained, and then 10 more Wish spells will finally take one from 19 to 20, but not beyond. Other means such as books and tomes and manuals, etc., may raise a stat from 18 to 19 or 19 to 20 with a single use, but never beyond 20. However, certain items may raise a stat beyond 20 in an ephemeral way - that is, only as long as you use, are carrying, or wearing the magic item.

Please note for stat dependent levels or skills, ephemeral magic will not count. For example, if your Elf - a warrior that needed a 19 strength to achieve levels higher than 15th - wanted to raise it, he could Wish his strength increased, and that would work, but a Girdle of Giant Strength would not. Such fleeting and non-permanent magic will never allow one to exceed normal level restrictions based upon one's statistic scores.

NOTE: For various purposes, naturally rolled STATs may be in the format of X/YY, where X is the 3 to 18 integer (actually 0 to 25 integer) and YY is the latent % from 01 to 00. Thus, for example, GMs may secretly record PC percentile stats, like an intelligence of 15/45 or 17/88. Magic spells might help augment some stats faster, though characters (and players) would tend to be oblivious of exactly where their % STATs started. Usually the only difference between X/YY and X/ZZ - where ZZ > YY - would be in contests of that STAT vs. that same STAT. The higher (ZZ) STAT would tend to win in the long run. When augmenting stats, however, attaining the next higher integer score does not normally entitle one to a latent 1d100 roll, and X/01 is assumed. So an augmentation from 17/NN to 18, even with a full power Wish would be to 18/01 and not 18/NN or even 18+1d100. Fighters work a little differently for the class dependent skill of EXCEPTIONAL STRENGTH, but those notes can be found below.

NOTE: Unlike normal STATs that use integers - ( 0, 1, 2, 3, . . . 17, 18, 19, 20, . . . up to 25) - the fighter's exceptional strength (18/01 to 18/00) may not simply be more ordinary strength so much as an applied knowledge, or temporary strength, that surpasses their existing 18 strength, so it works like a skill or feat and not a normal STAT. The class dependence for exceptional strength is perhaps justified since fighter-classes alone learn how to properly use greater strength in combat, or in feats of power, endurance or stamina, and as such strength ratings in that particular range have a mental component. Improperly trained, greater strength could actually be used against one in combat, just as one's greater weight may be used against them in some martial arts. Just swinging harder could be more dangerous and leave oneself open to attack, so non-fighters do not do this since they'd probably miss anyway and almost certainly get clobbered for free if they did. Fighters, however, have better combat training, and a fighter's EXCEPTIONAL STRENGTH ratings in the 18/01 to 18/00 range could indicate greater skill and finesse using the 18 strength without opening themselves up to counter attack, as well as the proper mental conditioning required to temporarily overcome one's natural limits. At a STR rating of 19, however, most people can accomplish as much using brute strength rather than the finesse of applied knowledge or superior physical conditioning for greater endurance, and even fighters would opt to use such raw STR if they had it rather than the comparatively weaker exceptional strength.

NOTE: Once a member of any of the fighter classes attains an 18 STR, they are entitled to a 1d100 exceptional strength roll, so if they start with 18 STR in character generation or come into it later by extraordinary means, they get the 1d100 roll, just as other class dependent abilities based upon high stats come into play or manifest after the fact. For example, attaining an 18 wisdom doesn't give just anyone bonus spell slots for clerical spells, but ONLY those who are already clerics AND already capable of casting spells of that level. So, too, attaining an 18 STR doesn't give anyone exceptional strength, but only those who are already fighters, rangers, or paladins. Thus, a Wish will take a 17 STR fighter to 18/NN, where NN is the 1d100 roll. It is not unusual they will finally be able to effectively employ a skill or feat they have trained for (at 17 STR) for quite some time, but only now have the prerequisite minimum STR of 18 to achieve meaningful bonuses. Thus, fighters are not skipping 18 but are merely finally able to employ a class skill, so they get the normal STR bonuses for 18 STR, as well as a few others due to the class ability stacked on top of that. They do not automatically simply attain 18/01, as most stats would work when achieving the next higher integer value, but the skill manifests itself as how effective a fighter is at employing the class ability. The fact there are 5 categories of bonuses in the 18/01 to 18/00 exceptional strength range, and that this appears to be almost random, is no cause for concern any more than the fact one's initial STAT scores seem to be random. It would probably be wrong to think of each category as greater and greater ordinary strength and a continuous increasing of ordinary strength in stages, but should be thought of as greater degrees of mastery and finesse and mental conditioning, and above all, natural aptitude for the EX STR training, in the class dependent EXCEPTIONAL STRENGTH feat. Thus, one doesn't normally work their way up from the lowest EX STR category to the higher ones, as if they were exercising and slowly gaining ordinary strength, but their natural ability and aptitude (randomly determined) is discovered, and the degree to which they are good at it is no more a mystery than other differences in natural aptitude (i.e. randomly determined stats).

NOTE: Technically, fighters do automatically attain a normal 18/01 STR when augmenting from 17 STR, since all stats are formatted in X/YY format and all 18 STR augmented from 17 is normally really 18/01. It's just all % for all STATs have no significant game differences, so we tend to ignore them, more often than not. GMs may not even roll them unless or until they are needed, but if they do bother to roll them, they should be secretly recorded for future use. But fighters, though they have an 18 real normal STR (18/01) also have an EX STR rating somewhere from 18/01 to 18/00. It's just sometimes confusing if one isn't mindful of the difference between 18/01 STR and 18/01 EX STR. In short, all ordinary 18/NN scores just have the same bonuses for 18 STR as all classes get, and while fighters do have ordinary STR scores that may be in the 18/01 to 18/00 range and have the normal 18 STR bonuses any class enjoys, they also have an EX STR rating whose bonuses always supersedes the normal STR bonuses, or are effectively stacked on top of the normal 18 STR bonuses.

Unlike any other classes, fighters, rangers, and paladins may opt not to Wish for +10% increments in regular strength, but instead Wish for greater class skill in EXCEPTIONAL STRENGTH. For simplicity sake, this is still +10% for each Wish spell, but it's not really a strength augmentation so much as a skill or feat augmentation. Just as there is no effective difference between an 18/60 INT and an 18/50 INT, other than INT vs. INT rolls, there is no effective difference between a 18/60 STR and an 18/50 STR, even for a fighter, and in particular for non-fighters. However, there is an effective difference between 18/60 EX STR and an 18/50 EX STR. This is a very subtle difference and one normally won't go too far wrong in thinking of EX STR as normal STR, as long as they are mindful of the fact they are different and non-fighters will not enjoy the STR bonuses of exceptional strength even if they Wish their STR somewhere between 18 and 19 in 10% increments. One must attain a full 19 STR to enjoy the bonuses due to that kind of brute force. Fighters, of course, will be limited to 18/00 if they use Wish spells to augment the class skill. If they ever hope to attain 19 or higher ordinary STR, they must use 10 Wish spells and not receive any bonuses for those 10% increments between 18 and 19 just like any other class, or they might employ a magic book, tome, or manual, or some magic item that grants such an augmentation from 18 to 19 in one shot, just like any other class. Such an item would take any STR rating from (18/01 to 18/00) straight to 19, so 18/01 or 18/00, or any score in between, it wouldn't matter, it goes to 19. Those items augment real and ordinary STR, so it would surpass the EX STR rating and the fighter could effectively ignore that class skill from then on since it would no longer be applicable. GMs might invent new tomes that only augment EX STR, too, under these ideas.

NOTE: Unfortunately, even a Wish spell will not raise an 18/00 EX STR to 19 ordinary brute STR. Just like non-fighters, fighters would have to employ 10 more Wish spells to augment normal STR from 18/01 to 19/01, so unless they had a naturally rolled EX STR score that was quite high already, they'd probably be better off Wishing to augment their EX STR instead of their STR. Of course, since Wish spells are very rare and the likelihood of acquiring them in sufficient quantities is so low, most PCs should NOT normally be thinking in terms of attaining higher stats via 10-packs of Wish spells. I only include these optional examples to demonstrate the spell's power. In actual practice, a PC might acquire a Wish spell or two during the run of the campaign and that's about it - unless the campaign is played at epic levels and PCs actually become capable of casting 9th-level spells for themselves.

NOTES CONCERNING THE WORLD OF ORLANTIA

Limited Wish spell's approximate cost is 60,000 GP to 80,000 GP - aging the caster 1 year or 1% of their life span - and 120,000 GP to 180,000 GP for a full power Wish - aging the caster 3 years or 3% of their life span. This assumes you can find an agreeable archmage to cast it for you. In my economic system, 1 silver piece is about equivalent to one U.S. dollar. With 100 SP per 1 GP, a full power Wish spell would cost an average of about $16,000,000. These things are by no means cheap or common.

Aside from that, I try to limit the power of a Wish to something the character could nearly buy with that sort of money, to mimic another spell's functions and abilities, or to do some other reasonable thing. For example, if used to Wish for gold, it may produce 120K to 180K GP. If used to Wish for a castle or a keep, it may only build one that could be built for that sort of money - maybe less since it is built NOW. If used to mimic a spell, one may have a Wish work several times over. If they Wished to mimic a Teleport, for example, it may No Error Teleport the entire party to the desired location. This seems reasonable, provided the party has less than a dozen people and creatures in it and they are not going from one plane to another as well. A Limited Wish used to Wish for all of one's hit points back would almost certainly be able to mimic the 6th level clerical Heal spell in that regard, and would therefore be permanent, and not temporary like the book suggests. After all, it cost the caster a year of their life, does not cure disease or perform other actions the Heal spell may perform, and so certainly should be allowed to mimic but a portion of a lower-level spell in that fashion - granted, it is assumed 6th level clerical spells are more powerful than 6th Magic User spells, and 7th level clerical spells are on par with 9th level Magic User spells, but this is close enough for a rough estimate.

I like to also consider what the Wish has to work with. For example, a Limited Wish used to double the effectiveness of an actual Heal spell by allowing multiple targets would work even better since the resources are right there. Thus, one Heal spell and one Limited Wish may become two full Heal spells or three "hit point only" healing spells. This is because it is assumed the further a Wish has to "reach out" to get what it needs, the weaker the results will be. That way, wishing for personal stat adjustments up higher than normal - within yourself is not so far to reach, or within one who allows a mage total access is similarly easy - altering the Heal spell already present is more powerful than mimicking one not present, wishing for a castle by a nearby rock quarry will have better results than wishing for one where the nearest suitable stones are hundreds of miles away, etc. You'd still get a strong castle, but it would be somewhat smaller.

All of this should make it clear, or at least start to make it clear, that Wish spells are perhaps capable of bigger and better and more permanent things on my world. But it may be a long while, perhaps even never, before you come across one or are capable of casting one yourself. In fact, it would be wrong to assume simply because I worked out the above rules that casting many Wishes for these purposes is almost commonplace on my world - it is not. If anything, despite being well beyond the power of your average PC, such rules still lend a sense of one's place and relative power to those around them, and thus they may better appreciate having a natural higher statistic or a magic item that augments, even in an ephemeral way, their stats. But I digress.

STR and EX STR EXAMPLES

I will now end this article with several concrete examples regarding STAT augmentation, since the subtle difference between STR and EX STR may take some getting used to.

Sally, a female fighter, Wishes to augment her 17 STR and has an agreeable archmage do this for her. She attains an ordinary STR of 18/01, just like anyone of 17 STR of any class would so attain in similar circumstances. But for all classes, even fighters, ordinary STR anywhere from 18/01 to 18/00 just gets the same bonuses of +1 to hit, +2 to damage, +750 GP weight allowance, open doors on 1-3 on d6, and a 16% chance to bend bar/lift gates - (+1/+2/+750/(1-3)/16%). Unlike non-fighter classes, however, since Sally is of the fighter class, she also automatically gets a 1d100 EXCEPTIONAL STRENGTH roll. In 1e she is still limited to 18/50, but in 2e she is not. If her 1d100 roll is 51 or higher, her EX STR rating will be 18/50 in 1e. However, such limits may be considered only for character generation or initial rolls, so she may still exceed 18/50 later using another Wish or magic item. Let's assume Sally's player rolls 86, that this is a 1e game, and so her EX STR is 18/50. An EX STR rating of 18/50 is +1/+3/+1000/(1-3)/20%). Thus, using mental training, Sally can surpass her normal 18 STR limits and gain a further +1 to damage, +250 GP more weight allowance, and +4% greater chance of bending bars/lifting gates. This channeled energy, this chi, this mental focus, stacks with her normal ordinary STR, and the bonuses written for 18/50 are the total bonuses, though one can derive what comes from ordinary STR and how much more is gained via the mental training and conditioning of the EX STR feat.

Sally has occasion to use another Wish spell, so she may opt to augment her normal STR of 18/01 or opt to augment her class skill of EX STR. The former gains no immediate bonuses, aside from being slightly better in STR vs. STR rolls for non-fighters, but she is a fighter and would use her EX STR rating there, anyway, so the latter is obviously the better option. Therefore, she has this done and her EX STR of 18/50 goes to 18/60, putting her in a higher category and even one normally beyond human female natural limits. This is O.K. since it was done in a decidedly unnatural way (a Wish).

After decades of adventuring, Sally acquired 4 more Wishes and used them to take her EX STR rating up to 18/00. If that wasn't good enough, she acquires yet another Wish, but it won't help since 18/00 is the limit for that class feat. She cannot Wish for 19 ordinary STR since her real STR rating is still 18/01, and it would take 10 Wishes to do that. Thus, she Wishes for something else.

Bob, a male fighter, naturally rolled an 18 STR during character generation, and rolled an 81 on 1d100 and had an 18/81 EX STR rating as well as an 18/81 ordinary STR rating. The 18/81 ordinary STR doesn't give better bonuses or anything, but it might put Bob in striking distance of an ordinary 19 STR. So if Bob ever has some Wishes, he may think long and hard if he wants to augment his real ordinary STR or his EX STR class skill. To augment the class skill would return immediate bonuses, the first taking him to 18/91 EX STR and the second to 18/00 (the limit) but a third or more would be pointless since the limit had already been reached. To augment the ordinary STR, however, would not return immediate bonuses, but might be a better investment, as his ordinary STR would go from 18/81 to 18/91 (no change in bonuses) and a second would go from 18/91 to 19/01, a huge change in bonuses resulting from brute STR, bone, muscle, sinew augmentation well beyond normal human limitations (but we are talking about the power of a Wish here, so it's plausible).

Alfred, another male fighter, has a natural 18/02 EX STR and found a Manual of Gainful Exercise. Reading it and following the instructions, his STR becomes 19 STR, bypassing most of the EX STR range. Well, he was lucky, I guess, in finding such a powerful book.

It may seem unfair in some ways such powerful magic items can do in one shot what it takes 10 Wishes to accomplish, but it's really no less fair than many other randomly determined things, such as one's initial STAT score, or one's 1d100 EX STR roll. In any case, the GM may control the frequency of Wishes or powerful magic items, so this is not really a problem.

Finally, Donald, an 18 STR cleric of Thor, may have a hidden latent 1d100 roll. GMs, if they use this optional format for all STATS, should NEVER allow players to see these latent rolls, lest the players base their PC's decision on OOC (Out Of Character) information. Let's assume the GM rolled those, and he rolled a 69 for Donald the cleric. Thus, Donald has a real STR of 18/69, but since he isn't a fighter, he only enjoys the normal bonuses all 18 STR non-fighter characters enjoy - (though he may be better in STR vs. STR rolls with any other non-fighter with 18/68 STR or less, but would be worse vs. any EX STR fighter, even if they had only 18/01 EX STR). Unbeknownst to him, however, it would only take 4 Wishes, not 10, to reach 19 STR. Of course, one powerful magic manual would do that, too, but he never finds one of those.

Donald later decides to dual class and becomes a fighter in addition to being a cleric. Since the GM already determined the latent 1d100 rolls, Donald would have a real STR of 18/69 and an EX STR of 18/69, but now also enjoys the bonuses found at 18/69 for EX STR. His player does not roll 1d100, however, since the GM, when opting to use the X/YY format, may have taken the responsibility to roll and record such information already. Hopefully, Donald's player won't feel cheated. Of course, it might be best if the GM never bothered to determine such latent rolls unless or until something came up where it mattered, and so Donald's player might be allowed to roll the EX STR roll himself when his cleric dual classes and becomes a fighter, as well.

Further examples shouldn't be necessary, I hope, and I think reading them several times will give most players a basic grasp of the differences between STR and EX STR and the unusual properties of EX STR, and why they came about and manifested as something other than just more and more ordinary strength. If the rules make sense, our PCs can deal with them, but if not, undesirable consequences may follow. I think this treatment of EX STR handles the problem and sufficiently conceals the Gamer's Footprint, but if you feel otherwise, I'd be interested in hearing from you.

As always, happy gaming ;-)

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