Constitution and Adversity

[cadriel]

So as I was reading through Men & Magic last night, I noticed the following entries in the ability score table:

Constitution 13 or 14: Will withstand adversity
Constitution of 9 - 12: 60% to 90% chance of surviving
Constitution of 8 or 7: 40% to 50% chance of survival

But I haven't seen any text that clarifies this in the 3LBs. "Raise Dead" hints at it but doesn't explicitly refer to these chances. What do you use these ratings for? (I'm asking in the "in your game" sense, not the "what's the right answer" sense.)

[Finarvyn]

Yeah, I've always thought that "withstand adversity" sounded pretty vague.

I assume it has to do with being turned to stone, or being revived from near-death, or the like. Sadly, it's never (to my knowledge) explained and Saving Throws also tend to do some of those same things.

Basically, any time when the character might be "dead" (under zero hit points but healed, turned to stone, drank poison, etc) I give them a roll. (I extrapolated for numbers under 7)
3 = 0%
4 = 10%
5 = 20%
6 = 30%
7 = 40%
8 = 50%
9 = 60%
10 = 70%
11 = 80%
12 = 90%
13 and up = 100%

[bigjackbrass]

This also came up during an audio game of D&D I ran for some friends (I shan't link to it, since it's a rather jokey attempt to run non-D&Ders through an old dungeon using the rules exactly as they appear in the books, rather than allowing much interpretation) and we were fairly clueless as well. My favourite suggestion was that it referred to general hardship - stubbing your toe, running out of milk, discovering your wife in bed with the Postman and so forth

[thorswulf]

I don't think that's the way I'd interpret it, although catching one's spouse would more likely cause some damage rolls... to the Postman! Seriously though I think it refers to an adventurer's ability to handle living in a harsher climate, or extreme weather conditions. I mean a fighter with a high Constitution is going to be hardy like Conan, not Caspar Milquetoast!

[cadriel]

thorswulf said:

I don't think that's the way I'd interpret it, although catching one's spouse would more likely cause some damage rolls... to the Postman! Seriously though I think it refers to an adventurer's ability to handle living in a harsher climate, or extreme weather conditions. I mean a fighter with a high Constitution is going to be hardy like Conan, not Caspar Milquetoast!

Well, obviously the fighter's hardy -- but think about it, the "adversity" has got to be pretty rough if it has a 10%-40% chance of killing an average person. Maybe it's things like a night you have to spend at below -40 Fahrenheit or above 110, getting hit by lightning or drowning. These are the things that come to my mind. Fin's choices also make sense and sound like a good way to combine the logic of static saving throws with high Con characters.

[WSmith]

I remember actually having this discussion some where. Maybe it was at the K&K Alehouse. I will look for the thread.

[WSmith]

Here is the thread. It doesn't say a whole lot.

www.knights-n-knaves.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2607