Body (Action)

Heroic Action Role-Play

Body is a measure of strength, mass, and resilience. It is closely linked to size and weight. Heroes sometimes have more body than their size indicates, but unless supernatural forces are at work, the difference is unlikely to be very large. Body is the only attribute that can have a negative value.

The table below gives typical weights (in kilograms) and length (in cm) for different Body ratings. This assumes a body that fit or heroic. Most creatures living a physically active life will be fairly close to these values.

Weight is a ceiling on Body values. Depending on fitness, the actual Body can be up to ten points lower. A very fit hero weighting 100 kilos has a Body of 10; an overweight couch potato weighting 100 kg can have a Body as low as 3 and be out-wrestled by a dog.

Length is greatest overall length based on weight; the tails of animals are not included. Animals that are very thin and stretched out can be up to twice as long. Body is tied to weight, not length; certain worms can be prodigiously long yet still have comparatively low Body scores. This does not take the cube/square law into account; animals and realistic creatures tend to grow proportionally shorter and more bulky as they advance in weight while fantastic creatures like giants do not; this table is for non-realistic giants.

The table covers common weights for living creatures, but can be used for items, vehicles and construction as well. As the table is logarithmic, it can be extended to greater or smaller values. For weights weights in excess of 1,000 kg, simply read the weight in tonnes and add 30 to the result. For weights less than 1 kg, read the weight in grammes and subtract 30.

Some very small creatures have a negative Body score. For people uncomfortable with negative numbers, simply use a Body score of zero; body scores this low doesn't matter a lot anyway.

Body	Weight	Length
-10	1.0	40
-9	1.3	43
-8	1.6	47
-7	2.0	50
-6	2.5	55
-5	3.2	60
-4	4.0	65
-3	5.0	70
-2	6.3	75
-1	8.0	80
0	10	85
1	13	95
2	16	100
3	20	110
4	25	115
5	32	125
6	40	135
7	50	145
8	63	160
9	80	170
10	100	190
11	130	200
12	160	220
13	200	230
14	250	250
15	320	270
16	400	290
17	500	320
18	630	340
19	800	370
20	1000	400