Feats of Strength

2025-11-08

if brute force isn’t working you aren’t using enough.

• Isaac Arthur

As power scale goes, I’ve always preferred more street-level style games where survival and tactics matter more than the potency or breadth of a character’s abilities, very much in the OSR vein of player skill over character ability. Thus I’ve always viewed the 3–18 range of ability scores as representing the human bell curve of possible ability, with 3 being the absolute low end and 18 being peak human.

My game is by no means an exception, but there are some options and abilities that push ability scores beyond the typical ranges for a temporary period. In my Psionics article, I covered one such power called Biochemical Adaptation, which allowed a character to move 5 points worth of attributes around between their physical ability scores.

I wanted to expand on this idea a bit more in respect to Strength, as it’s the easiest ability to quantify and because it allows a character to directly interact with the game world in a way the other abilities don’t. I think the solution and mechanic I devised for representing heroic and superhuman strength is quite good, but I could be wrong.

Extended Ability Score Table

For the sake of completion, here is an extended ability score table ranging from 1–100. Keep in mind a +2 is already a potent bonus in a typical OSR context. Given the course of my own system, I can’t imagine any powers that would push character ability scores much past 33, but again, for the sake of completion, here is the full range if you’re interested in representing something like a demigod or minor deity tier of strength.

Feats of Strength

Characters with extraordinary Strength (a score of 19 or higher) may attempt feats beyond normal human capability: tearing open steel doors, hurling motorcycles, breaking concrete, bending rebar, etc. These attempts are dependent on the GM discretion and the fictional positioning of the character and what they could reasonbly do.

To attempt a feat of strength, roll a die and succeed if the result is equal to or less than your Strength bonus.

On Success: The feat is performed. On Failure: The attempt does not succeed, and the GM may decide if the character suffers damage or consequence (pulled muscles, exhaustion, etc.).

Scaling Difficulty Dice

The more extreme the feat, the larger the die used.

Designer Note: A big part of the inspiration for this mechanic game from a superhero OSR system called Light City, in that game The Brick class was capable of doing feats of strength via a X-in-6 mechanic, I liked that idea but wanted to expand on it a bit more for my own system.

Hysterical Strength

In moments of extreme danger or overwhelming emotion, a normal person can perform feats of strength far beyond their natural limits. This is not training — this is panic, adrenaline, and raw survival instinct.

A character may attempt a feat of Hysterical Strength when:

• A life is in immediate danger (self or another)

• They experience overwhelming fear, anger, or desperation

• A terrible emotional trigger occurs (GM discretion)

The character makes a normal feat of strength roll, with an added +1 to the success range.

This ability cannot be used calmly, on command, or repeatedly in a short time — once per session at most.

Cost Of Hysterical Strength

Acting under hysterical strength is extremely taxing, there is a reason our bodies limit themselves as injury is extremely common in these kind of condition. Roll to see the severity of injury, the GM has discretion as to the size of the die used for the roll and can overwrite the table result.

The GM may also allow the character to make a Fortiude Save (Vs. Death Ray) avoid suffering an injury if they are feeling generous.

d12 Result

1. Tremor and Fatigue: Your limbs shake and breathing burns. You’re winded; take –1 to STR checks for the next hour.

2. Pulled Muscle: Sharp pain shoots through a limb or back. Half movement speed or –2 to physical actions until rested.

3. Back Strain: You can’t straighten fully. -4 lifting or grappling for the rest of the day.

4. Torn Ligament: Something snaps. –1d4 STR score until healed by rest or treatment (1 week).

5. Dislocated Joint: Shoulder, knee, or hip slips. One arm or leg unusable until reset (causes 1d4 damage to fix).

6. Burst Blood Vessels: Eyes bloodshot, nosebleed, and nausea. 1d4 damage and –1 to all checks for the rest of the day.

7. Fractured Bone: Loud crack! limb still usable with pain. 1d6 damage and -4 on attack rolls until splinted.

8. Torn Tendon: The muscle no longer obeys properly. Lose 1d4 point of permanent STR unless magically or medically repaired.

9. Severe Muscle Tear: Massive internal strain. Take 1d6 damage, –2 STR checks , and -4 on attack rolls until healed.

10. Ruptured Blood Vessel / Internal Bleeding: The surge bursts something inside. Take 2d6 damage and collapse after 1 round unless stabilized.

11. Broken Bones: Catastrophic effort shatters bone. Take 2d6 damage and drop whatever you were carrying. Require long-term recovery.

12. Catastrophic Injury: Tendons tear, bones splinter, and blood sprays. Take 2d8 damage, fall unconscious, and risk permanent disability (50%).

Designer Note: I would treat my Hysterical Strength mechanic more as inspiration and to not overly proceduralize it. Hysterical Strength should be rare and something that cannot be relied upon or predicted to happen like in real life, when it does occur it should have some “narrative weight” to it, Likewise the injury tables while fun, are ultimately guidence or for when the GM can’t think up a suitable cost or side effect.

Additional Thoughts

I like this mechanic quite a bit, though it makes me wonder if I ought to make similar mechanics for other attributes over 19–20? Give the other ability scores more things to do? But I think that might start placing too much emphasis on the ability scores, as that starts to de-emphasize player planning and skill a bit.

Charisma has always had Morale and hirelings tied to it, which is cool and something my game uses as well. BECMI had an interesting mechanic where at certain INT scores you were immune to certain levels of illusion spells, though I’m not sure how I feel about that.

News!

I have a blogroll now! You can find it at the footer of my website. I’m mainly keeping it to personal acquaintances or more obscure sites/blogs. While I read lots of blogs, lately I tend to be a bit more choosy and want to go off the beaten path. Not to say the big names in the OSR blogosphere are bad by any means, but I want to search elsewhere.