Strength

For the arcane spell, see Strength (spell).

Strength (STR) is one of the six ability scores.

Introduction[]

It represents muscle power, including the ability to lift weights and hit hard.

It's a very important character ability for fighters, paladins, rangers and barbarians.

It determines how often a character hits with his melee weapons in combat, how much damage is delivered, how much a character can carry and a chance to open doors or chest without lockpicking. It also affects which items a character may use.

Scores table (Icewind Dale)[]

Ability score	To Hit adjustment	Damage adjustment	Weight Allowance	Bashing
2	-3	-2	3	2
3	-3	-1	5	3
4-5	-2	-1	15	4
6-7	-1	0	30	6
8-9	0	0	50	8
10-11	0	0	70	10
12-13	0	0	90	12
14-15	0	0	120	14
16	0	+1	150	16
17	+1	+1	170	18
18	+1	+2	200	20
18/01-50	+1	+3	220	25
18/51-75	+2	+3	250	30
18/76-90	+2	+4	280	35
18/91-99	+2	+5	320	40
18/00	+3	+6	400	45
19	+3	+7	500	50
20	+3	+8	600	55
21	+4	+9	700	60
22	+4	+10	800	65
23	+5	+11	1000	70
24	+6	+12	1200	75
25	+7	+14	1600	80

Bashing[]

Bashing works exactly the same as a Thief's Open Locks ability, allowing a strong character to open a locked door or chest by attacking it with a weapon, but does not grant experience for a successful lock bash, and cannot go above 80 points. Like Pick Lock, Bashing works on a threshold system - if you're within 5 points of the target lock's difficulty you have a 50% chance of bashing it successfully, while if you're equal to or greater than the lock's difficulty, it's guaranteed.

Equipment[]

Type weapon	Strength required	Type armor	Strength required
Bastard Sword	11	Buckler	4
Battle axe	10	Small Shield	4
Club	5	Medium Shield	12
Composite longbow	15	Large Shield	15
Dagger and throwing daggers	3	Leather Armor	4
Dart	-	Studded Leather Armor	6
Flail	13	Chainmail Armor	8
Halberd	13	Elven Chainmail Armor	5
Heavy crossbow	12	Splint Mail	8
Light crossbow	8	Full Plate Mail	15
Long bow	12	Plate Mail Armor	12
Long sword	6
Mace	10
Morning star	11
Quarterstaff	5
Scimitar	10
Short bow	3
Short sword	5
Sling	-
Spear	5
Throwing axe	4
Two-handed axe	10
Two-handed sword	14
War hammer	9

There are always a few items in their class which have a different strength requirement.

Strength boosts[]

Permanent boosts in Strength[]

Potion of Life Transference (+1 Strength, -1 Constitution)
Potion of Strength Transference (+1 Dexterity, -1 Strength)

Strength boosting items[]

Temporary strength boosting items and spells[]

Items
Item	Effects	Duration	Note(s)
Potion of Strength	STR to 18	4 hours (20 turns), or until dispelled
Potion of Hill Giant Strength	STR to 19	2 hours (10 turns)	Only warriors
Potion of Stone Giant Strength	STR to 20	2 hours (10 turns)	Only warriors
Potion of Frost Giant Strength	STR to 21	2 hours (10 turns)	Only warriors
Potion of Fire Giant Strength	STR to 22	2 hours (10 turns)	Only warriors
Potion of Cloud Giant Strength	STR to 23	2 hours (10 turns)	Only warriors
Potion of Storm Giant Strength	STR to 24	2 hours (10 turns)	Only warriors

Spells
Spell	Effects	Duration	Type
Strength	random STR dependent on class	1 turn / level of caster	Arcane, level 2
Strength of One	sets STR to 18/76	7 rounds	Divine, level 3
Iron Body	sets STR to 25, among other things	2 turns	Arcane, level 8

References[]

↑ "3d6 [...] will produce a typical individual selected at random from the population" (source), and the average result of 3d6 is 10.5

External links[]

Strength article on the Baldur's Gate Wiki, a wiki for the Baldur's Gate games.
Strength article on the Dungeons and Dragons Wiki, a wiki for the D&D ruleset.

[1] "3d6 [...] will produce a typical individual selected at random from the population" (source), and the average result of 3d6 is 10.5

[1]