STR (Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition)

Characteristics

Definition

Strength is the muscle your investigator can put behind something: forcing a swollen cellar door, holding a hatch shut while whatever is below pushes back. It is generated on 3d6×5, so it runs from 15 to 90. STR is rarely rolled by itself. It matters through what it feeds. Paired with SIZ it sets your Build and Damage Bonus, and measured against SIZ alongside DEX it sets your Move rate. A librarian with STR 30 and a stevedore with STR 75 play identically until someone has to break something or throw a punch.

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How it works

**Generation**: 3d6×5, range 15 to 90. **Build and Damage Bonus**: Add STR to SIZ and read one table. A sum of 2 to 64 is Build -2 with a -2 damage penalty, 65 to 84 is Build -1 with a -1 damage penalty, 85 to 124 is Build 0 with no modifier, 125 to 164 is Build +1 at +1d4, and 165 to 204 is Build +2 at +1d6. **Move rate**: Compare DEX and STR against SIZ. If both are lower than SIZ your Move is 7, if one of them is equal or higher it is 8, and if both are equal or higher it is 9. **Difficulty**: Hard success is STR÷2, Extreme is STR÷5. **Uses**: Grappling and opposed physical contests, forcing doors and restraints, lifting, and any scene settled by leverage rather than technique.

Tips

**Best for**: Investigators who expect fights they cannot talk their way out of, and anyone who would rather add a Damage Bonus than subtract a penalty. **Character concepts**: Dockworkers, boxers, farmhands, beat officers, and drifters who have spent years doing physical work for a wage. **Synergies**: STR works with SIZ, since both feed the same Build table, and with Fighting (Brawl), which adds your Damage Bonus to every landed hit. Climb, Jump, and Swim are the skills a Keeper calls for when a scene is testing raw power.

Frequently asked questions

How much extra damage does high STR give me?

None on its own. Add STR to SIZ first: 125 to 164 gives +1d4, and 165 to 204 gives +1d6. A strong but small investigator can still land at Build 0 with no bonus at all.

Can STR improve during a campaign?

Not through ordinary skill improvement rolls. Characteristics stay fixed unless the Keeper awards a change for sustained training, a serious injury, or an age event between scenarios.

My investigator has STR 25. Is melee off the table?

Effectively yes. You will carry a damage penalty and lose most grapples outright, so put your points into Firearms, Dodge, and Stealth and treat combat as the outcome you failed to avoid.

STR (Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition)

Definition

How it works

Tips

Frequently asked questions

Further Reading