Sanne Topic Starter Moderator
Ethelle wrote:
In some cases, I think terribly underweight characters might result from lack of knowledge of pounds versus kilograms. If you're used to thinking you weigh 75 kg and you're a bit self-conscious, I can imagine it could sound frightening, knowing you weigh 165 pounds. When you're used to kilograms, and you try to translate your character's weight into pounds for roleplaying purposes, the resulting number can seem ridiculously high, especially when you're afraid that people will judge your character on its weight like some people do in real life. Something I struggled with years ago when I started playing D&D and was introduced to the concept of pounds.
Aside from that, I think it's very difficult to determine a realistic weight for a character. People vary so much individually. I have an uncle who is 6'5" and says he weighs 185 lbs. He's fit, and has developed muscles. I rather wonder where he keeps it, weighing so little, but he is definitely healthy and absolutely not underweight. I myself am 6'1" and weigh the same, I have virtually no muscle to account for my weight, yet I'm not overweight. It's puzzling. Partly because of these huge differences, I agree that BMI is mostly non-sense. I do use BMI as a loose guideline for characters, but I don't trust it too much.
That could be a reason, but most people who use terrible height/weight ratios seem to be Americans 
And yes, everyone is different. Men and women have a different physical setup anyhow, muscle weighs less than fat and so on and so forth. The fact his weight is in muscle and yours isn't could explain the difference very well. Besides that, 6'5" and 185lbs still sounds reasonable. If he said he weighed 125 pounds I would have called BS for sure though. 
BMI is mean in that it doesn't take anything into consideration. At least the quick online systems don't. Things like build, muscle or fat, long legs or long torso etc... They're neglected but vital for an accurate BMI.
Lance2011 wrote:
Can't say I really do this as most of my characters are structured around my actually physical appearance in terms of height and weight. As for terms like 'well toned' and muscular, honestly I don't use those as it pertains to characters over all size. I use em more so to determine how muscular they appear regardless of height and weight as I have seen people as scrawny as me and scrawnier who were 'cut like diamonds' as the term goes. Kinda gross and odd looking far as I'm concerned but thems the breaks. Heh. Also I can understand people wishing others to have accurate weight to height ratios to describe the body type of their characters but me myself I keep an open mind about it. I mean yeah a human standing 5'7" and about 135lbs, like me, would be a fair guess for one who's perhaps slightly underweight and such but in the world of RP especially in fantasy, I take other things into consideration. Like hey. This guys thin as heck...but weights close to 300 lbs at only 5'9"? How? Perhaps some kind of spell. Or maybe cybernetic implants. But over all I do agree with things said here. If you just have say a normal human, or a character who seems human, such as 3 of mine, with no backstory to explain off the wall weights...then please be realistic about it. That's what makes RPing fun. Having a sense of realism.
If there is a good reason for what seems to be an awkward height/weight ratio, I'm all for it. Because a good reason means there is sense and thought to it! That's what matters to people like myself. One of Zhi's characters is over 7 feet tall, but even heavy for that height. It's based on much denser muscle tissue and thicker, heavier bones and so forth.
CelestinaGrey wrote:
I never put a character's weight up, mainly because I don't know what would be 'normal' for them. Since I also don't know what would be a 'normal' height. I'm kind of short, like 5'4", but I am VERY skinny. So I know how impossible it is to be 95 pounds and curvy! Lol! But on the other hand, I can never figure out what makes a character a 'toned' weight and what makes them just plain chubby.
So I'm one of the people who don't add a weight or height in my characters. I feel like I don't need to be that specific, people can use their imaginations But I find it just fine when others include the information.
If you describe bodybuild or detail the physical appearance, weight isn't always necessary no. 
When in doubt, it's also always an amazing (lazy) alternative to just call the weight "Proportionate" to the height and build, problem solved! 
Serenade wrote:
H'rk... My characters are too weird for this thread.
One of my characters would probably be classified as underweight, except he's got a Slenderman vibe going in conjunction with an ultra-fast metabolism, a narrow frame, AND more efficient calorie storage. Still, I struggled at guessing his weight since he has four arms and six wings, which can unravel into... You know what? Screw it. Let's just say "the usual rules don't apply to him/it" and move on.
Another one, this one female, who literally weighs almost nothing because she's not flesh and blood, instead being latex and air (I know there are a bunch of jokes that could come to mind from this, but I've been reminded that there are people under 18 viewing this so I'm refraining from making them).
A third who has a secondary brain in her womb, as well as additional leg musculature to help mitigate its weight, which throws my guessing all to hell...
Damn, the only one I have who this can apply to is my Afghan, and he comes out on the scrawny side because all the food he eats goes into magical energy - I'm figuring his mechanical hand won't affect his weight significantly. I was aiming for just above the line between healthy and unhealthy, and hoping there'd be enough wiggle room for different interpretations of "healthy". ...I think I underestimated, and now I have to go change it...
Same to you, when in doubt, I recommend "proportionate". If you want to be specific, try Googling how much the extra limbs weigh. Like.. if you basically have a head/brain in a char's womb, figure out how much the average head weighs without body and add that.
