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The Strength Tables offered in the Hero System Rulebook are fine, as far as they go, but the examples given aren't very useful in a fantasy gaming context. Hopefully, the examples I've given here might be more help.
Go here for a useful Continuous Strength Chart for those inconvenient in-between Strength stats.
| STR | Max. Lift (kg) | Damage (d6) & Jump (hexes) | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| -25 | 0.8 | Nil | One arbalest-bolt , Javelin or Dart |
| -23 | 1 | Nil | Light bow or Fighting-knife |
| -20 | 1.6 | Nil | Shortsword |
| -18 | 2 | Nil | Longsword or Extra-heavy bow |
| -15 | 3.2 | Nil | Light crossbow or Battleaxe |
| -13 | 4 | Nil | Light crossbow and 20 quarrels |
| -10 | 6.4 | Nil | Heavy crossbow |
| -8 | 8 | Nil | Chainmail shirt |
| -5 | 12.5 | Nil | Chain shirt, small shield and longsword |
| -3 | 16 | Nil | Chain hauberk |
| 0 | 25 | Nil | Full chain harness or complete suit of articulated plate |
| 3 | 37 | ½ | Full suit of plate-mail |
| 5 | 50 | 1 | Plate-mail, great helm, longsword, dagger, battleaxe and shield |
| 8 | 75 | 1½ | Standard adult human, nude except for one strategically placed fig-leaf |
| 10 | 100 | 2 | Adult human with standard clothing and some equipment |
| 13 | 150 | 2½ | Fully armoured and equipped adult human, or sumo wrestler naked except for loin-cloth. |
| 15 | 200 | 3 | One standard barrel of beer (about 36 gallons, or 180 litres, plus the barrel.) |
| 18 | 300 | 3½ | Polar bear |
| 20 | 400 | 4 | Large adult fresh-water crocodile |
| 23 | 600 | 4½ | Horse and armoured rider |
| 25 | 800 | 5 | Fully armed knight on caparisoned heavy warhorse |
| 28 | 1,200 | 5½ | A brick wall, 5½m long by 3m high |
| 30 | 1,600 | 6 | Two horses, a chariot, charioteer and archer |
| 35 | 3,200 | 7 | 1½ stones from the great pyramid of Cheops |
| 40 | 6,400 | 8 | African elephant |
| 45 | 12,500 | 9 | Two beer-wagons, each carrying 24 barrels of beer |
| 50 | 25,000 | 10 | Two beer-wagons, two drovers, sixteen oxen and forty-eight barrels of beer |
| 55 | 50,000 | 11 | One Stonehenge sarsen-stone |
| 60 | 100,000 | 12 | Brachiosaurus |
| 65 | 200,000 | 13 | Small merchant ship |
| 70 | 400,000 | 14 | Medium merchant ship |
| 75 | 800,000 | 15 | Large merchant ship |
| 80 | 1,600,000 | 16 | About twenty-five million arrows |
| 85 | 3,200,000 | 17 | Thirty-two thousand archers |
| 90 | 6,400,000 | 18 | The burden of guilt |
| 95 | 12,500,000 | 19 | About four-and-a-quarter million chickens |
| 100 | 25,000,000 | 20 | A small castle |
Human-sized creatures must have a STR of at least 0 (zero) to be able to support their own weight and walk more-or-less normally. At a STR of -5, the creature can only crawl for short distances, and must rest very frequently. If STR is reduced to -10 or less, then the creature cannot move at all, even to lift an arm.
STR can be reduced to below zero by a number of factors, such as Drains, illness, or poison. Similar effects result from being subjected to high gravity fields, which may also cause damage to the creature if sufficiently intense or sudden.