Constitution
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No, no. Don't shoot him. If you shoot him, you'll only make him angry.
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One of The Six Stats, abbreviated as CON.
This is the stat that determines just how tough a character is. While not a measure of strength, it's a measure of just how hard it is to actually kill a guy, usually being the stat governing Hit Points. A secondary function is sometimes used to determine how well a character can shrug off poisions, illnesses, and other things which attack the body.
Determinators especially have a metric ton of this, even if their Strength isn't so great. Expect to see a lot of action heroes have this more than just about anything else, since they're probably going to suffer more damage than an Abrhams tank.
Here's a guide for Examples:
12-15: The character is tougher than normal, but will still likely die from an untreated gunshot wound, severe beating, or blade wound which hasn't hit a vital organ.
16-19: The character is really tough. They likely won't die from any blade wound or gunshot that doesn't hit a vital organ, and even then they'll probably shrug off that injury for a good few hours.
20-23: Go ahead, empty a clip into this mother. That might kill him. Might. After about 5 hours of constant, profuse bleeding. Having a limb blown off will probably hinder them, though, or it might just piss them off like crazy, too. Still in the realm of "killable" though a Kill Sat or Head Shot will probably be need for a definitive kill.
24+: This guy blows his hair dry with a jet engine. Conventional weapons just do not work on him. Ballistics don't work on him. Nothing short of something that outright disintegrates or atomizes matter indiscriminately will stop this bastard from moving.
Not to be confused with the Constitution of [Insert Country Here].
12-15:
Anime
- Nijima, for all his wimpiness, can at least take a few hits from fighters
- Tadashi of Onidere can take some damage from Saya. Of course, she holds back when she does have to beat him up, but her holding back is still pretty painful. He doesn't walk away without scratches, though, and has been stated that he would die without question if she weren't holding back like crazy.
Film
- Indiana Jones has been shown to be able to take more damage than your average person, but compared to many characters from other action films, a decent pounding or a single gunshot is enough to put him in deep trouble.
SpikeSam Witwicki, while no match for any of the marines in the films, the fact that he's getting thrown around like a ragdoll while trying to not get killed by giant, sentient robots, and only suffers cardiac arrest in the second film is a testament to him being tougher than your average teenager.
Mythology
- Technically, Achilles. The reasoning is thus: while he was invulnerable in all but his heels, he still died pretty quickly to a poison-tipped arrow. His legendary imperviousness is likely more a case of insane Damage Reduction than outright high Con.
16-19:
Anime
- Kenichi Can take a lot of damage. He's basically the toughest character in the series barring Master-level characters. His life can still be put on the line, but unless you're a Master-level martial artist, expect to have to continually pound his face in for a good twenty minutes before he stops moving.
- Kenshin and Sano can take more hits than a brick wall. Literally. They'll still die if they're left in that state, and Kenshin especially is on the brink of death by the time Makoto Shisio is through with him. Still, that's saying something when you consider that it means Kenshin was still alive against someone as skilled as he in Hiten Misturugi Ryu.
Film
- John McClane, in every single film, gets beat to hell before the end of the film, possibly stabbed, probably shot, and likely with at least one broken rib. But he isn't done until he says "Yippee Kai-yay, Mother F----er"
- Jackie Chan regularly takes beatings in his films, and though they're usually cumulative, it isn't until the end of the film that it really starts affecting him. He usually barely wins
- Oh Dae-su. Exactly what it'd take to bring this man down is uncertain, but a corridor full of people trying to beat him up combined with a knife in the back and an elevator full of henchmen afterwards obviously wasn't enough.
20-23:
Anime
- Keitaro Urashima has been described In-Universe as being "immortal" for surviving the punishment he's taken, going so far as to be launched about a half-mile into the air, on several occasions, by Makoto. He's also been hit by a van, dropped off a cliff, you name it. And the worst damage he's ever sustained is a broken leg -- and that came from having part of a building fall on him.
- Arguably, ever single character in Grappler Baki. Considering that nearly everyone in the series is throwing around punches and kicks that would kill a normal human in one blow, it's amazing that
they allmost manage to survive with reasonably limited permanent damage. - One Piece: Roronoa Zoro, in a single fight, lost more blood than actually exists in a human body. It's still having an effect on him, but the fact that he's alive at all is nothing short of miraculous.
Western Animation
- Played straight and for laughs with Brock Samson. As shown above, Brock can take a ridiculous amount of damage and walk away with little real injuries. An enemy emptying a clip into him will probably just make him mad.
24+:
Anime
- By default, any Saiyan. Every Saiyan, Dragon, and Big Bad from the Saiyan Saga forward can at least destroy a mountain with little effort. And they all take blows with equivalent power in rapid succession. They also regularly take blasts to the face that can blow up planets or more, and show little to no damage from them.
- Jack Rakan. The man takes half a dozen anti-army spells to the face, gets pinballed through the air several times, and gets impaled by a giant magical spear all in one fight. Then he gets up and laughs. It takes a Reality Warper who can erase him from existence to take him out, and even then it's only temporary.
Comic Books
- Superman. Man Of Steel. 'Nuff said.
- The bullets-bouncing-off aspect may be a case of insanely-high Damage Reduction, but the fact that he won't die from inhuman pressures like being at the bottom of the ocean, can survive the void of space for a limited time, and, Depending on the Writer, a freakin' nuclear warhead, DR alone cannot account for all that. Even a Magic Weapon, which is his other main weakness besides Kryptonite, will probably take a few stabs to kill him, if it does at all.
- Captain Marvel. Again, pretty obvious, what with the bouncing bullets and all.
Mythology
- The Monkey King is Doubly Immortal. He can't be killed by being stabbed, sliced, boiled, eaten, squished, drowned, bludgeoned... yeah, you get the picture.
Web Comics
- O-Chul from The Order of the Stick. In his case, it's quite literal, as Word of God has confirmed his Constitution score to be in the mid-20s. Throw the man in a pool of acid (complete with acid-breathing shark!), then watch him get impaled on the spikes at the bottom, and get attacked by the shark several times before he gets out, and he'll still try to blitz your ass.