Just made a blog for how I rate Power and Speed so wanted to make a followup blog on how I rate the other stats. What the lesser stats are is kind of contested but broadly I consider them:
-Range (Which can be broken down into sensory range and ability range)
-Intelligence (Which further breaks down in multiple categories)
-Combat Skill (Sometimes considered part of Intelligence)
-Other Relevant Skills (such as Stealth, Agility, etc.)
-Endurance (Which further breaks down into stamina, willpower, resilience etc.)
So to go over them:
Range:
Range is really simple, it's quite literally just a distance with the same values as something like attack potency. Usually, characters have separate sensory range and ability range, though if characters have abilities that work on anything they can perceive then the two can be one and the same. Sense Range can be higher so as a Knight who can see far greater distance than his sword can hit or lower such as someone who can teleport planetary distances but no special senses, though broadly to effectively attack a target one needs both to perceive where they are and to be able to reach them.
There's no obvious way to know what the starting range should be. Broadly I take the character who's ability range is higher and divide that by two. This I think is a fair balance between giving characters who's focus is on range like snipers and marksman the ability to use their range without starting characters at needlessly long range.
Intelligence:
With intelligence, there's general overall intelligence and then there's intelligence in specific categories. In real life types of intelligence have correlation such that if you are smart in one area you are more likely to be smart in other areas with the strength of the correlation being how close the two areas are to each other. In fiction this obviously doesn't have to be the case. It's easy to imagine a supergenius scientist who has absolutely zero social intelligence. That said I do think the default assumption should be if a character is superhumanly intelligent in one area, they should be relative in other areas of intelligence unless the verse says otherwise due to the tendency of intelligence in one area to correlate with other areas.
Intelligence for powerscaling tends to focus on three areas and I want to give credit to my friend ThorGundersen1058 who was the one who observed these three categories:
-Scientific Intelligence: The ability to manipulate the general world.
-Social/Psychological Intelligence: The ability to manipulate other people.
-Tactical Intelligence: Broadly the ability to effectively strategize and make decisions in dynamic or complex scenarios.
To rate characters I think there are three broad categories: Subhuman, Human, and Superhuman that I subdivide into five or six categories each:
Subhuman:
-None: Characters genuinely lacks any reactivity to outside stimulus and acts more like a force of nature then a character. An example off the top of my head would be the Colour out of Space which is a malignant color from outer space that spreads and infects without reacting actively to outside stimulus.
-Reactivity: Characters can react to outside stimuli such as a Venus Flytrap which can react to bugs to consume them. The least intelligent animals like Jellyfish or Sponges would be here. Stereotypical zombies would probably be here.
-Lower Sentience: Characters have intelligence equal to relatively unintelligent animals like Most Insects, Lizards, or Frogs. They have the ability to actually perceive the world and can make decisions based on that as opposed to instinctive reactions.
-Upper Sentience: Characters have intelligence equal to normal animals such as Felines, Canines, Rodents, etc. All three types of intelligence start being seen here including usage of environment, pack behavior, and basic problem-solving.
-Lower Sapience: Characters have intelligence equal to smarter animals like Parrots, Ravens, Apes, Octopi, or Elephants. These characters can show all three kinds of intelligence including tool use, using social structures, and/or employing complex problem-solving. Very young humans would likely be here as well.
Human:
-Upper Sapience/Below Average: Intelligence a standard deviation below normal human intelligence or more but still clearly human in intelligence or a relatively young human. This would also be the intelligence of races that are meant to be dumber than humans by a notable degree but are still clearlpy sapient and can communicate with them like stereotypical fantasy orcs or goblins.
-Average: Intelligence is within the normal bounds for a human
-Above Average/Clever: Intelligence is a standard deviation above normal human intelligence.In Scientific Intelligence this is a character who is as smart as a normal person working in the scientific fields. In Social Intelligence this would be a character who is as smart as someone working in a field requiring social interaction like a salesman or diplomat. In Tactical Intelligence this would be someone who has to engage in broad problem solving and tactical thinking like a chess pro or a police chief. Someone who is Above Average overall is someone who has the intellectual capacity to perform any of these jobs if they tried.
-Brilliant: Intelligence is two standard deviations above the average and their intelligence is very noticeable, which would be the top 2.5% of humans in the real world. This would be similar to the above except instead of a normal example of each profession, the character would be more akin to a highly qualified and impressive member of the above.
-Genius/Realistic Genius: Intelligence is three standard deviations or more above the average, or the top 0.13% of humans in the real world, and would be equivalent to the smartest people in a region. Similar to the above, this would be people who are considered some of the best in a region in their field of intelligence or in overall intelligence.
-Unrealistic Genius/Peak Human/Low Superhuman: Intelligence is five or more standard deviations above the average (1 in a Million) and would be equivalent to some of the smartest people in the world. Some feats of intelligence in the real world sound absolutely made up and what is and isn't peak human vs superhuman in intelligence is very unclear particularly when human intelligence can be easily exaggerated for fictional purposes, so this tier is used for this sort of broad level.
Superhuman:
-Type 1 Intelligence: Type 1 Intelligences are characters who would be one of the smartest people in a Kardashev 1 Civilization (Planetary to Inter-Planetary.) In Scientific Intelligence these are characters that can create the technology one might expect of a Kardashev 1 Civilization. In Social Intelligence these are characters that are some of the best manipulators in a Type 1 Civilization or can manipulate a Planet to Multiple Planets of realistic humans. In Tactical Intelligence these are characters that are some of the best tacticians in a planetary to inter-planetary populace, or can match the best commanders of such in a tactical challenge. Someone with overall Type 1 Intelligence can hypothetically do all three and/or can process the raw information of an entire planet.
-Type 2 Intelligence: As above but instead with a Kardashev Type 2 (Stellar to Interstellar) Civilization and/or can process the information of a stellar body or system.
-Type 3 Intelligence: As above but instead with a Kardashev Type 3 (Galactic to Intergalactic) Civilization and/or can process the information of a galaxy.
-Type 4 Intelligence: As above but instead with a Kardashev Type 4 (Universal to Interuniversal) Civilization and/or can process the information of a universe.
-Type 5 Intelligence: As above but instead with a Kardashev Type 5 (Multiversal) Civilization and/or can process infinite information.
Whether it makes sense to talk about higher is questionable as at some part it's arguably not intelligence so much as a form of cosmic awareness. If knowledge of all things that will ever happen knowledge or precognition? If I was to go higher it would be something like
Metaphysically Infinite: Can process a higher "metaphysical" infinite amount of information.
Conceptually Infinite: Can process a conceptually infinite amount of information
Metaconceptually Infinite: The character's intelligence is treated as above "concepts" but still limited in some regard.
Absolute Intelligence: Character's intelligence is treated as being at one with the ultimate nature of being.
Skill:
Skills obviously have a lot of overlap with intelligence but to me skills seem to be more specific and tend to be more physical as well as measured in a different way. The most commonly used Skill in Combat would obviously be Combat Skill, one's proficiency at fighting. While skills could be ranked in different ways, the way I categorized skill was deliberately designed to be applicable to any skill that might be used.
F Tier: Superhumanly Unskilled Tier: Characters that are poor at a skill to a degree beyond what humans could be.
Low F Tier: Conceptually Unskilled: The Character is unskilled on a conceptual level. For Combat Skill this would be for instance a character who is the concept of losing battles.
Mid F Tier: Vastly Superhumanly Unskilled: The Character performs feats that are cartoonishly or cosmically bad at the skill. For combat skill this would be a character who somehow accidentally knocks out their own army.
High F Tier: Mildly Superhumanly Unskilled: The Character performs feats that are superhumanly bad at the skill but not to a massively dramatic degree. A Character who fights like they're drunk would be an example.
D Tier: Unskilled Tier: The Tier of Normal Humans, Characters who are not proficient at the Skill in particular.
Low D Tier: Below Average: Characters who are below the average human at the skill but still within the general human range. For Combat Skill for instance, a character who's noticably clumsy would be here.
Mid D Tier: Average: The Skill Level of Average Humans.
High D Tier: Above Average: Equivalent to 1-10 Hours of Experience, these are for characters with some basic knowledge of the skill, a natural talent for the skill, or a lot of experience with a skill that is somewhat transferable. For instance, a Professional Athlete might not have any combat experience but would have a lot of experience knowing how to best maneuver his or her body.
C Tier: Proficient Tier: The Tier of Humans who are Proficient at the Skill.
Low C Tier: Equivalent to 10-100 Hours of Experience. Amateurs and Rookies at a skill on a professional level. Characters that can make some money at their skill but not a living. For Combat Skill, this would be soldiers who have gone through basic training or something like a militia town guard.
Mid C Tier: Equivalent to 100-1,000 Hours of Experience. Professional Tier characters who can make a living from their skill. For Combat Skill, this would be professional warriors and soldiers.
High C Tier: Equivalent to 1,000-10,000 Hours of Experience. Elite Tier characters who are considered a tier above normal C Tier characters. For Combat Skill, this would be equivalent to special forces and elite warriors.
B Tier: Master Tier: Characters that are masters at the skill and would be considered some of the best
Low B Tier: Equivalent to 10,000 Hours to 100,000 Hours of Experience. Characters who are considered masters of a skill and one of the best in a region.
Mid B Tier: Equivalent to 100,000-1,000,000 Hours of Experience. Grandmasters of a skill who are considered some of the best in the world with a lifetime devoted to the skill.
High B Tier: Unrealistic/Exaggerated Skill Tier. The feats of the greatest fighters who have lived sound like fiction and so it's not really clear what the boundary of skill for a human is. This would be the Skill of the best fighters in history or the skill of the best fighters in a Type 1 Civilization (Planetary to Interplanetary), which could have a similar population to the number of humans who have ever lived. While these people typically both have a lifetime of practice and huge natural talent, I also think this is where characters with Millions of Hours or Hundreds of Years of Experience even without natural talent would get to if they're an immortal or superhumanly long-aged character.
A Tier: Superhumanly Skilled Tier: Characters that are superhumanly good or are beyond the capacities modern day humans with our understanding of various skills could get too.
Low A Tier: Equivalent to Thousands of Years of Experience. Demonstrates Superhuman Feats of Skill (Examples: Physically beating someone multiple times as big, strong, and fast as you, defeating multiple opponents with your exact powers and abilities at once, etc.) The Best in a Type 2 (Stellar to Interstellar) Civilization.
Mid A Tier: Equivalent to Millions of Years of Experience. Demonstrates Dramatically or Comically Superhuman Feats of Skill (Examples: Physically beating someone orders of magnitude stronger and faster than you, fighting an army with greater capabilities than you, etc.) The Best in a Type 3 (Galactic to Intergalactic) Civilization.
High A Tier: Equivalent to Billions of Years of Experience or more. Demonstrates Cosmic Feats of Skill (Examples: Physically beating someone cosmically stronger and faster than you, defeating a planet of creatures with greater capabilities than you, etc.) The best in a Type 4 (Universal to Interuniversal) Civilization
S Tier: Transcendent/Infinitely Skilled Tier: Characters that are infinitely skilled
Low S Tier: Character is infinitely skilled. The most skilled in a Type 5 Civilization (Multiversal.) Can perform literally impossible feats via sheer skill (For Chess Skill for instance this would be something like checkmating with just a King and Knight which is impossible in Chess. For Combat Skill this would be characters that are basically so skilled at fighting it gives them abilities like non-physical interaction or flight even when that isn't something the powers would naturally or logically entail)
Mid S Tier: Character is metaphysically skilled. Character's skill can effect higher planes of reality that are more fundamental than the physical through sheer skill.
High S Tier: Character is conceptually skilled. This would include characters who are the literal concepts of things like warfare or martial arts and the like or characters that scale to them in skill.
I deliberately tried to make this so it could apply to any skill, though some skills like stealth are usually moreso judged by other stats than the skill itself. Stealth for instance is very often measured by how good sensory range of other characters or objects that the stealth user was able to avoid. That said I think especially when you get higher up, it does look similar to combat skill in how it could be assessed.
Endurance:
Probably the hardest stat here to quantify as it's several different stats: stamina, pain resistance, injury resistance, and willpower) that are all sort of correlated but different. These are rather hard to quantify, especially willpower, so the categories I would have for Endurance and for each individual category would be like
Subhuman: For characters who have endurance below that of a human
Low Human: For characters who have endurance on the lower end for a human
Average Human: For characters who have endurance around that of an average human
High Human: For characters who have endurance on the upper end for a human
Superhuman: For characters who have endurance that is beyond what a human could realistically have
Infinite: For characters whose endurance qualities are infinite.
I think you could maybe divide superhuman into Low Superhuman and High Superhuman as feats like "fought for two days" feel like a different category than "fought for 1,000 years straight" but the border would be very vague.
Strength?
Strength is weird in that the part of strength that's actually useful in a fight is the part that overlaps with attack potency and the other aspects of strength are less useful than even the secondary stats mentioned above.
Strength, talking about arm strength usually, is divided usually into lifting strength and striking strength, the former in real life being determined by the mass of one's muscles and the latter by the kinetic energy of the fist moving at a speed. So it's possible in real life to have wonky striking strength to lifting strength ratios if the character is really bulky but for some reason moves really slow or not very bulky but moving quickly though for obvious reasons the two tend to be correlated a lot similar to the parts of Endurance.
Striking Strength is basically just one form of Attack Potency. Lifting Strength is measured in weight and goes up to infinite where it just merges with the the attack potency form of strength
Obviously, I'm not suggesting anyone should definitely use my criteria for assessing these other stats, this is just how I try to compare characters and I hope it gave some ideas on how you can organize them if you are trying to figure out how to.
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