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There are several rules in the game that give you bonuses to Strength checks made to lift objects. Some examples:
ARCANE DISCOVERY
ADVENTURING GEAR
However, nowhere can I find a rule that says you must make a Strength check to pick something up. Instead, it always comes down to a yes/no proposition based on your encumbrance rating.
Where and when could I actually take advantage of things like the above? There has got to be something somewhere in the rules.
There is at least one instance of a strength check to lift an object - lifting a portcullis.
Portcullises: These special doors consist of iron or thick, ironbound wooden shafts that descend from recesses in the ceilings above archways. Sometimes a portcullis has crossbars that create a grid, sometimes not. Typically raised by means of a winch or a capstan, a portcullis can be dropped quickly, and the shafts end in spikes to discourage anyone from standing underneath (or from attempting to dive under it as it drops). Once it is dropped, a portcullis locks, unless it is so large that no normal person could lift it anyway. In any event, lifting a typical portcullis requires a DC 25 Strength check.
Look at the bottom of this. It's from the section on ability scores.
Strength (Str)
See Carrying Capacity for details on lifting and dragging.
Strength measures muscle and physical power. This ability is important for those who engage in hand-to-hand (or “melee”) combat, such as fighters, monks, paladins, and some rangers. Strength also sets the maximum amount of weight your character can carry.
A character with a Strength score of 0 is too weak to move in any way and is unconscious. Some creatures (such as incorporeal creatures) do not possess a Strength score and have no modifier at all to Strength-based skills or checks.
You apply your character's Strength modifier to:
Melee attack rolls.
Damage rolls when using a melee weapon or a thrown weapon, including a sling. (Exceptions: Off-hand attacks receive only half the character's Strength bonus, while two-handed attacks receive 1–1/2 times the Strength bonus. A Strength penalty, but not a bonus, applies to attacks made with a bow that is not a composite bow.)
Climb and Swim checks.
Strength checks (for breaking down doors and the like).
GM sets the DC. Basically, you set it above 20 if you don't want a "normal" person to be able to accidentally succeed by rolling really well. Manacles with a break DC of 25 require someone with immense strength, and that person has to spend enough time trying to roll high on a d20. Setting it at 12-15 means anyone can do it, but some people accomplish it in less time. Same guidelines apply for lifting, dragging, pushing, etc. I would use the encumbrance max lifting weight when the party has time to do the job right, but in the heat of battle I think a quick Strength check is appropriate. Look up "damaging objects". Ability checks are barely covered in the rules. We can mostly just infer things from what is mentioned here and there. I believe that when the rules when written (or re-written in the case of PF), it was assumed that the players would already know how to use them.
A break DC is not the same things as a lift DC, Barnes.
A break DC is not the same things as a lift DC, Barnes.
Why lift if you can break it.
Once I got my Girdle of Storm Giant Strength I had a 95% chance to bend bars or lift gates. Does that count?
I don't think there is a STR check for lifting (in general). There is for a portcullis but that might be the only thing there is a "check" to lift.
I think the simplest way to handle this is to take the bonus of the spell/item/feat/ability and treat it as a bonus to the character's STR but only in regards to calculating his maximum lift. So a STR 10 character using a block and tackle can lift things as if his STR were 15 instead of 10.
That's not RAW, but I don't think there actually is any RAW here. Which is probably good since randomly rolling to see what a person can lift makes no sense. I try to lift it. Success. I try again. Fail. Fail. Fail. Success. Fail. Success. Success. Fail. Fail. Success...
Those probably work along the same lines as Muleback Cords, just add them to the specific encumbrance section, i don't think theres a check.
Nice catch RD, could the be the new "prone shooter"?
I've seen the occasional in-game Strength Check for lifting particularly heavy objects.
The general rule of thumb seems to be that anything your character could normally be expected to lift can be lifted without difficulty. When it's an explicit challenge - say, lifting a wagon out of a muddy road - then you make checks.
What is the DC for those checks?
Answer: whatever the GM (or author) wants, because there are no rules for it, not even guidelines. One GM might think the appropriate STR check to lift that wagon is a DC 18, another might think it's a 25, and a third might think it's a 30 because it can only be done with lot's of guys effectively aiding-another. And each of those GMs is correct, because the RAW is silent on it.
While a character rarely rolls a check using just an ability score...
I guess the game developers took that line to heart: it's so rare we don't even need rules for it.
Yeah, Frog God is very much old-school. I'm running their Sword of Air campaign right now.
The problem is that how much you can lift is determined by your strength score and there are specific amount as what you can lift and drag. You can lift overhead your maximum heavy load, and you can drag double that.
The problem is further that the ability is written as though it assume strength checks to lift.
But what if it's "you add your intelligence to (strength checks to break) or lift objects".
I mean, that doesn't really seem to be written correctly but, it's the only way that makes some sense.
Add your int to your strength score to determine how much you can lift. That seems like the simple solution.
The problem is that how much you can lift is determined by your strength score and there are specific amount as what you can lift and drag. You can lift overhead your maximum heavy load, and you can drag double that.
You can generally push or drag FIVE times your max load, not double. You're correct about lifting your max load over your head, but it's worth noting that you can also lift double your max load off the ground (though you can only stagger about with it).
Maybe you got the lift/stagger and drag rules confused?
I mean how much you can drag isn't really salient to my overall point. Whether it's 2 times or much or 5 times as much doesn't really matter.
At no point do you ever roll to determine what you can carry/move.
The only sensible way to adjudicate this would be to increase your effective strength by your int to determine your carrying capacity.
I like that interpretation; it even fits in with another example, everyone's favourite Masterwork Backpack. Isn't that the whole point of a block and tackle anyway?
Depending on the circumstance, it might be worth considering the max amount that can be lifted to be the Take 10 score with every number above or below to be some amount more or less. It could be relevant in a weight lifting contest or to move a barrier where every round counts e.g a chase.
A break DC is not the same things as a lift DC, Barnes.
Break DCs are the most relevant thing I could find, but the same general rules would still apply. Simple lifts would be 5 - 10. 15 is tough. More than 20 would be impossible for most people. You're not going to find defined DCs in the rules because they aren't there. Last year I compliment a list of every mention of ability checks I could find in the PFSRD. Although it's a big list, there isn't even a paragraph anywhere (that I could find) providing general rules for all ability checks. You'll have to infer from the mentions scattered throughout the rules.
I suspect it is an inadvertent carryover from older editions when percentiles were used for bend bars/lift gates...