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Old 09-15-2019, 02:37 AM   #46
Andreas
 
Join Date: Mar 2014
Default Re: Maximum Attributes for Real World People

Quote:
Originally Posted by whswhs View Post
GURPS already cuts off default increase at IQ or DX 20, which is just as arbitrary. Of course the rationale is that 20 is the upper limit of realistic human ability. But if you allow defaults from 20, you have an IQ 20 character with Games (Chess)-16 and Mathematics (Pure)-14, for example, without needing more than casual exposure to them through general education. It's hard to justify that as "realistic."

The alternate rule I propose is designed to be used in campaigns about realistic human characters who really ARE realistic.
Yes, but with a different fix for defaults, you can just scrap the rule of 20. The alternative of instead lowering it to 16 makes the problem worse (while it is true that 16 is an equally arbitrary number, it would affect more characters).

Even in some campaigns with such realistic human characters, there will be other characters who have superhuman abilities.
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