Quote:
Originally Posted by vicky_molokh
Familiarity penalties can easily be as brutal as -6, making those level 15 defaults into level 9s.
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True enough, but even with those, I'd argue that even the most impressive polymath in real history would not qualify for IQ 20. The problem isn't just with defaults, it is also how easily skills can be learnt. In just a month or so of study, an IQ 20 character can become one of the best in the world at any mental skill he chooses.
High IQ
is realistic for certain gifted individuals in history. Caesar and Napoleon, for example, were geniuses in multiple areas, even going so far as to surpass professionals after only minimal learning time in areas as diverse as religious esoteria, poetry, lawmaking and city planning. But they can still be represented with IQ 13-16, as well as perhaps appropriate Talents*.
It isn't automatically implausible for very quick-thinking, intuitive person with excellent memories and judgment to master an IQ skill at a professional level in just the short time it takes to shed the unfamiliarity penalties that apply to a given task. As it happens, there is an enormous variation in real-world problem-solving ability, learning speed and judgment, even more so than in the somewhat limited subset of intelligence that Intelligence Quotients measure. But except in cinematic universes, that variation doesn't extend quite up to IQ 20.
*Especially for Napoleon, who was broadly competent and inspired, but clearly even better at such skills as Administration, Leadership, Strategy, Tactics, etc. than he was at IQ-skill in general.