[Otaku]

Thanks for the Link, Celjabba. It made me realize that would be a good section to include in the initial post, so that is just what I did. ;)

ericthered reminded me I had some thoughts to share about intuition myself. I don't like putting them in the initial post because it can stifle discussion instead of promoting it. I wrote it up ahead of time though, and so if it seems a bit disconnected, or I didn't notice someone already answered, please let me know.

I like how these traits allow a player to assume a role that is at least somewhat unnatural, even counterintuitive to his or herself. However, I will risk seeming overly negative to share my concerns and even criticisms of the traits, because I believe they can be made better. Both traits seem a little redundant over how I am used to handling IQ in general; of course that can be written off as “house rules” and my own fault, but it was writing this that made me realize some of my past GMs (and myself) had gone above and beyond. When a PC is more levelheaded or clever than the actual player, I find it natural for the GM to roll against the character’s IQ to see if it avoids doing something stupid, much like I expect the GM to roll against Per to spot something. These circumstances are not identical as the player does not (usually) see the game world as the character does, but it is not entirely dissimilar either; the player may have agency to make decisions, but the character’s actual build determines not only what it is capable of doing, but what it is likely to do. To facilitate gameplay, I would also sometimes roll against IQ to just inform the player that his or her character just figured something out.

Common Sense and Intuition go beyond such things, but this house rule would make them less of a bargain. Actually, even without the house rule, Common Sense seems like it out to be in Perk territory. Unless a player is so clueless or intentionally disruptive as to need such assistance frequently each session, this seems quite in line with Perks. The text on p. B100 states “A Perk can provide a modest bonus (up to +2) to an attribute, skill, or reaction roll in relatively rare circumstances.” Please contemplate Common Sense as a Leveled Perk. Each level would provide a +1 (maybe a +2) bonus to rolls made so that your character does not do something blatantly stupid. What if a player is making the GM roll against Common Sense quite often? That seems like less of a rule issue and more of group dynamic issue. The player and GM may not be properly communicating, the player may be trolling the GM, the player may not be very bright, or some combination of these things… but dinging them an extra 15 CP so the GM can hold that player’s hand just doesn’t sit well with me.

With both Common Sense and Intuition, I also question having the default option be to roll against IQ. Yes, it means these traits are useful for ensuring your smart (high GURPS IQ) character behaves as such, but a trait that allows a character to avoid doing really stupid things or instinctively figure things out to do just that regardless of player or PC intelligence. One of the alternate 3e rules that became the norm for 4e was how certain Disadvantages have a Self Control Number. Instead of rolling against just straight IQ or Will to see whether a character succumbs to a Disadvantage, the roll is instead against the Self Control Number. This means a character can struggle more or less with such a trait instead of (for example) being equally Greedy, Lecherous, etc. It also means a character with a high IQ or Will can still struggle with such a Disadvantage instead of having an easy time resisting it.

It just seems like a good option for many mental traits; has it (or something like it) shown up as an official alternate rule anywhere?