01-16-2021, 10:10 AM | #11 |
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
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Re: Meaning of stats compared to real world
Remember that GURPS is not a reality simulator.
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“When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love ...” Marcus Aurelius |
01-16-2021, 10:23 AM | #12 | |
On Notice
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Sumter, SC
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Re: Meaning of stats compared to real world
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So for a human on a 3d6 curve, one standard deviation would cover the 8 to 12 range, two gets you the 5 to 15 range and three covers 2 to 17. Assuming normal distribution only 14.5% will be in the 12 to 15 range and only 0.5% in the 15 to 17 range.
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01-16-2021, 10:40 AM | #13 | |
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Kentucky, USA
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Re: Meaning of stats compared to real world
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GURPS Fanzine The Path of Cunning is worth a read. |
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01-16-2021, 11:03 AM | #14 |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: Meaning of stats compared to real world
I want to note that the "standard deviation" for a 3d roll (approximately 2.96) and the standard deviation of GURPS stats (ST, DX, IQ, HT, Will, Per) need not have anything to do with each other. "You are in the top 2% of the human population on this characteristic" and "you succeed 98% of the time on tasks for which this characteristic is the only important relevant factor" need not have any connection with each other. And for the first, in any case, GURPS stats are not randomly rolled, so there is, for example, effectively no chance that a GURPS character will have IQ 4 (whereas if IQ were randomly rolled, about 2% of the population would have that).
One of the defects of the GURPS treatment of stats, skills, and defaults is that for IQ up to 20, skills mostly default to between 14 and 16, which really doesn't seem very plausible (and likewise for other stats up to 20). I suppose you could imagine that IQ 20 means you are not merely natively bright, but (unless you are Uneducated) you have had a comprehensive education in all knowledges, skills, and professions, from which you have profited fully (see R.A. Lafferty's "Primary Education among the Camiroi" for what this might be like). But I'm going to say that if I wanted a more realistic treatment, I would start by saying that your skill defaults were not affected by raising any stat above 16. That way, a really smart person could play a game at skill-12, practice most occupations at skill-11, and have knowledge of the sciences at skill-10, which is at least marginally believable for a few people (take for example John von Neumann, a mathematician and physicist who wandered into economics a couple of times and achieved significant results, including inventing game theory).
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Bill Stoddard I don't think we're in Oz any more. |
01-16-2021, 11:05 AM | #15 | |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: Meaning of stats compared to real world
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This would make Talents a lot more worthwhile.
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Bill Stoddard I don't think we're in Oz any more. |
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01-16-2021, 12:05 PM | #16 | ||
Night Watchman
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
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Re: Meaning of stats compared to real world
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The Path of Cunning. Indexes: DFRPG Characters, Advantage of the Week, Disadvantage of the Week, Skill of the Week, Techniques. |
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01-16-2021, 12:13 PM | #17 | |
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Kentucky, USA
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Re: Meaning of stats compared to real world
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GURPS Fanzine The Path of Cunning is worth a read. |
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01-16-2021, 04:18 PM | #18 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Wellington, NZ
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Re: Meaning of stats compared to real world
If you want IQ20 (and DX20) to have sane defaults without completely destroying the defaults of the IQ10 average, there's Doug Cole's By Default (Pyramid 3-65). In essence, you substitute IQ/2+5 for IQ when calculating defaults and skill levels.
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Rupert Boleyn "A pessimist is an optimist with a sense of history." |
01-16-2021, 06:54 PM | #19 |
Join Date: Feb 2016
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Re: Meaning of stats compared to real world
I really have no issues with someone with a 20 having defaults at 13-16. They spent 200 CP for the privilege. You could purchase Independent Income 5, Status 7, and Multimillionaire 5 for the same amount of CP. While IQ 20 is great, earning $10 billion/month is probably more fun, especially since you could probably hire the IQ 20 individual as your advisor for an inconsequential $10 million/month.
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01-16-2021, 08:35 PM | #20 | |
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Denver, CO
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Re: Meaning of stats compared to real world
Quote:
Also, your thought of hiring the IQ20 person presumes that they exist in the world. Now, in a semi-realistic DF setting, sure. In even a low-power supers game where we have tinkers creating super-suits, sure. But not in the real world. |
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