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Old 08-24-2018, 07:19 AM   #13
whswhs
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
Default Re: Gods and Demigods - not really that smart

Quote:
Originally Posted by tanksoldier View Post
Thor isn't stupid... but he is overconfident.

Ares isn't stupid, but he does have Bloodlust and is arguably Cowardly.

Tyr isn't stupid... but he is Honest, Truthful, has a Code of Honor and is One Handed.

I would argue that for most demi-gods of myth stats closer to the human norm are appropriate. There's no indication that Perseus, Achilles, etc are completely beyond the realm of human ability.

Lesser gods or average gods not known for trickery or wisdom might have IQ 16... Thor for example... still subject to critical failures.

An average god or lesser god known for wisdom or guile might have IQ 18, no failure on a normal roll without some disadvantage in play. Freyja, is a lesser god known for her guile and insight. Helios, the all seeing, fits here.

A greater god, or an average god known for wisdom and insight might have IQ 20-22. Athena, for example is a middling god but known for education, wisdom and battle tactics. Loki fits here, known for his trickery.

A greater god known for wisdom, insight or foreknowledge would be 24-26-ish. Odin, Zeus, Tyr all fit here.
That seems like an appeal to your own assumptions about what gods ought to be like, more than an appeal to how the gods actually act. I've read quite a number of versions of the Norse myths, for example, and they seem consistently to portray a Thor who's nowhere near IQ 16; "not known for trickery or wisdom" is an understatement. What incidents from legend show Thor doing things as smart as an IQ 16 human would, or Freyja being at IQ 18, rather than their being at IQ 8-9 and 10-12, respectively?

Quote:
However, I think the best course is not to stat up gods at all. Any true god is so far above mortals that giving them stats is pointless and even counter productive.

Why would you quantify divinity?
It depends on what kind of story you're modeling. There are all those legends where Thor's the Big Guy and Loki's the Smart Guy, and they're like a couple of men going out and getting into trouble. And there's Hermes stealing the cattle of the sun, or Apollo pursuing Daphne and not catching her, or Athena's weaving contest with Arachne. All of those have the gods as very human-seeming characters. Whether or not you put numbers onto them, you're envisioning them on a human scale when you tell such stories.
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