Children - Appropriate Traits?

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by Pursuivant

I agree.

Not to push the character template that I posted earlier in this thread, but I did a fair bit of research into child psychology and physiology when I developed my house rule child templates.

Obviously, I got some things wrong in terms of game mechanics, but I tried to not to load the template up with popular conceptions of what kids can and can't do.

One thing that I didn't add to my templates, which arguably should be there, is high - or at least average - Perception scores. Kids are very good at observing their environments, particularly the actions of adults around them.

Unless they're trained to observe their surroundings, or never lose the habit of being critical observers, adults simplify their lives by using all sorts of stereotypes and by selectively ignoring things that aren't important. Kids tend not to do that - at least initially.

Additionally, the Imaginative Quirk is very common, since kids are still learning how the world works. They often make mistakes or false assumptions when trying to "fit the pieces together" (e.g., a small child being confused as to the gender of a man with long hair or a woman with very short hair), but sometimes their mistakes are funny, and very occasionally they're inspired.

The combination of decent Perception scores plus Imaginative can make a child remarkably shrewd in certain ways.



Selfish isn't a bad way to characterize the self-indulgent, hormone-driven, boundary-testing behavior of some tweens and teens as they establish a sense of autonomy from their parents. The alternative disad is, of course, Odious Personal Habit (Teenager).

Likewise, your stereotypical spoiled brat kid might have Selfish as a disadvantage.



Curious is just about required for any pre-schooler. That's the stage where the kid puts just about anything in his/her mouth, opens cupboards, touches the stove to see if it's still hot, and so forth. Combined with low IQ (due to lack of experience) and other mental disads, it means that a small child can easily become a danger to himself.

Older kids are gradually trained not to be Curious by industrial schooling and aggrieved parents, but they're still prone to doing stupid things like pouring dish soap into the dog's water bowl to see what happens, shaving their heads to see how the electric shaver works, playing with matches, etc. More tragically, you have incidents where curious kid gets into daddy's guns or decides to explore the old abandoned mine.

I often think it charming when a child wanders off exploring in a mall and wonder what he or she will be when they grow up. On the other hand I am not responsible for taking care of them. One time when it was almost a disaster I saw a child wandering the sidewalk without their parents. Fortunately I knew the local Seven-eleven manager and I herded him inside and asked him to call the police.

[The Colonel]

Originally Posted by Bruno

Doesn't really explain the yelling part. She really throws her entire body into it. Could certainly include a scent component, but this cat is more a "taster" - I have come home to find her licking the window. The door. The wall. The staircase. The staircase banister. My computer screen. My husbands pillow (until it gets very wet) etc.

I'd say that underlines the scent thing given the link between smell and taste - the same way that dogs preferentially chew shoes and what have you because they are loaded with their owner's scent. But yes, the yelling is odd.

[Astromancer]

Silence and visibility.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by The Colonel

I'd say that underlines the scent thing given the link between smell and taste - the same way that dogs preferentially chew shoes and what have you because they are loaded with their owner's scent. But yes, the yelling is odd.

Smelling and taste are linked in humans, but not all animals. In mice, for example, scent and hearing are linked. In pit vipers, thermal sense and vision are linked.
I don't know if any studies proved dogs or cats had linked senses or which ones they'd be.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Smelling and taste are linked in humans, but not all animals. In mice, for example, scent and hearing are linked. In pit vipers, thermal sense and vision are linked.
I don't know if any studies proved dogs or cats had linked senses or which ones they'd be.

What does "linked" mean, and what's the evidence for linkage? Behavioral, anatomical, neuroimaging?

[Flyndaran]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smound for the mice.
I'm having trouble re-finding the articles I read on how snakes' brains use the vision section to interpret and integrate thermal image sensations.