ADHD in Gurps?

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by GilliganIII

Okay, so I've been thinking that ADD could result in a great Warrior or Hunter type.

No, it's pretty much terrible for either. Both activities involve long periods of boredom punctuated by unpredictable periods of intense activity, and thus an essential skill is the ability to remain alert but passive. ADD is pretty much the inability to do that essential thing.

[sir_pudding]

It is true that the DDR4 mutation is both recent and widespread, which indicates that it probably wasn't maladaptive for early humans.

My own experience is that my ADHD wasn't especially limiting in an actual combat environment. I had my usual problems on the FoB, but once we crossed the wire I was the most focused and centered I have ever been in my life. So alterness to a chaotic environment that is probably trying to kill you isn't boring, IMO.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Delusion (There are upsides to ADHD) [-5]

That is an annoying meme that's growing. Everyone that's not "neuro-typical" must have special powers as compensation.

It's like how my legally blind friend thinks her lack of one sense gives her more acute hearing and olfaction. It does not.

[AlexanderHowl]

Well, completely blind people often develop superior hearing as a compensation (the vision centers in the brain literally rewire to help with information from other senses). If you are just legally blind though, it is not the same thing.

I think that the meme comes from the fact that geniuses are not neuro-typical (geniuses by definition are not neuro-typical). That does not mean, however, that all people who are not neuro-typical are geniuses, it is just that they have a wider range of intelligence (low and high) than neuro-typical people (since being outside of neuro-typical includes tens of thousands of conditions and traits, many of which are caused by nutritional deficiencies). For example, severe vitamin B12 deficiency cause neurological damage and psychosis.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

Well, completely blind people often develop superior hearing as a compensation.

It's not really compensation, it's just that the brain tends to focus development on things that are used more, so if you're more reliant on hearing than normal, there will probably be more development (also development in unusual ways; humans are capable of rudimentary echolocation but don't normally practice it much).

[Flyndaran]

She should be using her cane. That's how near blind she is, and has been since birth.
But in Gurps terms, it may work as a background reason for buying a still fully human level of acute senses. It's not a change in "species" template as how many laymen pretend it is.

[AlexanderHowl]

It would not be unreasonable for a blind character to have Per 20.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

It would not be unreasonable for a blind character to have Per 20.

In Supers?

No.

In a game set in the real world... well, yes, it would be unreasonable.

[AlexanderHowl]

Why? Per 20 is technically realistic by RAW.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

Why? Per 20 is technically realistic by RAW.

Because Attributes (other than ST) higher than 14-15 play havoc with the bell curve and 16+ is more standard deviations above the norm than has ever existed in the real world.

Per 20 is Marvel's Daredevil, not a human. On the other hand, it might also describe Sherlock Holmes, who essentially never fails a Per-based roll, no matter the penalties, except as part of Quick Contests against legendary foes who have Acting, Disguise or another appropriate skill at some stratospheric level.

GURPS lists things as 'realistic', sometimes, when what is meant is 'can be used to emulate some fictional heroes their creators pretended lived in a non-supernatural world and have this trait merely as the result of training or genetics', as opposed to superpowers acknowledged as such in the setting.