Quote:
Originally Posted by Fred Brackin
The dividing line might be sponges which are animals with absolutely no nervous system. On the other side of the line might be several microscopic things that nonetheless do have simple neural nets.
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A few years back, I tried to figure out how animals rank in GURPS IQ terms and found myself making similar distinctions.
I found it useful to separate IQ 0 (no volitional mental activity whatsoever) from IQ 0.25 (minimal neural nets, instinctive responses), from IQ 0.5 (simple brains, potentially complex instinctive behaviors and simple situational capacity for learning or problem solving).
IQ 0 implies Unfazeable, Indomitable, and Immunity (Mind Control) for living beings or else a completely unliving/inanimate entity with their own sets of problems. Creatures at this level are no smarter than simple computers with no self-awareness. (OTH, if you insist on playing a rock or simple tool as a PC, you would have to buy all the traits listed above. Because "you get what you pay for" in GURPS.)
IQ 0.25-0.5 implies basic emotions (e.g., anger, fear), susceptibility to external manipulation, and possibly limited self-awareness. They might lack the advantages listed above, but will typically have reasonable Per and Will scores. Some species might have a collective or "emergent" intelligence which goes as high as IQ 2-3.
Functionally, it's all IQ 0 but the GM needs to make some design choices based on actual cognitive ability.