Talents from Attributes Other Than IQ

David Bofinger · 05-01-2018, 06:03 AM

I thought about this the other day and it seems to me the problem is that you need too high an IQ to make enough IQ talent points for an experienced character. So what if the rules were something like this:

Each talent requires one or more talent points of one or more types: ST, DX and IQ.
The character's ST talent points are equal to its ST less 6.
The character's DX talent points are equal to its DX less 6.
The character's IQ talent points are equal to IQ, less 7, tripled.

and maybe also:

Instead of a ST talent point a character can spend two DX talent points.
Instead of a DX talent point a character can spend two ST talent points.

Then running through my examples:

The ST13/DX11/IQ8 swordsman has spent 7-3-2 talent points of an allocation of 7-5-3. So still OK.
The experienced thief can be generated on ST8/DX14/IQ10 which is perhaps a little generous but not absurd.
The Australian Aboriginal hunter-gatherer can be built on ST8/DX12/IQ10 which doesn't seem absurd, he'll need more ST than that to use some of his weapons and maybe the minimum DX is a little high but it's not crazy. Using the optional rules he might be ST11/DX11/IQ10 which sounds fine.
Conan the Cimmerian can be built on ST 25/DX 21/IQ 16 which sounds pretty reasonable.
A rough stab at Fafhrd - Ax/Mace (200), Knife (010), Sword (110), Boating (100), Horsemanship (001), Literacy (001), Seamanship (100), Sex Appeal (101), Swimming (100), Acute Hearing (003), Alertness (002), Charisma (111), Climbing (100), Missile Weapons (021), Recognize Value (001), Warrior (110), Veteran (120), Fencing (021), Naturalist (002), Tracking (001), Unarmed Combat I (200), Expert Horseman (002), Woodsman (001), Unarmed Combat II (110) - comes out at ST20/DX17/IQ13. This seems reasonable.
A rough stab at Grey Mouser - Bow (120), Knife (010), Sword (110), Languages (001), Literacy (001), Running (200), Sex Appeal (101), Swimming (100), Acute Hearing (003), Alertness (002), Charisma (111), Detect Traps (002), Missile Weapons (021), Recognize Value (001), Silent Movement (020), Warrior (110), Veteran (120), Acrobatics (120), Fencing (021), Remove Traps (010), Sleight of Hand(020), Thief (020), Unarmed Combat I (200), Courtly Graces (001), Master Thief (011), a couple of spells (002) - comes out ST18/DX28/IQ14. That's too high, but some of the talents are debatable.

All in all this seems to work reasonably well. I think it would require play-testing to know if it was fun.

05-01-2018, 06:03 AM	#16
David Bofinger Join Date: Jan 2018 Location: Sydney, Australia	Re: Talents from Attributes Other Than IQ I thought about this the other day and it seems to me the problem is that you need too high an IQ to make enough IQ talent points for an experienced character. So what if the rules were something like this: Each talent requires one or more talent points of one or more types: ST, DX and IQ. The character's ST talent points are equal to its ST less 6. The character's DX talent points are equal to its DX less 6. The character's IQ talent points are equal to IQ, less 7, tripled. and maybe also: Instead of a ST talent point a character can spend two DX talent points. Instead of a DX talent point a character can spend two ST talent points. Then running through my examples: The ST13/DX11/IQ8 swordsman has spent 7-3-2 talent points of an allocation of 7-5-3. So still OK. The experienced thief can be generated on ST8/DX14/IQ10 which is perhaps a little generous but not absurd. The Australian Aboriginal hunter-gatherer can be built on ST8/DX12/IQ10 which doesn't seem absurd, he'll need more ST than that to use some of his weapons and maybe the minimum DX is a little high but it's not crazy. Using the optional rules he might be ST11/DX11/IQ10 which sounds fine. Conan the Cimmerian can be built on ST 25/DX 21/IQ 16 which sounds pretty reasonable. A rough stab at Fafhrd - Ax/Mace (200), Knife (010), Sword (110), Boating (100), Horsemanship (001), Literacy (001), Seamanship (100), Sex Appeal (101), Swimming (100), Acute Hearing (003), Alertness (002), Charisma (111), Climbing (100), Missile Weapons (021), Recognize Value (001), Warrior (110), Veteran (120), Fencing (021), Naturalist (002), Tracking (001), Unarmed Combat I (200), Expert Horseman (002), Woodsman (001), Unarmed Combat II (110) - comes out at ST20/DX17/IQ13. This seems reasonable. A rough stab at Grey Mouser - Bow (120), Knife (010), Sword (110), Languages (001), Literacy (001), Running (200), Sex Appeal (101), Swimming (100), Acute Hearing (003), Alertness (002), Charisma (111), Detect Traps (002), Missile Weapons (021), Recognize Value (001), Silent Movement (020), Warrior (110), Veteran (120), Acrobatics (120), Fencing (021), Remove Traps (010), Sleight of Hand(020), Thief (020), Unarmed Combat I (200), Courtly Graces (001), Master Thief (011), a couple of spells (002) - comes out ST18/DX28/IQ14. That's too high, but some of the talents are debatable. All in all this seems to work reasonably well. I think it would require play-testing to know if it was fun.