Bestial Disadvantage & Skills

[Michele]

Originally Posted by onetrikpony

@ Kubby; thanks for the reply, I get your point of view.

So which skills would you definitely prohibit?

If that's too broad, which combat skills would you prohibit?

I think you have the definition in that word, "civilized".

For instance, Intimidation is a social skill, but I wouldn't call it particularly civilized - and indeed, intelligent animals do rely on intimidation, including by codified behavior patterns. So an intelligent, albeit bestial, being, should have no problem trying to intimidate others.
On the contrary, and actually at the other end of the spectrum, Diplomacy is quintessentially civilized. Prohibited to a bestial being.

If this helps you, use primates as your touchstone. In certain places where they are in close contact with tourists, there are monkeys who know how to haggle for ransom (they steal cell phones and hand them back in exchange for food, and the bargaining can go on for a while). That tells me Merchant isn't too civilized for an intelligent being, even if bestial.
The bestial being probably won't have Merchant-16, but the limitation factor is in his IQ, which is unlikely to be higher than 10.

By the same reasoning, chimpanzees are known to build crude short spears out of tree branches, and use them for hunting. So, at least simple hand weapon skills shouldn't be forbidden to intelligent bestial beings.

You are surprised craft skills are not barred, but primates do build very simple tools and use them for a variety of purposes, usually for eating but not solely for that purpose. And so on.