The IQ 9 Hero

[hcobb]

Other than the obvious talents of Missile Weapons (esp. with the Light Crossbow) and Toughness (for the 9% of the time the crossbow misses), what's the value of a hero taking IQ 9?

There are several useful IQ 9 spells, but leave those to the wizards for now.

Also there's little point in spending any of your nine memory points for a talent that gives you a chance to roll 9 or less on three dice. While each of Acute Hearing, Charisma, Detect Traps, Recognize Value, and Streetwise offer advantages outside that IQ roll, these are all best unlocked by maxing out IQ. The one strange exception is to use Bard as Sex Appeal and hence roll against DX or ST instead of IQ, in addition to the reaction bonus of Bard.

Burglar, Human, age 20
ST 9, DX 14, IQ 9, MA 10
Talents: Climbing, Detect Traps, Knife, Recognize Value, Silent Movement, Streetwise, Sword
Languages: Common, Thieves’ argot

Note that both Locksmith and the Lock/Knock spell are above IQ 9 so this burglar climbs up silently and looks for upper story windows that are unlocked. He sets off lots of traps but at least Detect Traps let him nimbly avoid the poison darts and arrows of sociopathic trap makers. He depends on the automatic benefits of Recognize Value and Streetwise to perform the basics of his trade, but remains an easy mark for his fence. His favorite combat option is Disengage, which is why the town guard carries spears.