Maximum Attributes for Real World People

AlexanderHowl · 09-15-2019, 01:30 PM

Having a couple people a generation per attribute with a 20 is not broken or unrealistic, there are people that gifted, it is just that they will be world-class athletes, Noble Prize winners, etc. (though the vast majority of those people will probably instead have (Attribute) 16 and (Talent) 4 instead). They will not be characters in realistic campaigns because realistic campaigns do not deal with such people (unless they are villains).

For example, a criminal mastermind with ST 12, DX 12, IQ 20, and HT 12 would make a terrifying opponent for a group of realistic characters capped at a maximum attribute of 14. Such an individual would be as good (if not better) as they are in most of their mental skills just through their defaults, meaning that they would have to use every edge that they have just to keep up. Of course, such an opponent would likely have secret that they would want to preserve and would hide their prodigious intelligence from their peers. Just because the PCs are limited to normal ranges does not mean that their opponents need to be.

If you want something to complain about though, look at wealth. For less than the difference between IQ 14 and IQ 20, a character can have Multimillionaire 2 and Independent Income 5 which, at TL8, gives them an income of $10 million per month, $200 million of personal assets ($40 million of adventuring gear), and investments worth a minimum of $4 billion (assuming an annual 3% return on investment). They also gain Status 3 without cost, meaning that they already get invited to all of the best parties, and can hire groups of world class experts to deal with problems without blinking. Bruce Wayne is a superhero because of his wealth, the crimefighting is just a way to keep from being bored.

09-15-2019, 01:30 PM	#11
AlexanderHowl Join Date: Feb 2016	Re: Maximum Attributes for Real World People Having a couple people a generation per attribute with a 20 is not broken or unrealistic, there are people that gifted, it is just that they will be world-class athletes, Noble Prize winners, etc. (though the vast majority of those people will probably instead have (Attribute) 16 and (Talent) 4 instead). They will not be characters in realistic campaigns because realistic campaigns do not deal with such people (unless they are villains). For example, a criminal mastermind with ST 12, DX 12, IQ 20, and HT 12 would make a terrifying opponent for a group of realistic characters capped at a maximum attribute of 14. Such an individual would be as good (if not better) as they are in most of their mental skills just through their defaults, meaning that they would have to use every edge that they have just to keep up. Of course, such an opponent would likely have secret that they would want to preserve and would hide their prodigious intelligence from their peers. Just because the PCs are limited to normal ranges does not mean that their opponents need to be. If you want something to complain about though, look at wealth. For less than the difference between IQ 14 and IQ 20, a character can have Multimillionaire 2 and Independent Income 5 which, at TL8, gives them an income of $10 million per month, $200 million of personal assets ($40 million of adventuring gear), and investments worth a minimum of $4 billion (assuming an annual 3% return on investment). They also gain Status 3 without cost, meaning that they already get invited to all of the best parties, and can hire groups of world class experts to deal with problems without blinking. Bruce Wayne is a superhero because of his wealth, the crimefighting is just a way to keep from being bored.