The Rules of 14, 16, & 20

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Hyrneson

Are there any reasons or justifications beyond game balance for The Rules of 14, 16, & 20?

The rule of 20 is less about game balance than simulationism. Reed Richards has a superhuman intellect. Any actual IQ skill he has is up around 30. He just spends a point and he's that good. But he isn't that good at intellectual pursuits that he has simply never paid any attention to learning like the arts, history or social skills. Don't mistake me, he's good, he's just not inhumanly good the way he is at rocket design, physics, biology, chemistry, mathematics, electronics....