If low Intelligence means a visual or cognitive impairment, low Wisdom means an auditory one, or ... well, I've remarked before on how wacky a stat Wisdom is. Sanity? Willpower? Sensitivity? Percaption? The disadvantage approach can handle that though. It likes a multifarious attribute, for sure.
I'm liking more and more, too, the idea that +1 Wisdom is the most bonus you can get at 13 up, but that 15, 16, 17 and 18 Wisdom give benefits. Seems this would be the perfect stat to hand out psionic abilities on. I think an Advantages series at this point is almost inevitable. Not for core 52 Pages, but maybe a supplement, or for the other, painfully inelegant and baroque d20 variant game I have in me.
Oh yeah. Courtney is tearing it up on Hack & Slash with two don't miss series: incredibly various and devious rumors about monster ecologies (so much better than "Science tells us that the roper lays a clucth of 2d6 eggs...") and OSR New Wave creator interviews. Check it out!
I would think low DEX would represent visual impairment and low intelligence would represent bad luck, superstition or detrimental curiosity . . . random traps and effects tend to target low intelligence characters.
ReplyDeleteThese are funny i like the way you think. the problem comes i think on the way you are looking at it. INT was supposed to directly correlate to IQ as defined in the mid seventies, i.e. an INT of ten was average human intelligence and represented a person with an IQ of 100 Rock center in the belle curve. if we look at the other attributes in this way then wisdom , which is a measure of judgement, wile, and will power. a person with say a 3 in this is not deaf, they are weak willed, dullards, who can not think for themselves. the "criminal" follower for instance, the one that gets bullied into doing the murder, or the one who hangs out with people who make fun of him because he wants to be liked. or lets say an 8 this may mean the person is capable of making decisions, but can not see the hidden motive behind a scheme, and may be naive. actually that is the best way to explain it naivete. The person with the low wisdom is the naive kid who sees the world through rose colored glasses. I like to try and break the scores down into a trinity. STR is muscle mass how much you can lift, Stamina, how long you can hold it there, and physique how fit you look. INT is memory, learning ability, and reasoning, DEX is Hand eye coordination, balance, and reflexes. CON is Fitness, Health, and Resistance. and Finally CHA is appearance, persuasiveness, and social skills. the reason i do this is because it allows you to break things down a little easier lets say i roll a 4, 3, and 1 for an 8 in strength, I would interpret this to be a 4 in stamina, 3 in physique, and 1 in muscle mass. this is the guy who can run a 26 mile marathon, but isn't going to punch your lights out like a boxer. these scores also work together, a low intelligence could indicate a learning disability, but coupled with a low wisdom it may be indicative of actual developmental problems. but an high wisdom and a low INT could be a savant of some kind.
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