Characteristic DMs Above 15

[alex_greene]

Once in a while, characters may encounter an individual from an alien species with a Notable characteristic (whether Intelligence, Strength or even Psionic Strength potential). An example could be the huge Virushi, Larry Niven's tarsier-like Tnuctip with incredible Dexterity, or perhaps an Ancient revived from a 300,000 year cold sleep with vastly superior Intellect in the 16+ range.

Quite apart from the problems of roleplaying someone with notable Int and Edu, what characteristic DMs would you give to such an exceptional character for what would otherwise be a standard task check for them, such as rebuilding a Starship engine or swinging a large wooden club at some poor mortal's cranium in melee combat? I mean, for characteristic 16, 17, 18, 19+ etc?

Or do you just assume +3 for every stat rated 15 or above?

 

[Woas]

Well, other than between o and the 1-2 range, the stats and DMs seem to follow a 3 per +1 bonus. So I'd say stats between 15-17 are +3, 18-20 are +4, 21-23 are +5 and so on.

 

[alex_greene]

Figured as much: a more or less linear progression, with the only deviation being at the low ranges.

In practice, if the characters encounter any single creature with a stat above 15 in a hostile situation, they'd probably be wise to bring up their FGMP-15s and let fusion diplomacy take care of the problem anyway.

And if any players from my game are reading this, no you're not going to get stats above 15. So there.

 

[lurker]

what characteristic DMs would you give to such an exceptional character for what would otherwise be a standard task check for them

I think what Woas said is reasonable but also there could be no task roll. Like the OP indicated, you have to get into the mindset of what someone with that type of characteristic would be like.

You probably don't roll to see if an average person knows how to read and write and you probably have no need to roll to see if someone with 'superhuman' high IQ can figure out something like the rubics cube.

 

[alexhawman]

A quick look at the stats and bonuses of robots agrees with the +1 per 3pts of stat.