Mr. Bambu
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It was brought up recently and it's something I feel worth talking about.
Proposal
Currently, 18 Intelligence is listed as Extraordinary Genius on the basis that it is the highest level a human can achieve from base rolls. This technically varies from edition to edition (for example, in 5e, the highest is really 19, as humans get a +1 stat- this doesn't necessarily apply to non-adventuring humans, but that's besides the point). The fact is, even if 18 is the highest, it probably shouldn't be Extraordinary Genius outright.
If you divide all levels of human intelligence into a dozen "ranks", with the most intelligent people going into the very top, very few of that topmost level are going to be Extraordinary Genius- this level of intelligence is a once or twice in a generation type deal, so simply saying all of the smartest humans are Extraordinary Genius is wrong.
Instead, I would contend that 18 Intelligence probably does encompass these peak minds, but also many of the less-than-peak. Therefore I propose "At least Genius, possibly Extraordinary Genius" for 18 Intelligence creatures; every other intelligence rating is left totally unchanged.
Counterarguments
Let's get them out of the way.
1. There exist numerous creatures with downright superhuman intelligence feats. Two frequently cited instances are the Beholder, who explicitly has prepared countermeasures against practically any offensive strategy used against it, and the Aboleth, who possesses an ancestral knowledge covering all of the memories of their ancestors, dating back to a time before the gods.
Regarding Beholders... yeah, but the plans don't necessarily work all the time. And the depth of the plans are left fairly vague, to my knowledge nothing in D&D has ever laid out anything that would concretely support above human levels of intelligence. Given they spend literally all of their time working on it, and these plans are at least relatively fallible, I don't see this as strong enough evidence to give extraordinary genius (anymore), although it is a good supporting feat for at least possibly, especially since their intelligence score isn't 18. We upscale from their feat.
Regarding Aboleths, I do firmly believe they are Extraordinary Genius by default, but that doesn't change the fact that their intelligence score is 18. So Aboleths just inhabit the upper limit of that score. Failing other feats on this level to establish consistency, I think it's better to say that Aboleths are the smartest 18s rather than say everyone is as intelligent as an Aboleth.
2. The game does not specify any distinction between different members of the ratings. An 18 is mechanically identical to every other 18, there is no subdivision of that number. This one is absolutely true, it's just something you need to form an opinion on, whether we regard every single 18 as being identically intelligent or not. The numbers are abstractions, and I personally believe that they are there for convenience rather than rigid classification. So I think this is a point that can be ignored.
Probably missed some, because I'm doing this on a whim, as whimsy is more or less my modus operandi. Feel free to discuss.
I don't have an exact list of every profile this would change, by the way- there's a lot of pages and before going through them all I'd like to see whether people agree or disagree. Wouldn't want to waste the manpower.
Voting
Proposal
Currently, 18 Intelligence is listed as Extraordinary Genius on the basis that it is the highest level a human can achieve from base rolls. This technically varies from edition to edition (for example, in 5e, the highest is really 19, as humans get a +1 stat- this doesn't necessarily apply to non-adventuring humans, but that's besides the point). The fact is, even if 18 is the highest, it probably shouldn't be Extraordinary Genius outright.
If you divide all levels of human intelligence into a dozen "ranks", with the most intelligent people going into the very top, very few of that topmost level are going to be Extraordinary Genius- this level of intelligence is a once or twice in a generation type deal, so simply saying all of the smartest humans are Extraordinary Genius is wrong.
Instead, I would contend that 18 Intelligence probably does encompass these peak minds, but also many of the less-than-peak. Therefore I propose "At least Genius, possibly Extraordinary Genius" for 18 Intelligence creatures; every other intelligence rating is left totally unchanged.
Counterarguments
Let's get them out of the way.
1. There exist numerous creatures with downright superhuman intelligence feats. Two frequently cited instances are the Beholder, who explicitly has prepared countermeasures against practically any offensive strategy used against it, and the Aboleth, who possesses an ancestral knowledge covering all of the memories of their ancestors, dating back to a time before the gods.
Regarding Beholders... yeah, but the plans don't necessarily work all the time. And the depth of the plans are left fairly vague, to my knowledge nothing in D&D has ever laid out anything that would concretely support above human levels of intelligence. Given they spend literally all of their time working on it, and these plans are at least relatively fallible, I don't see this as strong enough evidence to give extraordinary genius (anymore), although it is a good supporting feat for at least possibly, especially since their intelligence score isn't 18. We upscale from their feat.
Regarding Aboleths, I do firmly believe they are Extraordinary Genius by default, but that doesn't change the fact that their intelligence score is 18. So Aboleths just inhabit the upper limit of that score. Failing other feats on this level to establish consistency, I think it's better to say that Aboleths are the smartest 18s rather than say everyone is as intelligent as an Aboleth.
2. The game does not specify any distinction between different members of the ratings. An 18 is mechanically identical to every other 18, there is no subdivision of that number. This one is absolutely true, it's just something you need to form an opinion on, whether we regard every single 18 as being identically intelligent or not. The numbers are abstractions, and I personally believe that they are there for convenience rather than rigid classification. So I think this is a point that can be ignored.
Probably missed some, because I'm doing this on a whim, as whimsy is more or less my modus operandi. Feel free to discuss.
I don't have an exact list of every profile this would change, by the way- there's a lot of pages and before going through them all I'd like to see whether people agree or disagree. Wouldn't want to waste the manpower.
Voting
- Agree (1): Mr. Bambu, Ayewhale, Catbowtie
- Disagree:
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