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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DammitVictor" data-source="post: 9801798" data-attributes="member: 6750908">Traditional fantasy narratives don't mesh with the fantasy TTRPG conceit of "dump stats", particularly the idea that not only must every character have different heroic abilities, but "balanced" heroes have to have specific notable deficiencies compared to average non-heroic individuals.An 8 INT isn't a debilitating cognitive impairment; it's a speed bump to a character with proficiency + expertise (or Skill Focus) in a couple of INT skills, or a PF1 or 5E Bard with their respective class features.But Captain America obviously doesn't have an 8 INT. He doesn't have the depth or breadth of scientific education as Tony or Reed... but he beats them at checkers. And chess. He beats Thor in hnefltafl and Nine Men's Morris. He pisses Beast off if they discuss Shakespeare or Dante or Cervantes during hand-to-hand training; he does it on purpose because his layered metaphors about romantic warfare help Hank remember not to drop his elbows. He's both a traditional and a syncretic martial artist, military philosopher, and elder statesman who's both fluent and literate in half a dozen languages.Conan "the Barbarian"... let's not discuss him in class terms. He has linguistics as a superpower; he speaks more languages than this forum, literally more than every single registered member put together. He spends more time in the Aquilonian Royal Library than the kings who built it; he tolerates a conspiracy against his throne because he enjoys their revolutionary poetry. Richard B. Riddick is pretty archetypal as a (spellless) Gloomstalker Ranger and Rogue of some kind. (PF1 Slayer for sure.) He's a connoisseur of murder cutlery, makes his own masterwork knives out of field-expedient resources, and is a skilled micropolitical operator. He can work out the sensory abilities-- and weaknesses-- of an unknown xenomorph species by examining a single skull.In D&D, all three of them would have INT as a dump stat; if they could afford WIS and CHA at all, with their maxed out STR/DEX/CON, they'd take precedence over INT. (Unless in 3.PF where they need INT for skill points.) Leaving aside their multifaceted class features, these iconic fantasy warriors simply aren't modeled by standard ability score models. There's no reason and no way for their D&D versions to have thise traits, especially when INT and WIS and CHA skills are part of the "protected niche" of their spellcasting counterparts, whose leadership abilities aren't supposed to be their "dump stat" (compared to martials) since 3.0.</blockquote>

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