Stupidity: The NPC Attribute

[Chimera]

I've been letting this cogitate a bit and wasn't quite ready to post it yet, but the [OT] Teenager...Acute Stupidity thread got me thinking about it more.

I wish I could find the cute Frank Zappa quote about Stupidity being the basic building block of the Universe, being more common than Hydrogen. Oh Well.

Please forgive my rambling incoherence. I'm on heavy meds for severe back pain and an allergic reaction to Latex and cleaning solutions. (Getting my house ready for sale) Probably not the best time to post...

Stupidity. Every bit as important as Strength, Consitutition, et al. And most certainly not the opposite of Intelligence. At best, it can be mitigated by Intelligence and/or Wisdom, but not always.

I'm beginning to feel that it deserves it's own attribute.

Definitely NOT a PC attribute. That's something you have to leave to the players (we always have an overabundance of it in our games anyway, don't we?). Moreso because none of us would like it if we had to make Stupidity rolls on a regular basis or be killed. That would not make for a fun game.

But an NPC attribute? It might tend to explain the Dr. Evils of the world, or why the heroes manage to foil the villain time and time again. It's not that they take the villain's genius on, head to head, but rather, that they exploit the villain's weakness, which is generally the Stupidity factor. For all his genius, the bad guys make stupid, exploitable mistakes.

Again, forgive my lack of clarity, but consider, and discuss. Maybe together we can bring clarity to this discussion. (Ie, I hope you can look past my meds and go "Ah, this is what you mean and this is how we can make it workable".)

 

[Someone]

Villain Stupid Flaws can belong to one of these four types:

Megalomania: The villain always think on himself as the most powerful being in existence, and despite the ability of heroes to survive, he continues to think that it´s because of pure luck. Looking for a way to demonstrate heroes´ inability, he always try to capture and execute them in a spectacular fashion, for example, suspend them over a pit of hungry dire louses and have the rope be slowly burned by a candle´s flame.

Suicidal negligence: The villain has a weakness that, conveniently exploited, will cause his fall. However, the villain don´t give it the proper importance, believing that he´s totally safe.

Crazyness: The villain has often an eccentric behaviour that normally diverts his doings from the optimal course of action. While this eccentric behaviour normally is not a serious handicap, becomes dangerous when the villain faces the heroes, and that bring us to the pit of louses again.

Incompetent underlings: The villain is extremely brutal with his underlings, and so ends with minions stupid enough to stand that harsh rule. Collectively, they have no more intellygence than a brick, and are easily defeated or deceived by the heroes.

 

[Richards]

"There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life." - Frank Zappa

Johnathan

 

[I'm A Banana]

Hm...there's also possible combinations of these. I wonder if it's possible to be an evil villain without having a flaw, though it hasn't been explored yet...

 

[AuroraGyps]

Stupid Flaw

What about something like "Stupid Selective Hearing". They show it in the movies all the time and it drives me crazy! Ya know, someone (usually the hero) tells another someone (usually a woman or child) not to do something and the stupid person goes and does exactly that thing. Then, not only does the original problem have to be fixed, but stupid had to be saved too (most of the time). That would be a great NPC trait... maybe even for a reoccuring role.

Auroragyps

 

[Rune]

Hmmm. I like the idea of a Stupidity stat for NPCs in more over-the-top, heroic games.

Consider this a *yoink*