Re: (TFT) Wizard mods - out of balance?

[PvK <pvk@oz.net>]

I'd say rather that the TFT Mathematician talent and its prereqs represent what it might take someone in a low-tech medieval culture to have practical unusual talent and learning in mathematics. Not a modern person passing high-school math. Like DMG, I would say that most people in modern times don't end up with the talent (i.e. a useful ability in Calculus) from taking it in highschool - they just study it and then most of them drop it. If I were to make a TFT talent list for a modern culture, I'd say most people have basic math, some of them have good math skills (1 IQ, probably as good as most uses of a medieval Mathematician talent, especially if they have a calculator, computer, or cell phone), and people with IQ 14 and 3 points in math would probably have at least a university graduate degree in math, or even be math professors.

And yes, if those of us who remember our high school math were dropped into an ancient/medieval culture, we WOULD be at least as good as having IQ 14 and their Mathematics talent, for the purposes of doing math compared to their mathematicians. However, we would come up lacking in some other areas, and our lack of knowledge of local language, religion, and culture might tend to get us in a lot of trouble.

--- barnswallow@sbcglobal.net wrote:
...
In more real-world terms, anyone who got through high school calculus  
has the Mathematician talent (IQ 14), unless they subsequently forgot  
it. But the fact that they knew it at one time means they must have IQ  
14 at least, and probably know several other talents, even if those  
talents deal with technology, etc., and therefore are not listed in ITL.
...
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