With my superhuman mind"
3 Doors Down - Kryptonite
Reason #57 to play Torment: Tides of Numenera :: you get to use a tasp.
Reason #23 not to play T:ToN :: it places Intelligence on the same level as physical attributes.
One of my earliest actions upon starting this blog was to state my disgust with Gardner's "theory" of multiple intelligences, a mercenary, meaningless pablum marketed to parents who find themselves stuck caring for degenerate, moronic offspring and whose egos demand re-labelling "intelligence" as any subhuman aptitude those offspring might possess. Thus you hear of instinctive emoting being promoted as intelligence or of musical pitch-matching intelligence, athletic match-pitching intelligence and other aberrations. Intelligence is the aptitude for abstract thought. It is the defining aptitude of existence itself (you are your thoughts) and responsible for every advancement ever made past the state of flea-bitten apes grubbing about the forest underbrush for food one handful at a time. No amount of strength or manual dexterity or flawless painter's eyesight would have built the computer you're reading this on without intelligence.
Role-playing games are all to some degree or another descended from Dungeons and Dragons, and though most slavishly copycat its set pieces the better ones will attempt with some regularity to move past the stylistic apex of 1974. T:ToN is one example of trying to avoid the good / evil dichotomous character alignments even as the Numenera setting continues using other DnD staples like the twenty-level fighter / thief / wizard archetypes. Other games might try to do away with character levels or use skill-based progression instead of preset classes, etc.
Attributes are their own can of worms. Charisma, Agility and so forth all have their various decades-running arguments over their respective validity, both within DnD and its copycats. If intelligence is ever debated, it's as a balance issue within the context of linear warriors, quadratic wizards with many gamers complaining that it's unfair for wizards to become so much more powerful (and especially, versatile) than their swashbuckling fellow adventurers late in campaigns.
Fair? Unfair? By what definition? It's fitting, therefore fair.
The fruits of intellect should not be equated to pre-sentient physical activity. An understanding of the world really should count for more than swinging a damn stick. And, there are plenty of ways in which this could be accomplished. Characters' mental and physical attributes can be placed in separate categories with their own pools of attribute points to be distributed, making all characters de facto battlemages. Physical attributes could be raised by combat while mental ones are raised by role-playing choices. The best option is best exemplified by Heroes of Might and Magic's core concept, with spellcasters acting as leaders for armies of brawling grunts - although it bears mentioning even HoMM routinely watered down this idea by instituting Barbarian or other heroes based on inflicting damage directly.
T:ToN makes an interesting example because being heavily based on skill checks and roleplaying choices instead of combat, it could not avoid the primacy of Intellect. About half your skill checks seem based on INT, with the other half split between strength and speed. Yet still it toed the usual RPG line in demeaning intellect to just another stat and implementing weapons and attacks derived from it, magic missiles, which work just like hitting things with a stick.
Why not go full anti-retard?
Forget balancing them; thought and physicality should not even occupy the same playing field in the first place. Give thought its due dignity as a realm above brawn or fee-fees, the pinnacle and self-definition of existence. Let Intelligence govern those abilities which alter the playing field altogether, and leave crass damage-dealing or emotive play-acting to less worthy animal attributes. Crafting a tasp should be a mental task. Using it to paralyze an opponent can still be a matter of base physicality, of reflexes and practice, and can be carried out by dumb grunts while the more intelligent Puppeteer handles the decision-making.
It's been fifty years. Isn't it past time to stop demonizing Lex Luthor and move beyond the Stockholm Syndrome of role-playing geeks idealizing Conan the Barbarian as an equal to Elrond Halfelven?
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