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Math Whiz/Math Boost/Savant Calculation

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Mon, 2010-08-30 02:07

Dry Observer Dry Observer's picture

Math Whiz/Math Boost/Savant Calculation

Do the trait, augmentation and psi sleight Math Whiz (pg 146), Math Boost (pg 301) and Savant Calculation (pg 225) all work together? In other words, if someone went through the trouble of developing all three, would their bonuses stack? I've been working on various Exhuman/posthuman designs, and synergistic boosting like this is one of the saner options. On the same subject, would the sleight Pattern Recognition (pg 224) work with the above gifts, if you were decoding a mathematical code, for instance? Could Pattern Recognition be combined with Hyper Linguist (pg 301)? And finally, I assume that Cognitive Boost can't raise cognition above the morph maximum, and certainly not above 40. Right?

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Mon, 2010-08-30 09:19

Arenamontanus Arenamontanus's picture

Re: Math Whiz/Math Boost/Savant Calculation

Dry Observer wrote:
Do the trait, augmentation and psi sleight Math Whiz (pg 146), Math Boost (pg 301) and Savant Calculation (pg 225) all work together? In other words, if someone went through the trouble of developing all three, would their bonuses stack?

There are many ways of doing math. Being able to calculate quickly and accurately is one thing, being able to figure out problems is another. Math Whiz and Math Boost sound like exactly the same thing, rapid calculation ability. Savant calculation on the other hand seems to be about solving problem intuitively. So I would likely think it stacks with the other two, but Whiz and Boost do not help each other much (it could be that they simply speed up the calculations; maybe they get a half bonus). Note that none of these really makes you a good mathematician. That would require the academic skill or profession mathematics. I would also add a Trait like "Mathematical talent" for those characters who really can bend their minds to handle real mathematics well (quick: Can you knot spherical surfaces in four dimensions? At what rate must the number of backup copies increase to give a finite survival probability as time goes to infinity if every copy can fail with probability p per year? Does there exist a harmonic frequency for the ship that will tear it apart, and how can it be determined?)

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Mon, 2010-08-30 08:16

BlackHat

Re: Math Whiz/Math Boost/Savant Calculation

If you look at the description of Math Boost, it says it "functions as the Math Wiz trait", so my guess would be that those two don't stack, since one is the trait, and the other functions as that same trait. The same question could come up about the Hyper Linguist trait, and the Hyper Linguist augmentation, I suppose.

Mon, 2010-08-30 10:31

King Shere King Shere's picture

Re: Math Whiz/Math Boost/Savant Calculation

Do note that even if things stack, "ceilings" exist. Aptitudes in general wont go past +30. And as I understand it: the total cumulate modifiers/bonus to skills cant exceed +60. (Page 115). Role-play wise it makes more sense that a person has many options due to his interest, or trophies collecting dust. Roll-play wise it doesn't, if its useless & redundant.

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Mon, 2010-08-30 12:35

Dry Observer Dry Observer's picture

Re: Math Whiz/Math Boost/Savant Calculation

King Shere wrote:
Do note that even if things stack, "ceilings" exist. Aptitudes in general wont go past +30. And as I understand it: the total cumulate modifiers/bonus to skills cant exceed +60. (Page 115). Role-play wise it makes more sense that a person has many options due to his interest, or trophies collecting dust. Roll-play wise it doesn't, if its useless & redundant.

Yes, I often create characters designed more to be incredibly formidable in some abstract or practical fields -- rather than combat or other aspects of adventuring -- because I think they're interesting to portray as either PCs or NPCs, even if they're not the most powerful people on the stage. Then again, I usually find a practical application to some pretty odd professions, so it generally works out in the end. One option that crops up a lot for me in Eclipse Phase is the natural, self-achieved and/or designed savant who augments an already formidable "natural talent" with whatever augmentations and external computing resources are available, plus sleights if they happen to be an async or far enough along the posthuman path that I'm willing to treat them as such (drawbacks and all).

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