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I have an idea for getting players to want to play more brainy characters.

a player with an IQ of 17 gets an additional secondary skill,
a player with an IQ of 18 gets two additional secondary skills and one OCC related.
a player with an IQ of 19 gets two additional secondary skills and two OCC related.
a player with an IQ of 20 gets two additional secondary skills and two OCC related and a second MOS.

I know that Palladium added rules for skills which would Increase a players IQ way back in a Rifter, but the one thing i have noticed is that players will try to max themselves out in physical attributes because they see the lack of need for IQ beyond basic requirements for an occ they wish to play.

I would invert the numbers of OCCR and secondary skills gained by the high IQ. And for the IQ 20 spot, change the 'and a second MOS' to 'or a second MOS'.

a player with an IQ of 17 gets an additional OCC related,
a player with an IQ of 18 gets two additional OCC related and one secondary skills .
a player with an IQ of 19 gets two additional OCC related and two secondary skills.
a player with an IQ of 20 gets two additional OCC related and two secondary skills or a second MOS.


so you would go with something like this?

a player with an IQ of 17 gets an additional secondary skill,
a player with an IQ of 18 gets two additional secondary skills
a player with an IQ of 19 gets two additional secondary skills and one OCC related.
a player with an IQ of 20 gets two additional secondary skills and two OCC related or a second MOS.


a player with an IQ of 20 gets a second MOS
a player with an IQ of 21 gets an additional secondary skills
a player with an IQ of 22 gets two additional secondary skills
a player with an IQ of 23 gets two additional secondary skills and one OCC related
a player with an IQ of 24 gets two additional secondary skills and two OCC related or a third MOS

I consider the character with a 24 IQ to be a super Genius. I like the secondary skills to be the primary given skills as they a hobby/self interest type skill.

If you are looking for reasons to have better IQs consider:
-emphasizing skill use in play, the lowest IQ bonus to skills is the equivalent of one free level in some cases (and at 21 or above in all cases, by 24 you are looking at two free skill levels minimum essentially), which could impact how successful they are on the dice rolls for skill checks
-have them roll attributes in order to avoid min/maxing base rolls
-put limits on the number of physical skills one can take (outside of MOS/OCC) as Secondary and Other/Related Skills that provide attribute modifiers

I think if I was to use bonus skills for IQ I'd keep it simpler. Maybe bonus secondary skills at the ME attribute's save vs psionics rate, and allow 2 secondary bonus skills to be traded for one Other/Related bonus skill. I'd leave the MOS out since a high IQ allows that to begin with in 2E