Intimidation/Willpower

[Rerun941]

Does anyone else think these skills should be under the Perception attribute?

Just wondering. As GM, I don't use em too often, but I've always thought that being under Knowledge didn't exactly fit right. Seeing as these are more "Social" skills like con/bargain/command
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[Pel]

I can see your point. Willpower always seemed an odd choice to me for a Knowledge skill, but I never considered Intimidation. Ok, let's have a go at it:

After some reflection, I believe both should remain under Knowledge. All of those skills reflect a large degree of factual basis, such as knowing the difference between alien species, which laws might apply, and how to contact the local black market. I find Intimidation falls under this categorization as one must actually know what is intimidating to certain species or individuals.

Willpower is still a tough fit, but I believe it was designed with Force users and resisting Force powers in mind. Force users seem like a fairly knowledgable bunch, in the tradition of the ancient samurai. Using this comparision, I believe both possess great mental discipline and thus Willpower is used to reflect that. It is also used to resist the effects of Intimidation and Interrogation, both of which can be somewhat mitigated by factual knowledge.
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[Zarm R'keeg]

I would posit that intimidation is really a matter of knowing techniques/ways to intimidate, knowing your oponent and what gets to them, etc. Yes, percieving and responding to their fears is a part of it, but if you're adjusting the intimidation as a result of your perceptions, it's probably lost alot of its strength already from a weak opening- 'first impressions' and sudden surprise have a lot to do with intimidating, so I think that the knowledge of technique and application would be key there.

Willpower does indeed also fall under the 'doesn't quite fit in either' category, and feels like it should be some nebulous power under a 'Spirit' attribute or something. But I think that, again, your general mental 'toughness' is often enhanced by mental disciplines techniques to resist telepathy, conditioning to resist psychic attack, etc. (think of Star Trek's Vulcans- their impassive emotional control is a result or learning and strict mental discipline, not an innate facet of their perceptions of the world or abilities)- thus, I think that, while it is not intuitive, Knowledge does end up as the most logical spot for both abilties, since learned techniques and mind games/metal disciplines- learned behaviors or understandings of psychology, telepathy, etc.- are key to both.
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[Fallon Kell]

I would have put intimidation in perception, but interrogation as a different skill in knowledge.
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[Bren]

As mentioned there are arguments for where willpower and intimidation belong. At the end of the day, I just leave them where they are to keep Knowledge from being a simple dump stat for action oriented characters.