Asperger's Syndrome (3.5e Trait)

Asperger's Syndrome
Summary::You do not get social interactions. At all. As a result, you are outrageously incompetent at socializing. On the other hand, you're a genius in academic pursuits.

Prerequisite: Membership in a race with distinct social traditions (including virtually all playable races)

Benefit: You gain a +2 bonus to all Intelligence-based skill checks except for Search.

Drawback: You take a &minus;2 penalty to all Charisma-based skill checks, as well as Sense Motive.

Roleplaying Ideas: You have a knack for offending people without ever realizing it and making an utter buffoon of yourself in any social interaction, to the point where your allies would be well-advised to adamantly refuse to bring you along when meeting with the king, trying to negotiate, or doing anything that requires tact and social grace. Nonverbal signals are utterly lost on you unless they're exaggerated to the point of parody, which makes it very difficult for people to tell you to shut up before you completely ruin everything. You despise dishonesty, but are very poor at actually taking notice of it. Your genius is recognized and respected by those who know you well (which is pretty much your immediate family, your adventuring party/coworkers, and perhaps five or six other people if you're lucky), but they tend to be reluctant to introduce you to friends, lest you cause a horrific faux pas. You may very well be aware of this, in which case you tend to bow out of tricky social situations of your own accord, to the point where you appear to be incredibly shy.