High WIS, low INT?

[Altair_the_Vexed]

Other combinations (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?442350-High-INT-Low-WIS) have been queried before (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?443246-High-CHA-Low-DEX) (some just for the lulz (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=19839791&postcount=14)) - but how would you portray a Wise but Dumb character?

[Draconium]

I kind of want to say something like Forrest Gump - he's not very intelligent, but he's surprisingly insightful and he knows what's really important in life.

[woodlandkammao]

Tarzan is a High Wis Low INT Character, he has zero book learning, and when he is taught by Jane he learns slowly and poorly. But, he has incredible spatial awareness, a strong sense of empathy and the ability to quickly assess a situation in great detail.

[illyahr]

Madeleine the Paladin from the webcomic Rusty and Co. Intelligence is her dump stat, but she's incredibly insightful when the need arises.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rustyandco_spintodeflect.jpg

[Freelance GM]

An astonishingly high number of my characters have this combo.

I role-play them as observant, insightful, and clever, but they tend to use smaller words, and take a little longer to read things.

[SuperPanda]

Mark Twain's character Huck Finn also fits this stat spread nicely - though its clear his wisdom developed over the course of the adventure because he started out as low in both.

[GoldfishBowl]

I like to use Jayne Cobb from Firefly as an example of this. He's very observant, Quite good at recognizing deception on the spot (unless his greed gets in the way), and actually possesses great awareness of the feelings of others, even if he doesn't typically care much.
As for int, one line of his says it all. "If I wanted schoolin', I would have gone to school."

He's also one of my favorite examples of a socially functioning Chaotic Evil.

[Heliomance]

Jack O'Neill from Stargate SG-1 is also a good example. He's not exactly low-INT, to be fair, as he's significantly smarter than he like to let on, but he certainly plays up the "no time for book learnin'" angle. Despite his general distaste for all things intellectual, however, he's extremely savvy and combat-smart. A great believer in experience over education.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

Not book-smart doesn't have to mean wise though. In fact "street-wise" characters, when it comes down to it, are often more street-smart. (is that a word? If not, hereby.) Aladdin couldn't see the consequences of his actions and he never really doubted why some random old man who was in prison but had a way out was offering him so much treasure. Sure, he turned out a decent judge of character, but mostly he was good at thinking on his feet and finding clever solutions for immediate problems. That's smart, a character like that would have more int than wis, education or not.

Low int high wis makes me think of one of those stereotypical wise old people, in stories often a hermit, in reality more often a people person (and available in diverse age categories). Great insight in personalities, well developed sense for social situations, some good truisms about society and the world up their sleeve. Not the fastest thinkers when there is an abstract problem, but with a lot of lessons learned from experience. Going by gut feeling and maybe a little well hidden preparation in everything they do, rather than by thinking up solutions.

[Temperjoke]

"He wasn't much for school, but he had a good heart and a practical sense on how to get the work done."

Think Durnik the Smith from the Eddings' Belgarion books. He may not be able to perform calculus in his head, but he knows how to make camp, metalworking, lots of trade skills, etc.

[Cybren]

Tarzan is a High Wis Low INT Character, he has zero book learning, and when he is taught by Jane he learns slowly and poorly. But, he has incredible spatial awareness, a strong sense of empathy and the ability to quickly assess a situation in great detail.
Tarzan is pf smart

He learns a new language in days, ultimately speaking many languages, including that of the great apes, French, Finnish, English, Dutch, German, Swahili, many Bantu dialects, Arabic, ancient Greek, ancient Latin, Mayan, the languages of the Ant Men and of Pellucidar.

[Flickerdart]

A low-Intelligence character is bad at complex reasoning, learning, and specialized knowledge. On the other hand, a high-Wisdom character is good at common sense and intuition, as well as perception and willpower.

This means that a character of this type will be a very inquisitive person who asks a lot of questions or otherwise observes a lot - great at making the right choice once all the options are on the table, but dependent on others to provide those options when trying to think far ahead. He will have the insight to resist short-term benefits in favour of long-term ones if someone else tells him what they are. This character actually plays very well with others who are smarter than him, because he has enough self-awareness to recognize his flaws, but also the flaws of others.

[ShaneMRoth]

I second Forrest Gump.

There is great potential for comedic characters like this:

Sam Malone from Cheers.

Woody from Cheers.

Joey Tribiani from Friends.


Dramatic characters include:

Karl from Sling Blade.

Chalky White from Boardwalk Empire.

Rocky Balboa from the Rocky Franchise.

And finally...

Chauncey Gardener (played by Peter Sellers) in Being There.

the most important aspect of such characters is their self-awareness. They know the limits of their intellect. They have no illusions that they are smart.

[smcmike]

I think of Wisdom as mental steadiness. A character with low intelligence but high wisdom might possess a certain bovine quality, an ability to watch the world without wasting time thinking or worrying about the vast number of things he doesn't understand.

In terms of play style, this might limit one's ability to find complex or ornate solutions to problems, high wisdom might be pretty good at finding the simple solution to a complex problem, or at just calmly walking in without a plan, which can be a solution in its own right. Plus, you can spend your time thinking up malapropisms and other jokes at your character's expense.

How about high charisma/low intelligence? I know there are plenty of real world examples, but how do you craft such a persona in-game?

[Draconium]

How about high charisma/low intelligence? I know there are plenty of real world examples, but how do you craft such a persona in-game?

You mean like a Lovable Idiot? Someone who's not very smart, but has certain endearing qualities to them. I don't imagine it'd be all that difficult of a persona to craft.

[smcmike]

You mean like a Lovable Idiot? Someone who's not very smart, but has certain endearing qualities to them. I don't imagine it'd be all that difficult of a persona to craft.

Fair enough, but... well, we already sort of have a loveable idiot, a high wis/low int warrior cleric. I want to find a different spin, for a high cha, good wis, low int blaster.

Also, lovable does not necessarily = high charisma. Sweet & socially awkward go fine together, as do their opposites.

[TheIronGolem]

Nobby from Discworld would be a good example of "high CHA, low INT".

He's also an excellent example of having high Charisma despite lacking in social graces, but that's another topic.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Nobby from Discworld would be a good example of "high CHA, low INT".

He's also an excellent example of having high Charisma despite lacking in social graces, but that's another topic.

He's got Charisn'tma.

[illyahr]

He's got Charisn'tma.

+1 to this. I lol'd :smallbiggrin:

[cobaltstarfire]

I usually think it's easier to think of Wis as just a different kind/part of intelligence, and that you need both int and wis to really come off as "smart" in the real world.

That feeling mainly comes from how it's hard to infer things without some amount of observational skill, but it's also hard to infer things if you can't do the critical thinking part. You need both to be good at problem solving.


I think a high Wis, low Int person would probably be somewhat forgetful as well, otherwise past experience or any education they have would easily make up for the low int.

Or that's usually how I play high Wis low Int characters, as a bit scatterbrained and forgetful, but with a decent intuition based on their ability to observe.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

How about high charisma/low intelligence? I know there are plenty of real world examples, but how do you craft such a persona in-game?

In an extreme form you could go for a character with a bit of a James Bond/Femme Fatale feel to it. Really, really good at getting other people to do stuff, but not good at any other complex activity or planning.

"Hank looked over at the new assassin. She didn't come off as very smart, and it didn't look like an act either. Hell, she probably couldn't figure out the number of clips she'd need to pack for this next mission. Hank'd bet she could get someone to figure it out for her though."

Medium wisdom supports this style nicely, it can be used as intuition and a feel for social situations. The above example is pretty flirty, but you can do this with any style of interaction, with the character knowing just how to find out about people's fears and intimidate them, or a sleazy car salesman type who just manages to some across as friendly to everyone no matter what he's telling them.

[Dienekes]

How about high charisma/low intelligence? I know there are plenty of real world examples, but how do you craft such a persona in-game?

The book Fevre Dream, a surprisingly good book about a bunch of vampires on a Mississippi steamboat, has the villain like this. Damon Julian is an ancient and powerful vampire who can compel anyone to do what he wants, but he doesn't think. He has minion to do that for him, which he just strings along with lies to keep them loyal. He goes about pretty much just doing whatever the hell he wants with no thoughts on improvement, or the future, just feeding his desire for blood an ego.