Building an unintelligent character - archetypes

[weckar]

So, I've been handed a challenge. I have been tasked with building a character that ISN'T a strategic mastermind of somesort. Effectively, neither my INT nor my WIS is allowed to exceed 10, and are preferred to be much below that.

In theory this seems simple enough, but as it turns out I naturally gravitate to characters that pump these into the stratosphere. So, I'd like to ask the playground for help in providing me a list of non-Obvious character archetypes that would fit within this measure. Bonus points if you can couple it with one or two class suggestions.

[Kelb_Panthera]

Well I guess there's the classic big stupid fighter, ala barbarian build.

You could go with the wildshape ranger into master of many forms build and play it up as a one-with-nature hippie type.

Yeah, this is harder than one would think...

[Crake]

Well clearly, the low wis, low int, high cha classic egotistical sorcerer is the obvious answer.

[Pugwampy]

How about the Clod . He gets bonuses for negative INT ability
He is like a barbarian thief hybrid . Always wanted to try him .

http://www.dcrouzet.net/nbobooks/goodies/d20clod.pdf

[Inevitability]

How about the Clod . He gets bonuses for negative INT ability
He is like a barbarian thief hybrid . Always wanted to try him .

http://www.dcrouzet.net/nbobooks/goodies/d20clod.pdf

That's... a pretty horrible class. We're talking tier 5 here.

[Pugwampy]

That's... a pretty horrible class. We're talking tier 5 here.

Really? Are you sure ? I rate it a tier 1 in FUN FUN FUN .

Horrible classes are a relative concept in the hands of veteran players .

[weckar]

Is that... thing... homebrew, third party or what? Interesting archetype though if only as a too-stupid-to-live option.

[Inevitability]

Really? Are you sure ? I rate it a tier 1 in FUN FUN FUN .

Horrible classes are a relative concept in the hands of veteran players .

FUN FUN FUN? Seems to me like you'd spend most of your time whacking stuff ineffectively (because 3/4ths BAB and bad weapons), with some 'HURR DURR I STUPID' roleplaying in between. Why not play a gully dwarf barbarian in that case?

And while horrible classes may be relative, that doesn't mean an over-optimized clod is ever going to beat a decently built tier 3. They seem like a pretty typical low-floor, low-ceiling class to me, like the ninja or CW samurai.

[Zombimode]

So, I've been handed a challenge. I have been tasked with building a character that ISN'T a strategic mastermind of somesort. Effectively, neither my INT nor my WIS is allowed to exceed 10, and are preferred to be much below that.

In theory this seems simple enough, but as it turns out I naturally gravitate to characters that pump these into the stratosphere. So, I'd like to ask the playground for help in providing me a list of non-Obvious character archetypes that would fit within this measure. Bonus points if you can couple it with one or two class suggestions.

I've come to the conlcusion to not overstate the influence of ability scores on personality. An Int of 10 doesn't have to mean the character is stupid.

If we look at what the Int score actually governs, the implication of Int 10 for a character are the following:
- should not pursue the path of Wizardry (or other scholary types of Magic)
- has not much of a Talent in aquisition of book-knowledge (Knowledge skills), but can study those fields like everybody else
- likewise has not much Talent in other activities that benefit from careful examination and diligance (other Int skill), but can become proficient at them with enough dedication

And thats about it, barring specific class Features.

In no way this implies that the character is actually dumb. The character still can be smart and crafty.
The effects of the low Int score can be explained in other ways besides "well, he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer"

Compare to real-life fields such as Math, Physics or Computer Sience. Those fields are not for everyone. In fact there are quite a lot of People who will just Zone out if they see something expressed in a formal language. This doesn't necessarily means those People are unintelligent. There is lack of interesst and varying natural Talents. Trouble understanding calculus or the concept of Object Oriented Programming does not prevent being articulate or the ability of decision making.

Let me present my newest character, a Daelkyr Halblood Hexblade (double the emo, double the fun?).
His mental stats are Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 16.
He is a warrior first and foremost. But he knows he has power beyond his abilities with the blade, power he believes is induced by his "other half". He doesn't know that this is specifically a Daelkyr Symbiont and he doesn't know that he is not human at all.
His low Int and Wis score have the following influence: he is not a careful planer. That doesn't mean that he doesn't plan. But he is more a "in the heat of the Moment" guy. He makes snap judgements and those are often quite good in combat or other dangerous situations (because those abilities are not covered by any skill or stat in D&D, but instead are entirely dependent on the players skill). On the other Hand he lacks the critical thinking to reevalutate his judgements and this Comes back to bite him in the ass many times. While having no formal Knowledge about psychology he has internalized all the tricks. He is an accomplished lier and deceiver (bluff), traits that don't go very well with being dumb, and is really good at turning the insecurities of others against them (Intimidate), but a the same time he is not self-conscious enough to prevent others from doing the same on him (no ranks in Sense Motive, Wis 8).
He is impulsive and lacks the self-control to prevent burst of Anger. Besides a narrow interest in spells (6 ranks in spellcraft) he is to lazy to do some actual studying (for example on the nature of his "other half"). Instead he rather spands his time on bodily excercises and combat forms as well as honing his skill of "street Level psychology".
What I, as a Player, do to exhibit These character traits is to try to rely more on my guts when making decisions and to Refrain from thinking Things over. What I won't do is Limit my speech Patterns or my ability to comprehend situations and circumstances.

[weckar]

While we understand that 10 is human average; in our group ability scores, next to alignment, form the foundation of a character's... character.

[Metahuman1]

You'll either want a Sorcadin build, which might involve working in a Dip into either Spirit Lion totem Barbarian for Pounce and/or Crusader for some sweet manuvers.

Or.

Go with a Combo of Barbarian, Dungeon Crasher Fighter, Warblade into Bloodstorm Blade, Hulking Hurler, Exotic Weapons Master and/or Warhulk. Add templates to your build to jack it up as big, strong and tough as you can.


The former can be a good fighter and caster with focus on Charisma.

The latter can be a good brawler and can handle traps with no stealth with the Trap Smasher AFC and a maxed survival skill. Invest in Steadfast Determination or Force of Personality on either, and you can dump Wis with no appreciable problems and dump Int if needed.

[weckar]

Great stuff build-wise metahuman, but I was really looking for character archetypes with classes more as an afterthought :smallsmile:

[Karl Aegis]

With a low number of skill points and a weak will-save you could make an incompetent slave. You wouldn't do things as well as others, but when someone else is controlling your actions via domination effects, you wouldn't need to. You'd have trouble remembering where you are, what you're doing, who the people around you are, and who is in charge. You might have trouble going up an incline. You might be able to get a horse to do something or you might be able to get on the horse, but trying to do both would stretch your skill points thin. You might be both gullible and unconvincing. Finding things would be difficult. You probably wouldn't know what you're looking or hearing and probably wouldn't know who to ask to figure these things out, if you noticed them at all. If you dedicated enough resources to finding food, you may be able to manage to not starve to death if you get lost (which you will get lost).

If you are in an adventuring party, you are the reason Protection from X is prepared every day and you should probably have someone babysitting you all the time so you don't get convinced your party members are evil aliens out to corrupt your soul by some random squid-thing.

[GloatingSwine]

If you don't want to play a stupid character, play one with a short attention span.

Might go well with a blasty sorcerer, capable of blowing stuff up good, incapable of paying attention to the same thing for more than a few minutes at a time.


Either that or a super specialist. Someone who is really really focused on a specific and narrow set of tasks and is extremely good at those things, but is completely uninterested in matters not related to his specific interest.

[Stealth Marmot]

I once tried to base a sorcerer BBEG on Zaphod Beeblebrox. Sadly I didn't get to play around with him much.

To quote the man: "If there is anything more important than my ego around, I want it caught and shot now."

Other quotes for any occasion: http://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2015/05/happy-towel-day-9-zaphod-beeblebrox-quotes-for-any-occasion

Basically, this is the egotist. The guy so self interested that he could not comprehend being less than perfect, much less wrong. His lack of intelligence is manifested by his lack of curiousity or humility. Expect this character to have zero on ANY knowledge checks, or in fact any INT based skill, but plenty in bluff, intimidate, and maybe even a bit in diplomacy, but also perform.

This character can easily be evil because he figures the world owes him everything. Like the main playable character in an RPG, he would walk into someones house and rifle through their stuff for anything useful and if anyone backtalked they would blow them up or shut them down.

Heck, if you want a darker version of this sort of character, Killgrave (aka the Purple Man) from Jessica Jones. Despite his "clever" plans, he wasn't really smart at all. Sure he came up with a few clever ploys, but overall his capability was entirely dependent on his power to control anyone and everyone he met, and he considered himself far more important than anyone.

He never really tried to better himself, he never questioned himself, he barely cared about anything, he could barely scrap himself together enough to buy a house with money he didn't even earn. His mind was not capable of self reflection on any worthwhile level.

But people like that can be charismatic, their confidence, while based in ignorance, is nonetheless genuine. The more powerful, the more self assured, vain, and incapable of seeing themselves as ever being mistaken they will be.

Power in the hands of an intelligent but evil man can be dangerous, but so long as their self interest is in not using it, the power at least is not volatile. In the hands of an egotist, power is volatile, as they will be more prone to destroying anything and everything before they would ever consider defeat or even acknowledgement of a mistake.

[ShurikVch]

Well clearly, the low wis, low int, high cha classic egotistical sorcerer is the obvious answer.Why it sound so familiar?..


http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/oots/images/4/4a/Xykon_New.png/revision/latest?cb=20151127181349

[Crake]

Why it sound so familiar?..


http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/oots/images/4/4a/Xykon_New.png/revision/latest?cb=20151127181349

Isn't Xykon a wizard?

[Stealth Marmot]

Why it sound so familiar?..


Problem is, Xykon isn't low int. He is smarter than he acts. He plots, he is perceptive, he just gives no fornications. Egotistical, sure, but not unwise, and not unintelligent.

It is true however, that the egotistical idiotic sorcerer is exactly what Xykon wants people to THINK he is.

Edit: Removed unnecessary pic

[ShurikVch]

Problem is, Xykon isn't low int. He is smarter than he acts. He plots, he is perceptive, he just gives no fornications. Egotistical, sure, but not unwise, and not unintelligent.Come on, he's incapable to remember the names of his one underlings!
And insanity is a textbook indication of low Wis - just look at Belkar!

[Stealth Marmot]

Come on, he's incapable to remember the names of his one underlings!
And insanity is a textbook indication of low Wis - just look at Belkar!

To quote Xykon himself: There is a difference between not knowing, and not caring. Xykon COULD remember the names, he just doesn't care to because he doesn't HAVE to.

[Inevitability]

Isn't Xykon a wizard?

He most definitely isn't. Several in-comic sources explicitly name him a sorcerer, and his backstory confirms this.

[ShurikVch]

To quote Xykon himself: There is a difference between not knowing, and not caring. Xykon COULD remember the names, he just doesn't care to because he doesn't HAVE to.He killed the Lizardfolk ambassador because he couldn't be bothered remembering his name.

[Stealth Marmot]

He killed the Lizardfolk ambassador because he couldn't be bothered remembering his name.

Again, he COULD have remembered his name, but when you have the power to make physics flip the table and go home in a huff, you can decide that such things are beneath you.