[Pathfinder] 18 str, 7 dex, 18 con, 5 int, 7 wis, 18 cha

[Zhentarim]

Just how stupid is this character?

I could have almost the same build bumping int to 10 and wis to 12, but I’d need to drop con to 14.

My character is a pitborn tiefling with claws, a bite, horns, and a tail.

[hamishspence]

Depends who's writing. For some, even 3 Int is "stupid but not quite to the point of disability". For others, anything less than 8 Int (the minimum using Arrays) is below the minimum for normality.

[denthor]

The character has a quote

I had to do what I had to do.

I will drink to that.

Image a 50 I Q

Very little impulse control.

The opposite gender follows around like a puppy until he stutters when they speak.

No empathy those who use him are liked better then those who treat fairly but without telling the character how much they like him.

Bad bad judgement. If people give him coppers they are friends. Has something they will go into bad situation for.

[Zanos]

Around 5 IQ points per intelligence point maps 3d6 to the IQ curve pretty well, so about 85. Not particularly bright, but not disabled. Average people can probably tell he isn't very smart.

[16bearswutIdo]

I'm pretty sure 5 int would put his character pretty firmly at mental handicap, imo. Consider what someone with 5 strength or 5 con would look like. They'd be incredibly physically weak, frail, etc. 5 int would just be stupid as all hell 13 int is necessary to learn how to fight defensively and trip people well.


I once had a PC Barbarian go from 8 int to 3 int and the player played it as being barely able to form sentences over 3 words. He also later went up to 13 int after stealing a cloak of int and getting his intelligence boosted back up.

[Stelio Kontos]

On a pure percentage basis, 4.6% of average 3d6 stat people (no bonuses) will have an INT score of 5 or less.

4.8% of people will have an IQ score of 75 or less.

So, basically borderline mentally disabled, will likely have trouble following directions, can perform some basic functions but will need help with others.

Cliffs: pretty darned stupid.

[Zanos]

Thought the int was 7, not 5. So yeah, IQ of 75 then, pretty close to disabled.

[Kurald Galain]

Just how stupid is this character?
That's basically Forrest Gump.

[Telonius]

I'd call it for this guy:
:thog:

[Andor13]

So... Really strong. Really Tough. Clumsy.
Not bright at all. Not terribly perceptive. Charming.

What you have is a loveable, klutzy, goof. Think Ludo from Labyrinth. Possibly Fezzik from the Princess Bride.
Between being clumsy and imperceptive he probably breaks things a lot, and then gets really upset about it and cries for a while. He is a hazard to civilization, and he and his friends are probably covered with bruises and pottery shards, but he's so basically good natured that no one can stay mad at him.

Should be hilarious to play. Try not to sit on anyone's familiar.

[KillianHawkeye]

That's basically Forrest Gump.

I would say that Forrest Gump probably had a fairly decent Wisdom and not quite as high of a Charisma stat. So he's more like Forrest Gump without the meaningful catch phrases and semi-philosophical anecdotes, but everyone still really likes him for some reason.

[TotallyNotEvil]

Bad enough that I'd definitely suggest bringing him up to INT 8, maybe Wis too.

Drop your CON to 17, bump INT by 3. Done.

Next time you can you just round off the CON score, or perhaps ask for an item with an odd enhancement bonus, or buy a Manual of +1 CON.

If you don't plan to ever round that off, take it down to 16 and round off your DEX to 10, or perhaps use it to bump DEX to 8 and WIS to 9, or vice versa.

[tterreb]

Lennie, if you've ever read "Of Mice and Men".

[hamishspence]

I'm pretty sure 5 int would put his character pretty firmly at mental handicap, imo. Consider what someone with 5 strength or 5 con would look like. They'd be incredibly physically weak, frail, etc.

A Str 5 person can lift 50 lb over their head, and lift 100 lb off the ground, but find it difficult to move around with - moving at only 5 ft per round.

[paddyfool]

How stupid your character roleplays will depend a little on how many skillpoints he gets per level. If he goes sorcerer or fighter and gets 0 skill points he'll seem a lot dumber than if he goes bard and gets 3. Going barbarian and getting 1 skill point per level would also seem pretty harsh, but a lot more playable than 0 since at least he gets to be proficient at some things.

Incidentally, if he doesn't have any skill points to invest in diplomacy, a level 5 player with int 18 and cha 5 with full ranks in it would be better than him at this.

If you can persuade your dm to let you take the 3.5 feat Nymph's kiss, he could profit by it a ton.

[Psyren]

Dumber than Elan and Thog. Think about that for a second.

[hamishspence]

Dumber than Elan and Thog. Think about that for a second.
Given that Int 3 characters are still capable of adventuring - it's possible that The Giant conceived of Thog as Int 3.


I don't consider any of the characters in the entire comic to be "mentally handicapped." Thog is not smart compared to Roy, but he does not have an atypical neurology. He is capable of determining right from wrong, and chooses wrong consistently. I know people like to project this idea onto Thog that he's not responsible for his actions because he's dumb, but…he is responsible. We know he is because the orcs on the island are the same as him and don't murder people just for fun.

In D&D terms, anyone who has an Intelligence of 3 or higher is capable of determining right from wrong (because they have an alignment); speak, read, and write a language fluently; and generally looking after themselves on a daily basis while adventuring in a dangerous dungeon. This does not describe most real-world people with mental handicaps (to my knowledge). Which means the bulk of the spectrum of mental handicaps probably sits somewhere below 3 and above 2, because it's a system designed for action-adventure and it doesn't need more granularity than that.

[Psyren]

Eh, I doubt that quote was meant to imply Thog had the bare minimum cognition to be an adventurer. In fact, he clearly states that the orcs on the island are "the same as him," and an entire settlement of Int 3 creatures strains disbelief. Dumb yes, Int 3 no.

[Zanos]

I guess it's up for the Giant to say since it is his character, but Thog quite clearly does not have sufficient cognition to be considered a functioning adult by any modern standard. While he can clearly feed himself, his intelligence is such that I doubt he could hold any sort of employment that wasn't hitting people with blunt and/or sharp objects. Remember, this is the same character who confessed Nale's entire Evil plan to the authorities when asked because apparently he didn't see anything wrong with it, and is easily persuaded by his hated enemies with ice cream. He has the reasoning abilities off a child, at best.

I won't make the "Thog is too stupid to be responsible for his actions" argument, because even young children can often determine right from wrong, but he clearly is not neurotypical.

[hamishspence]

The Class & Geekery thread takes the approach that Elan's Int is anything from 4 to 9) and so Thog, being less smart than Elan, could have anything from 3-8 Int.

[Gemini476]

Just how stupid is this character?

I could have almost the same build bumping int to 10 and wis to 12, but I’d need to drop con to 14.

My character is a pitborn tiefling with claws, a bite, horns, and a tail.

The 3.5 PHB has a handy table for this, so I'll just reframe the most relevant rows.


INT




3

Gray render, tendriculos, rast



4-5

Otyugh, griffon, displacer beast



6-7

Troll, hell hound, ogre, yrthak



This character is smarter than a grey render, as smart as a displacer beast, and dumber than an ogre. Make of that what you will.

[JyP]

Just how stupid is this character?
My character is a pitborn tiefling with claws, a bite, horns, and a tail.
As he has top shape - strength, constitution & charisma, I think he was effectively born in a pit, and trained to be a gladiator in a kind of Blood War arena from a very young age. He was trained non stop on combat, and nothing else. And by nothing else, I mean no language skills, certainly no reading skills, no social skills - he was trained literally as a war ferret to fight in tunnels, where you power your way through opponents. Now as an adult, he may be way out of his depth - surely limited vocabulary, oblivious to social cues, like an awakened wolverine...

[paddyfool]

What do you plan for him to be good at doing, though? Barbarian could work, especially if you wanted to play up a feral beast vibe with all those natural weapons. Bard, as I said, could work too, performing in whatever manner you deem most fit. Other classes might only work well with specific archetypes, eg the Dandy (hailing from an infernal court, perhaps https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/ranger/archetypes/paizo-ranger-archetypes/dandy-ranger-archetype/ )

[icefractal]

Pretty dumb. Not "unable to function" dumb, but enough that it's obvious. And lacking any kind of good judgment either.

However, with that high Charisma, people would tend to make excuses and see his actions in a better light than deserved, at least until they get to know him:
"He's the kind of guy who leads by action, not by words."
"Sometimes the simplest ideas are the most profound."
"Huh, what he just said sounded really dumb, but maybe I'm the one who's not getting it? Better see if anyone else says anything."

And likewise, I would say he doesn't sound dumb. He sounds calm, in control, like he knows exactly what to do ... it's just that his ideas are mostly terrible.
Scout: "Ok, so the main gate is heavily fortified, the walls are not impossible to climb but they're well guarded, and all the soldiers there are fanatical demon cultists who will kill us on sight. How do we get in?"
Thog: "Simple. We walk in through the front door."
Scout: "Wow, got it figured out already? Ok, what's the trick? Disguises? Or do you have a mole?"
Thog: (confidently) "Easier than that. We just kill the guards out front and push the gate open."
Scout: "You already figured out a way to open the four-story-tall hell-iron doors? That's amazing, we only knew about them since yesterday!"
Thog: "Of course I have a way - it may be heavier than a horse, but I can push two horses with a running start, so that's that."
Scout: "You, um ... what? We're talking about the same gates right? Really big? Weighs more than a hundred horses? Those gates?"
Thog: "A hundred is more than one, but two is also more than one. Problem solved."
Scout: ...

[Zhentarim]

He is a melee-focused oracle with a wolf-scarred face.

Doesn't everybody get a minimum of 1 skill point per level?

[DarkSoul]

So he's this guy. (https://youtu.be/D96V7F8X4Uc)

[Zhentarim]

So he's this guy. (https://youtu.be/D96V7F8X4Uc)

he fits the bill

[TerrickTerran]

you do get at least 1 skill point per level.

[Spore]

Stupid and unwise people still have varying personalities. So the first question you have to ask yourself is: What do you want?

You could be a likeable and fun guy like Forrest Gump. You could be an aggressive and overall mean person (Doomguy). You can be an average joe that keeps to himself (and due to his charisma still never gets let alone). You can be a manipulative person without much foresight. You can be a silent BSF (big stupid fighter) type. You can be oblivious and distant, always somehow choosing the solution that is physically most difficult but mentally easy (why take the bridge half a mile down the river when you can just swim through? mostly without risk of drowning).

You can still have relatively complex emotions (and not understand them). You can even be the planning guy for your group because it is healthy for a group if the constantly overthinking rogue or wizard has a straight counterpart that just proposes going directly for it sometimes.

:haley:If we go in and circumvent the guards on the first floor, we will have an easy time on the second one. We can't have the guards trigger an alarm.
:thog:Why not? No one can notice it when everyone is dead.

[Zhentarim]

Stupid and unwise people still have varying personalities. So the first question you have to ask yourself is: What do you want?

You could be a likeable and fun guy like Forrest Gump. You could be an aggressive and overall mean person (Doomguy). You can be an average joe that keeps to himself (and due to his charisma still never gets let alone). You can be a manipulative person without much foresight. You can be a silent BSF (big stupid fighter) type. You can be oblivious and distant, always somehow choosing the solution that is physically most difficult but mentally easy (why take the bridge half a mile down the river when you can just swim through? mostly without risk of drowning).

You can still have relatively complex emotions (and not understand them). You can even be the planning guy for your group because it is healthy for a group if the constantly overthinking rogue or wizard has a straight counterpart that just proposes going directly for it sometimes.

:haley:If we go in and circumvent the guards on the first floor, we will have an easy time on the second one. We can't have the guards trigger an alarm.
:thog:Why not? No one can notice it when everyone is dead.

I am 2 weeks into a new special education teaching job and there are a few kids who would say that 2nd part in blue.