Game rules question INT and WIS

[Ron Miel]

It's about 10 years since I last did any roleplaying. So, just remind me please, what is the difference between Intelligence and Wisdom?

(And I do mean in terms of game rules/ OOTS world, not the difference in the real world)

[Spiryt]

Wisdom.


Wisdom describes a character’s willpower, common sense, perception, and intuition. While Intelligence represents one’s ability to analyze information, Wisdom represents being in tune with and aware of one’s surroundings. Wisdom is the most important ability for clerics and druids, and it is also important for paladins and rangers. If you want your character to have acute senses, put a high score in Wisdom. Every creature has a Wisdom score.

You apply your character’s Wisdom modifier to:

* Will saving throws (for negating the effect of charm person and other spells).
* Heal, Listen, Profession, Sense Motive, Spot, and Survival checks. These are the skills that have Wisdom as their key ability.

Clerics, druids, paladins, and rangers get bonus spells based on their Wisdom scores. The minimum Wisdom score needed to cast a cleric, druid, paladin, or ranger spell is 10 + the spell’s level.

Intelligence


Intelligence determines how well your character learns and reasons. This ability is important for wizards because it affects how many spells they can cast, how hard their spells are to resist, and how powerful their spells can be. It’s also important for any character who wants to have a wide assortment of skills.

You apply your character’s Intelligence modifier to:

* The number of languages your character knows at the start of the game.
* The number of skill points gained each level. (But your character always gets at least 1 skill point per level.)
* Appraise, Craft, Decipher Script, Disable Device, Forgery, Knowledge, Search, and Spellcraft checks. These are the skills that have Intelligence as their key ability.

A wizard gains bonus spells based on her Intelligence score. The minimum Intelligence score needed to cast a wizard spell is 10 + the spell’s level.

An animal has an Intelligence score of 1 or 2. A creature of humanlike intelligence has a score of at least 3.

Kinda fit "Real word" concepts on this. Although it of course depends on concepts.

Also fit the OotS.

[ObadiahtheSlim]

Knowledge vs Perception/Intuition.

A person with a high int and a low wis will know a great many facts, but be oblivious to the world around him and will lack the common sense to apply the knowledge outside of an academic setting. Will excel at your maths and sciences.

A person with a high wis and low int will be rather perceptive and catch things other people would otherwise miss. However for as smart as they are, they will be unable to have the technical know-how to supplement their intuitions. Will excel at your civics and literature.

[Ron Miel]

So would you say Elan has high Wisdom then? He often thinks of things that the others miss. Like the fact that there are three gates, instead of two, for instance, or not trying to escape from the net trap. And he certainly knows about literature.

[d'Bwobsling]

So would you say Elan has high Wisdom then? He often thinks of things that the others miss. Like the fact that there are three gates, instead of two, for instance, or not trying to escape from the net trap. And he certainly knows about literature.

I doubt it. Roy says (or implies) that he has low wisdom here (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0080.html)

[Trizap]

I would say Elan only has like a -1 modifier on his intelligence score, y'know? hes a little stupid, but not that stupid, if anything, I think his wisdom score is the lowest

[WarriorTribble]

@ObadiahtheSlim
So would you say INT determines how much data is in one's noggin and possibly how much data one can cram into the brain, while WIS determines how one can shuffle, analyze, and generally make use of said data?

[ericgrau]

In its simplest form, d&d wisdom is awareness-of/interacting-with/understanding/etc. things around you.
In its simplest form, d&d intelligence is reasoning.

The example given for high int and low wis is the absent minded professor. Decent wis but no int is an automoton. Many constructs have these stats, in fact.

@above: No, those are both int. The 2nd exemplifies int better than the 1st, even. And if the 1st is just raw data storage and not true learning (being able to understand, interpret and apply), then the 1st isn't even int at all.

[chibibar]

I always consider INT to be book smart and Wis is street smarts.

[Gnomish Lab]

Knowledge vs Perception/Intuition.



Int is more the ability to learn* than the knowledge itself, IIRC.

*And also to understand complex system, use logic, formulate arguments, ect.

[DreadSpoon]

Quite simply, at least in the third edition rules, Wisdom is a stupid name. It should be called Perception. That's really all it is. They just decided not to change it from older editions.

[King of Nowhere]

I always tought that a computer should have a very high INT (enormous knowledge, great logic capacity as long as it involves calculation) but no WIS (no ability to understand something that wasn't put in it before).
Anyway thay can't be seen as separated, they're both part of a mind and they influences each other. If I were to DMing, I would require often (INT+WIS)/2 as a modifier for some actions that involves many tought processes.

[One_Wolf]

So would you say Elan has high Wisdom then? He often thinks of things that the others miss. Like the fact that there are three gates, instead of two, for instance, or not trying to escape from the net trap. And he certainly knows about literature.

I think Elan has both a low Wisdom and Intelligence. However as a bard he has "bardic knowledge." Thus I believe most of Elan's "insight" comes from this ability. (Of course used in the funniest way possible.)

-One Wolf

[Evil DM Mark3]

And genre savyness (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GenreSavvy). Don't forget genre Savyness

[Deme]

I would say his insights come less from intelligence or wisdom, and more from the fact that he kind of lacks both. I know that sounds wierd, but let me try to explain... In the "there are 3 gates" scenario, Roy didn't realize it because he was too busy thinking about legalese. There's a chance no one else was thinking about it, because they were pondering their own questions and answers. Elan had a simple question, got a simple answer. In letting his mind wander, he sometimes notices something the others might have too narrow a focus to notice, something too obvious to be deemed relevant.

...that, and it's funny.

[ZFR]

The way I understood it:

Having high intelligence means good tactical decisions. It is important for mages, alchemists, inventors who need to know how to learn, analyze data, solve concrete problems... The opposite of that is stupidity.

Having high wisdom means good strategical decisions. It is important for priests, druids, clerics, paladins who need to see the "big picture". The opposite of that is foolishness.

So for example we can have an intelligent-foolish con who can daily cheat people out of some money, but spends it recklessly and is always penniless anyway, and a wise-stupid farmer, who gets "cheated" in the market daily, but in the long run manages to keep his farm running and his family fed.

Though of course often they go together. People who can make good short term decisions can also make good long term ones, and people who are stupid are also foolish...