Intelligence is not a superpower

[martixy]

I'm saying that assuming that an int 40 person is inherently a super batman is entirely outside both rules and normal meaning. It's an assertion without evidence.

Sure, you can make such a character. But it has little to do with the int score. You can have a high int character without those traits. Or a lower (relative) character with those traits. It's entirely orthogonal to the game. So saying that every level 20 wizard is by default a xanatos chess master is to go well outside the rules and claim benefits they don't get by default. It's cheating.

There isn't a specific measure of intelligence, broadly. Even IQ tests only measure a certain subset of intelligence characteristics. In that sense, satisfactory evidence will never exist.

But let me get to my primary argument, because I'm not even sure what we're talking about anymore:
1. Superhuman cognitive abilities are absolutely a superpower. By definition.
2. Cognitive abilities are covered by the 3 mental stats in D&D - Int, Wis and Cha. A subset of those is covered by the Int score in the game. A character with an extremely high score therefore has a superpower and would be able to do things outside the realm of normal human ability.
3. When talking about intelligence we need to disambiguate between the Int score, and normal meaning of "intelligence", which is why apart from the first sentence I use "cognitive abilities" to substitute the normal meaning.


I will assume "such a character" means a "super batman". We don't really have a good definition of all of Batman's abilities and they change from writer to writer and continuity to continuity. So all this talk is by necessity highly subjective and nebulous. When you say "those traits" I have no idea what traits you are talking about.

But you can go by what the source books say is covered by the INT score, and a character with a high INT score will be exceptional in the domains of cognition and knowledge covered by that score. For example, a character with high INT and low CHA might be bad at predicting individual people's behaviour, but might be able to model in his head the flow of a panicked crowd.

I can tell you however that class affiliation and "xanatos chess mastery" are orthogonal. And while for a true chessmaster, all mental stats play a role, IMO the intelligence score covers the majority of cognitive abilities required to be a xanatos chessmaster.

And I have absolutely no clue what you mean by "It's cheating". Who is cheating at what? And how?