Roleplaying Geniuses

[Dhavaer]

This is sort of a counterpart to the 'Roleplaying Barbarians' thread.

How would you play a character with:

Int 16, Wis 12, Cha 16?

Int 20, Wis 18, Cha 25?

Int 25, Wis 16, Cha 14?

[Bouldering Jove]

With high Int in general, ask the DM for insights. It's the only way I can think of to roleplay cleverer than I am, unless someone with a higher Int here can suggest something?

[Skyserpent]

I have a character with very high mental stats, Intelligence, Charisma, Wisdom in that order, and he's a machiavellian schemer and trickster... He's been one of my favorite characters ever. He's something of a homage to David Xanatos from the Gargoyles Animated TV Series from a while back...

[oriong]

when this comes up I always say don't worry about your ability scores: look to your skills. What you know and what you're is always more important than what your raw potential is. A person with Int 18 and all his skill ranks in a Fighter's class skills is not going to seem that much more intelligent to most people than a 'clever' fighter (Int 13) other than a better vocabulary. Someone with a ton of knowledge skills on the other hand, even with an int of 12, probably seems a lot smarter even if they aren't (they're educated, not intelligent).

Ask for default skill rolls to figure out 'what you know' or 'what you can figure out' and beyond that just request that your DM give advice when feasible and maybe allow the other PCs to chip in ideas.

[Scalenex]

With high Int in general, ask the DM for insights. It's the only way I can think of to roleplay cleverer than I am, unless someone with a higher Int here can suggest something?

It's easy to play someone at least slightly smarter than yourself. Given that almost by definition, players have more time to reason out responses to problems than their characters do. Especially if there is a break between session and you have the free time to mill these things over.

As for playing someone way smarter than yourself. I don't know. My group tends to just ignore that and just enjoy the skill points and bonus spells.

I often wondered how to play someone less intelligent than yourself. Since as a player the urge to come up with creative solutions is high and since it's a vital part of the game, should not be discouraged. My gaming group rarely makes dump stats of Intelligence or Wisdom fortunately. However they put Charisma in the crapper for anyone other than sorcerers, clerics, bards, and paladins (all coincidentally unpopular choices in my group anyway).

[Cybren]

It's easy for me to roleplay a character with lower int than my own

[Golthur]

It's easy for me to roleplay a character with lower int than my own

Agreed, although it gets frustrating as all hell when you know the answer to something and the rest of the group doesn't.

As for playing someone smarter than you are, I'd say preparation is the key. Make contingencies for everything, and spend a great deal of time thinking about them out of game. Harness the power of these boards to come up with them, and keep them all in a nice little indexed notebook for easy reference at the time.

You might also want to ask your DM (unless you are the DM, and this is about villains) to give you a bit more time to think about your actions - yet have them take effect in game as if you'd thought of them instantly.

[Machete]

Why, just be myself of course!

Kidding aside. A small amount of choice and fair metagaming can indeed give your character that feeling of "dang that was smart."

[Emperor Tippy]

This is a problem I run into with wizards all the time. Going by WoTC's guidelines of 1 Int point equals 10 IQ points 18 Int is the equivalent of an IQ of 180. In Point Buy that is what most of my wizards start at. And at level 20 they are pushing 35 Int, an IQ greater than that of Stephen Hawking's or Albert Einstein. It's just so far above my head to not even be funny any more.

My DM solved the problem by giving me effectively unlimited time to come up with stuff to do and to debate with the other people about what they can think of to do (with DM input as well). Its one of the reasons that I get annoyed when ever anyone says that its meta knowledge for a wizard to plan for whatever they throw at it. Anything that the player plans is not even half of what someone really that intelligent or wise could and would plan.

A friend of mine said this once and I find it very true: "Intelligence doesn't determine what you do, merely how effectively you do it."

[Seffbasilisk]

High Cha is the easiest of the stats to portray, just have an intangeable...'aura' of sorts. Take charge, be confident, etc.

High Wis is difficult, especially for people with low wis IRL (like my buddy Evan), I'd guess rolling sense motive for almost everything would help.

High Int.... Play a post by post game on the internet. Spend 24 hours thinking of a response you'd say in a second. Bounce it off buddies to get the feel for it. Layer it in meanings, etc.

[Tokiko Mima]

Intelligence, from my view is a rating of how many facts you've managed to store and can recall quickly if necessary. It's not necessarily cleverness, though it is easier for a more intelligent person to be cunning.

I would play a character that just knew a lot. Make a comment about the genus and family of a random flower in the meadow the party is passing through. Verbally use logic to prove and disprove assertions or hypothesis presented by other party members (be tactful! No one likes a know-it-all, even if you do). A genius can arrive at correct conclusions and estimates with lightning speed.

If your character is a tactical genius, take roleplaying cues from chess grandmaster... always be 35+ moves ahead of any enemy. Always have a backup plan for emergencies, because any D&D genius knows that bad rolls happen more than 5% of the time.

[Maglor_Grubb]

This is a problem I run into with wizards all the time. Going by WoTC's guidelines of 1 Int point equals 10 IQ points 18 Int is the equivalent of an IQ of 180. In Point Buy that is what most of my wizards start at. And at level 20 they are pushing 35 Int, an IQ greater than that of Stephen Hawking's or Albert Einstein. It's just so far above my head to not even be funny any more.

My DM solved the problem by giving me effectively unlimited time to come up with stuff to do and to debate with the other people about what they can think of to do (with DM input as well). Its one of the reasons that I get annoyed when ever anyone says that its meta knowledge for a wizard to plan for whatever they throw at it. Anything that the player plans is not even half of what someone really that intelligent or wise could and would plan.

A friend of mine said this once and I find it very true: "Intelligence doesn't determine what you do, merely how effectively you do it."

1 point 10 IQ points? Allright, I think we have a new Most Illogical Thing. I always thought of inteligence (and all the other stats, for that matter) to be relative - the difference between 2 and 3 being for greater than between 14 and 18.

[Dhavaer]

1 point 10 IQ points? Allright, I think we have a new Most Illogical Thing. I always thought of inteligence (and all the other stats, for that matter) to be relative - the difference between 2 and 3 being for greater than between 14 and 18.

I think it's the other way around, with 17-18 being a bigger gap than 5-6. I'm basing this on the strength table; the higher the strength, the bigger the jump.

[Maglor_Grubb]

With 10 int being 100 IQ, this would mean an int of 20 if a lot higher than 200? Yeah, right. And how come all animals sit on int 1 or 2? I'd say thats because it represents as much as int 8-14, or something.

[Dhavaer]

I don't really think that Int and IQ match up well at all. A combination of Int and Wis would probably be more accurate. Animal intelligence is probably a different scale altogether; with tricks and so on mostly replacing skill points.

[Pegasos989]

With 10 int being 100 IQ, this would mean an int of 20 if a lot higher than 200? Yeah, right. And how come all animals sit on int 1 or 2? I'd say thats because it represents as much as int 8-14, or something.

Int 20 over 200 sounds very reasonable to me.

NPC made with elite array needs to have leveled to 20th level before he gets int 20. If sixth of people have int 20, it means that one sixth of 20th level people would have IQ 200. And this was only counting player classes, which are like 1% of population... So take amount of 20th level people, and divide it by 600... While IQ 200 is extremely high, I don't think it is that rare.

I think that one way to look at it would be INT 10 = IQ 100 and every point of diffrence means 15 IQ. So int 12 would be IQ 130, int 8 would be IQ 70.

[Viscount Einstrauss]

There's an easy way to do this, but it takes adding a game mechanic.

Any time when the player would like a little extra information on an appropriate path or action to do next, they can call upon either their intelligence or wisdom to figure it out. They make an int or wis check, and relay that information to the DM. The DM, who already knows the game inside and out, can thus either give an intelligent deduction of what the PC already knows in the case of a high intelligence and recommend a course of action based on their roll, or they can give them a "hunch" based on things they haven't seen or know yet with a high wisdom roll.

This is assuming that intelligence is more what you know, wisdom is more what you feel.

Charisma's the easiest. The higher your charisma, the more likeable you are. You're smooth and everyone enjoys your company. I use pure charisma rolls to strike up quick conversations with people, which entirely bypasses the need for gather information checks at the expense of how friggin' hard it is to make the check with charisma alone. Failure means that your only option to get that info for another 24 hours is to perform a gather information check. Also, doing it by charisma is instantaneous instead of taking the standard couple hours.

[Maglor_Grubb]

Int 20 over 200 sounds very reasonable to me.

NPC made with elite array needs to have leveled to 20th level before he gets int 20. If sixth of people have int 20, it means that one sixth of 20th level people would have IQ 200. And this was only counting player classes, which are like 1% of population... So take amount of 20th level people, and divide it by 600... While IQ 200 is extremely high, I don't think it is that rare.

I think it is. I think we might have had 2 or 3 persons in the whole history of mankind with an IQ of 210 (which would be int 20, if 10-11 is 10 points and the steps get bigger every point). There are adventurers walking around with an inteligence of 21 or 22. It is not even that high for your average wizard, but I'd deem an IQ of 220+ humanly impossible, or as improbable as you can get.

But those are adventurers, and everyone knows the whole point of D&D is getting to play superhumans. But to make it feasable to let potential intelegence go up in the 30's or even higher, I say it makes a lot more sense to make every increase in int be less in IQ.

[Athenodorus]

IQ isn't exactly a great measure of intelligence, either. It is a good statistical test and all, but picking "2" out of 2, 3, 5, 7, 9 as the odd-number-out (it is even!) instead of "9" (it isn't prime!) isn't proof of sublime understanding of the universe.

[Deepblue706]

IQ isn't exactly a great measure of intelligence, either. It is a good statistical test and all, but picking "2" out of 2, 3, 5, 7, 9 as the odd-number-out (it is even!) instead of "9" (it isn't prime!) isn't proof of sublime understanding of the universe.

That question wasn't done by MENSA now, was it? They usually take more time in making sure there aren't really multiple solutions to the problems they give. Questions like the one you mention strike me as the sort you'd only find on "Bob's IQ Test", located conveniently on 'his' homepage.

IQ can tell one a little, and a lot. Only a little, if your mind is not honed, if you do not spend much time learning, are distracted, or simply don't try. With a high IQ, people will more often see you as clever, but not necessarily a genius.

IQ can tell one a lot, if you are well-learned, spend time focusing your thought, and are enthusiastic about what you're doing.

I believe you've heard how Einstein kinda sucked in school? Though I honestly don't know if it's true or not, I could easily imagine it to be so. I think I also heard something about Isaac Newton being a pretty poor scholar, earlier on, as well.

IQ doesn't = success, IQ = potential.

I would say that INT basically is IQ, but WIS, CHA, and CON would all actually play a fair part in how well it shows. Without using caution, without showing confidence, without living a healthy life, without spending time for introspection, without socializing, without reading, ect...your 18 INT might look lot more like a 13. IQ measures your talents, and the most basic power of your brain, overall.

INT is surely not IQ divided by 10, because that would make it inconsistent with the STR chart's progression, with 3d6 percentages (and the bell-curve), and would also state that there is no difference between an IQ of 100 and 110. Or 140 and 150. 160 and 170. Okay, spell-level difference...but nothing else? The higher you go, the larger the gaps. It just plainly doesn't make sense using that method.

Now, onto actually answering the OP...

16 INT, 12 WIS, 16 CHA: This person is at least above average in everything mental, apparently. I would play them as a stunning, daring, and attractive leader-like figure who, although doesn't know the answers to the universe (I'm talking about WIS here), is aware, centered, and calm. I would have to make some effort to be clever as I played, to show this character's cunning. But, I could just say he just learns fast - maybe, he could be a slightly younger character than the others to show that he's highly capable despite being rather youthful.

The others.........uh.............

Yeah, I'd have to spend some time thinking about those. And, I'm not inclined to do so. I'll just say "Q" comes to mind with the 25 int one (Though, he did claim to have an IQ of 2,005. Maybe a similar personality would fit, though...).

[Valairn]

IQ tests are mostly off base, seeing things differently doesn't equate to seeing things better

[Deepblue706]

IQ tests are mostly off base, seeing things differently doesn't equate to seeing things better

Usually in IQ test questions there is only one logical answer, though. After seeing some answers where I went wrong, I eventually found myself saying, "OH! I forgot about...(whatever)." If you're taking a proper test, it shouldn't be about seeing differently, but rather just seeing, at all.

[Deus Mortus]

Well I have an IQ of 200+ and most people tend to say I must be a genius, I have an urge to post a bit here.

High intelligence isn't always having everything right and knowing a lot of stuff, intelligence is more like a small boost when trying things, while someone might take 30 minutes to figure out an equation, you will be able to see it in 5 minutes, so to speak.

So don't play them as all knowing, just a tad quicker mentally, this way they will gather more knowledge quicker and thus seem to know more, but if you character makes no attempt to do so, he won't learn nothing. In other words, let the char grow...

[Douglas]

About the intelligence to IQ comparison, comparing the standard deviations of the two distributions yields pretty close to 1 int = 5 IQ, with a base of 10 int = 100 IQ. This puts your standard 18 int wizard at IQ 140, which isn't all that incredibly rare. To get to the Einstein and Stephen Hawking levels of 200+ IQ you'd need 30+ intelligence, which typically only high level characters who have both focused on it and have major magical boosts have. While these kinds of characters may be relatively common among PCs, they are spectacularly rare among the general population of most campaign worlds.

[The Vorpal Tribble]

All you really have to be is smarter than your DM. After that it doesn't really matter