Roleplaying Below Average Stats

[Aximili]

Ok, exactly how is a player supposed to roleplay a character with a very low stat?

What I mean is, how is a character with a low mental stat supposed to be like? Cha is easier to define, but how do you draw the line between INT and WIS?

What's a 6 INT/18 WIS Druid going to be like?
And what about a 6 WIS/12 INT rogue?

[Fax Celestis]

Low-Wis-High-Int is easily represented as an intelligent person with severe "shiny object syndrome".

[Aximili]

Low-Wis-High-Int is easily represented as an intelligent person with severe "shiny object syndrome".

Yeah, but how do you describe an Inteligent person? Different people will have different opinions on that...

[Lord Tataraus]

Int - How much you know, or book learning. Low int means you didn't go to school, you don't know complex math (or even basic math) and such.
Wis - Common sense/instinct. This means you do stupid stuff, "I touch the acid" that kind of thing.
Cha - Very shy, shallow personality. This is the force of your personallity, you aren't outgoing at all, you never talk to anyone outside the group.

Hope that helps.

[Emperor Tippy]

Low stats is easy. Just think about whatever a 5 year old would do and do that. The real trick is playing someone smarter than you.

[Sardia]

The example I've heard used for the distinction is Edith Bunker and Richard Nixon. Edith-- High Wis, low Int. Nixon-- High Int, Low Wis.

[Dausuul]

Ok, exactly how is a player supposed to roleplay a character with a very low stat?

What I mean is, how is a character with a low mental stat supposed to be like? Cha is easier to define, but how do you draw the line between INT and WIS?

What's a 6 INT/18 WIS Druid going to be like?
And what about a 6 WIS/12 INT rogue?

I often play high Int/low Wis characters. The way I approach this is that such a character is very clever and is always coming up with ingenious plans, but is also massively overconfident and doesn't think through long-term consequences very well. He gets so focussed on the immediate goal that it doesn't occur to him to worry about what happens after the immediate goal is achieved.

The reverse is harder... not real sure how to do high Wis/low Int.

[Aximili]

Low stats is easy. Just think about whatever a 5 year old would do and do that. The real trick is playing someone smarter than you.

Indeed, but the problem is defining what part of the 5 year old's behavior describes each stats.

And yes, Lord Tatarus, it that's the kind of stuff I'm looking for.

(And thanks to all who are answering)

[Sardia]

The reverse is harder... not real sure how to do high Wis/low Int.

Slow and unschooled, yet full of useful insight. Picture someone brimming with folk wisdom, even if they're not particularly fond of the book learnin'.

[Clementx]

The reverse is harder... not real sure how to do high Wis/low Int.

Focus on the long-term and simple. People often miss what is right in front of their face because they are in mentally-constructed idea of what reality is. Intelligence helps you solve the riddle. Wisdom helps you see the trap of the riddle and not blurt out the wrong answer immediately.

Surprise surprise, zen masters have high Wisdom. Think along those lines.

[Variable Arcana]

Two thoughts:

1) Look at all *three* mental stats -- charisma is important, too.
2) Look at the skills governed by the stats.

Charisma: bluff/intimidate/diplomacy/perform/gather info/disguise
Wisdom: sense motive/spot/listen/profession
Intelligence: craft/knowledge/search/appraise/

What's a 6 INT/18 WIS Druid going to be like?
And what about a 6 WIS/12 INT rogue?

Assuming average Charisma for both...
Your Druid has a mind like a sieve for facts. He is a genius at noticing odd details of things, but fails to make the important connections between them (Spot vs. Search). He's not particularly good with people when he opens his mouth, but he's a good listener, and seems to intuitively understand where they're coming from.

Your rogue is slow to notice things, and easily bluffed, but he has a good memory for details. He might be the last person to notice an odd crack in the wall, but he'll be the first to put that together with the lack of dust on the floor near it and guess that there's a secret door there.

Of course, there are a great many different characters that you could build on any given set of attributes, but let the skills guide you -- the ones that come natural to the character, and the ones that don't.

[averagejoe]

Yeah, but how do you describe an Inteligent person? Different people will have different opinions on that...

Exactly. There isn't one correct answer for this, remember. If you wanted, you could call every one of us wrong and take your own interpertation.

That said, whenever I think of high int/low wis, I think of Red Mage and Black Mage from 8 Bit Theater, although they obviously overdo it for comedic effect.

[Deepblue706]

That said, whenever I think of high int/low wis, I think of Red Mage and Black Mage from 8 Bit Theater, although they obviously overdo it for comedic effect.

And then there's Fighter, who has 18s in everything.

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6 INT and 18 WIS....hmm

Well, think of what the OPPOSITE is.

15 INT and 3 WIS.

15 INT is smart.

Therefore, 6 INT is probably pretty dumb. Not necessarily *retarded*, however, certainly slow.

I'd say this person goes "Um...." and "Uhhh...." a lot. Might not get a lot of humor, but probably spends a good deal thinking about right and wrong. I'm reminded of the SNL skit "Caveman Lawyer".

"I'm just a caveman, but I know....(blah blah, X is wrong. Therefore, views contrary to my point of view aren't right, because I'm a caveman and this is a simple truth)."

This character may not have much to say about details or particulars, but has spent plenty of time thinking about that which would be most obvious and apparent at first glance.

12 INT and 6 WIS would be very different. Might learn fairly quick if taught properly, but probably very irresponsible and oblivious. Could be overconfident, ignorant, lazy, neglectful...I imagine a student that passes something like the first history test of a semester with a 90 and decides they don't have to study or do homework for the rest of their time in the class, at all, to continue achieving similar grades. They might also daydream a lot.

[Orzel]

I always belived

Int: ability to make sense of information and how fast you can do it
Wis: ability to passively gather obscure information.
Cha: abilty to display information corretlly

So high int/low wis is the "language barrirer". He/she misses doenst notice much but if you explain it or point it out they'll inderstand. A guy can't read Spanish. If you translate the sign that says "Dairy products here", he'll figure out that the place might be cool inside to preserve to food.

low int/high wis is the opposite. You can gather the info but not understand it. You can read "Dairy products here" then go to the meat market for cheese.

[HeinleinFan]

Low Wis, high Int is quick to assume, puts two and two together without thinking about how probable something is, and tends to plan deeply and intricately while forgetting some important detail. An example would be a character who sees the enemy army and either thinks up some daring scheme that will take way too long to implement, or forgets that the enemy would never act a certain way. ("Let's hold the half-orc sergeant hostage in exchange for the dragon's egg!" "Um, they're evil. They'll let him die." "Oh . . . right.")

High wisdom with a low intelligence was my paladin of freedom. She would listen to a problem involving society or morality or religion, and have the right answer. If you asked her about how to reduce the friction on a carriage wheel, she'd blink and ask, "I'm sorry, what was that word?" She wasn't uneducated, mind you - she just didn't have a mind for the sort of complicated facts that a really good craftsman or scientist might know. Similarly, she had strong moral convictions about good and evil (had to; paladin variant) but could not voice them very well, or present a good counterargument. She would do badly in a debate, but you would not convince her unless your argument was not just factually but morally correct.

And them's my 3.141592 cents.

[brian c]

I'm playing a monk right now with 18 wisdom and 9 intelligence; not extremely low intelligence but that's a pretty big difference. He has very keen senses, works well with others (14 cha) and is very kind, but he often forgets party members names. He had a vision from his god which i (somewhat) intentionally misinterpreted due to his low int. High wis and low int is someone simple, but perceptive. They pick up on how people are feeling and have keen senses (spot, listen, sense motive) but have bad memories and are bad with details (spot). Low int also means that you aren't very skilled, it takes longer for you to learn things. You likely have a small-ish vocabulary, but you use your words well.

[ElHugo]

Currently playing a Ftr/Warblade with 7/15 Wis/Int, and I decided that means he'll come up with cunning, elaborate plans and analyze things, know a lot (two knowledge skills, for a headbasher!) but isn't terribly sensible.

He charges things that don't want or need charging. Has delusions of immortality. Doesn't have back-up plans, because "how can this NOT work, seriously?", but will tie together bits of obscure historical knowledge with a love of explosions and yelling to come up with something great (though needlessly elaborate and quite possibly suicidally risky).

I should add that I'm a total DnD n00b though, as is the rest of our group, so I could be way off here.

[Caledonian]

Consider a high Int, low Wis baker.

High Int: has an easy time remembering the precise details and steps of recipes, can quickly come up with new recipes by combining aspects of previous ones, makes distinctions between subtly-different amounts of ingredients.

Low Wis: has difficulty following the recipe properly, tends to put things in the oven and forget about them until they're burned, can't tell which new recipes are likely to be delicious and which will probably be awful, so lots of time and resources are wasted on useless experimentation, can't remember where he put the measuring spoons and can't properly construct the foods without those aids.

Low Int: has problems remembering recipes and understanding the fine details of the ones put in front of him, doesn't produce new recipe ideas well and wants to stick with what he knows, and doesn't understand why precise measuring of ingredients or time is important.

High Wis: can determine whether a recipe is likely to be a good one without actually trying it, doesn't need to measure ingredients and time precisely because he 'knows' when the right amount of stuff or cooking is reached.

There's a reason Craft checks are Int while Profession are Wis.

[daggaz]

High wisdom, low intelligence? Forest Gump.

[martyboy74]

Wouldn't he have the Endurance feat as well? (Run Forest, Run!).

[Curmudgeon]

The reverse is harder... not real sure how to do high Wis/low Int.

This one can be fun. I once played a Barbarian ("Gar") with an INT of 3. His WIS was reasonable, so he had a good grasp of when to rage, when to flank, and when to Power Attack. But his basic understanding of language was very limited. To represent this I kept 50 3x5 cards with his entire vocabulary in LRU (least recently used) order. (This didn't include personal names.) When somebody talked to Gar, I'd pull out all the words that he recognized to determine what Gar understood of the conversation. Used cards got a tick mark and went on the top of the stack. I also kept a sheet to jot down words that weren't in Gar's vocabulary, with tick marks for frequency. If a word on the sheet exceeded the tick count of the card on the bottom of the stack, Gar forgot that word and substituted the new word instead.

The biggest problem that kept cropping up was keeping party members from purging useful words from Gar's recollection by frequent use of synonyms. "No" and "don't" caused all sorts of problems when they dropped off his current vocabulary...

[NullAshton]

High wisdom and low intelligence would be the stereotypical monk or something. A simple person, not much on words, but when he/she DOES say something, it's very profound with a lot of meaning. Very insightful, knows when to talk and when not to talk, and generally has a sixth sense telling him/her NOT TO DO SOMETHING.

[JadedDM]

Intelligence is knowledge, whereas Wisdom is the application of knowledge. For instance, if you were standing outside and it began to rain, your INT would tell you "It is raining." Your WIS would tell you "Get out of the rain before you catch a cold."

[Krellen]

For those familiar with Terry Pratchett's Diskworld series, Captain Carrot of the City Watch is an excellent example of a High Charisma, Mid Wisdom, Low Intelligence character (who also happens to be of Lawful Good alignment.)

[goat]

You have to remember what average is.

If 10 is average, then a person with 10 int, 10 wis, 10 cha should be the mentally "average" person.

Now, realise that 50% of the people you meet in day to day life are probably going to be at this level, or less than this in at least one of those stats.
I like to think of bonuses as being powers of ten. So, in terms of int a +1 bonus means you're on average, the smartest person in 10, +2, the smartest in a hundred and so on.
Negative scores go the other way. -1 means you'd be the slowest in 10, -2 the slowest in 100. Beyond there, it gets a bit dodgy, there's a lower limit, and no higher one.

SO, the vast majority of people have scores of 10-11. Which, as far as I remember is what they should be.

[Indon]

Two thoughts:

1) Look at all *three* mental stats -- charisma is important, too.
2) Look at the skills governed by the stats.

Charisma: bluff/intimidate/diplomacy/perform/gather info/disguise
Wisdom: sense motive/spot/listen/profession
Intelligence: craft/knowledge/search/appraise/

I think I'll favor this approach in future appraisal of characters according to their mental stats.

[Orzel]

Intelligence is knowledge, whereas Wisdom is the application of knowledge. For instance, if you were standing outside and it began to rain, your INT would tell you "It is raining." Your WIS would tell you "Get out of the rain before you catch a cold."

Actually you have it kinda backwards. Noticing the rain is not ability dependent. Intelligence determines how well your character learns and reasons. Knowing "Rain -> Wet -> Cold" is logic and based on Int. Wisdom describes a character’s willpower, common sense, perception, and intuition. Knowing "Cold -> Sick -> Bad" is common sense and based on Wis.

[JadedDM]

You would need intelligence to understand what is happening (that it is raining). It's your WIS that would allow you to use this information to your own benefit (by getting OUT of the rain.)

[Caledonian]

If you know to come in out of the rain, you have Wisdom.

If you can explain why you came in out of the rain, you have Intelligence.

If you can make someone else believe you did it because you'd melt otherwise, you have Charisma.

[Gungnir]

If you want to see what High Wisdom/Low Intelligence is, go watch anything with Goofy in it. He is the DEFINITION of high Wis/low Int.