Roleplaying with screwy stats

[tribble]

How exactly does one roleplay with weird stats? for example, if someone rolls 18 intelligence and, say, four for wisdom, how does that work? or here's one even worse: high strength and low constitution.the biggest problem I have with these is that in real life, smart people seem to have better judgment, by virtue of their intellectual capacity and speed. strong people tend to be tougher, because you have to work your way up to lifting a hundred pounds, and part of that training would also increase general health and toughness. so how can one do it?

[Revanmal]

High-Str/Low Con - "Watch me throw this giant rock!" *WHOOSH!* "HA-HA! ...OW my back!"

High Int/Low Wis - "This appears to be a sleeping Red Dragon, a Great Wyrm of over 200 ft. at that, if I do not miss my guess. What say we wake him and see how his day is going?"

[Tempest Fennac]

High Int, low Wis is easy; they would be highly knowledgable while coming up with good plans and ideas, but due to a lack of common sense, there would always be something wrong with the ideas (Millie from a comic strip called Ozy and Millie is a good example of this). High Str, low Con would suggest the person does a lot of weight-lifting (or something similar), but that their immune system is poor, and that they possibly don't get enough cardio (muscle mass would be a liability in this case).

[Blackfang108]

How exactly does one roleplay with weird stats? for example, if someone rolls 18 intelligence and, say, four for wisdom, how does that work? or here's one even worse: high strength and low constitution.the biggest problem I have with these is that in real life, smart people seem to have better judgment, by virtue of their intellectual capacity and speed. strong people tend to be tougher, because you have to work your way up to lifting a hundred pounds, and part of that training would also increase general health and toughness. so how can one do it?

Not all smart people have high wisdom.

I can think of at least two people in my group.

The one is a guy who started in engineering and then got an English degree instead. None of us have a clue what he's going to use it for. He's fairly smart, book wise, but he's an idiot. He knows a lot, but he can never properly put it together.

Then there's me. High INT, mediocre WIS. I know a lot of things. I'm good adt tactics, but every plan Has a flaw that I need pointed out ot me.

[Malfunctioned]

High strength low constiution could be played by someone being very prone to disease so they can easily lift a wagon above their head but a light cold would send them to rest for a couple of weeks and a high intelligence low wisdom seems to me like a very absent-minded professor type.

[BRC]

High Int/Low Wis: Mad Scientist. Smart enough to take out a small army, dumb enough to take on a large one. Perhaps an idiot-savvant. Wis is primarily an awareness, so they would be easily distracted and easily swayed, though highly effective.

High Str/Low Con: Waif Fu. Very strong, though they get tired quickly and are quite frail. Just because you can punch dosn't mean you can be punched.

[Spiryt]

High strenght - low Con:

Many variants. It can be naturally big boy, with large muscles and fat, able to lift heavy things, punch hard, and generally be living ram, but without any training, slow, easily winded, bad diet, suspectible to illness... An oaf, generally. This type would probably need fairly low Dexterity too.

Add alergies, chronical ilnesess,... Many options.

Generally any character with strong, powerful body, but without any stomach, pain resistance and endurance.

High Int, low wisdom is even easier.

Highly intelligent, educated "nerd", with poor senses, common sense, insecure, ability to orientate in surroundings, practical skills like survival or any proffesion... Many theoritical skills, but practice is a problem... and so on.

Many things can be developed here.

[Deepblue706]

High STR low CON can also be a fat guy.

High INT low WIS is commonly described to be appropriate for the "Absent-Minded Professor".

Ridiculously-high INT and ridiculously-low WIS could be, uh, Professor Hubert Farnsworth.

[Spiryt]

High STR low CON can also be a fat guy.

To play in opposite team for a while -

It also indeed causes some paradoxes, beacuse Con also means HP - and fat, big guy would be certainly more resistant to strikes (or poisons) than some small, wiry guy (or a gnome) who otherwise can run/swim and all much better and longer, and is generally healthier.

Of course HP, even sheer Con granted HP definetly isn't only sheer strike resistance. But certainly this matters too.

[Devils_Advocate]

High Int/Low Wis: Mad Scientist. Smart enough to take out a small army, dumb enough to take on a large one. Perhaps an idiot-savvant. Wis is primarily an awareness, so they would be easily distracted and easily swayed, though highly effective.

"I shall now use my mastery of the arcane arts to cross owls with bears! For science!"

(Later) "Results interesting, but ultimately disappointing. Shall have to adjust formula to ensure that lion/eagle hybrid will have wings."

[Deepblue706]

To play in opposite team for a while -

It also indeed causes some paradoxes, beacuse Con also means HP - and fat, big guy would be certainly more resistant to strikes (or poisons) than some small, wiry guy (or a gnome) who otherwise can run/swim and all much better and longer, and is generally healthier.

Perhaps, in regards to the poisons.

Although, I don't think a fat person should have more HP, even if they have more mass. Muscle is tougher to get through. And, if you've got extra weight, you're probably going to get exhausted in a fight sooner. I don't know how most people feel about damage, but I generally don't rule many things to necessarily be an actual hit (instead just declaring them to be moments where the hit party loses a great deal of energy).

I blame the system.

[sonofzeal]

High Int Low Wis - IMO, he wouldn't lack "common sense" so much as be highly absentminded and forgetful. His plans will SOUND great, but often forget to factor in some added variable. This is not to say they won't work, just that they're slightly unreliable. He'd also tend to not notice obvious things around him, such as that his fighter buddy is being hit by arrows.

High Str Low Con - Could be asthmatic, or low blood pressure; either way he'd excel at powerlifting or any sort of "explosive" activity, but fade fast at anything aerobic. Bodybuilders can often be in this category, if they totally neglect cardio work in favour of simply bulking up.

[Artanis]

High INT + Low WIS: Wile E. Coyote

[arguskos]

More interesting than High Int/Low Wis is the reverse: High Wis/Low Int. They'd be plugged into the world, but wouldn't be able to plan anything really. It's be a fun character to play.

-argus

[Ravens_cry]

More interesting than High Int/Low Wis is the reverse: High Wis/Low Int. They'd be plugged into the world, but wouldn't be able to plan anything really. It's be a fun character to play.

-argus

I have heard that compared to the wise fool, or the 'Forrest Gump'.

[Tengu_temp]

I think we can all agree that 99% of comedy characters that have some brains are good examples of high Int, low Wis.

High Str, low Con - the Sick Swordsman. Cut an ogre in half with one blow, then bend over and cough up blood, because it strained your body so much.

I have heard that compared to the wise fool, or the 'Forrest Gump'.

Forrest Gump will always remain my canonical "high Wis, low Int" character.

[Threeshades]

Yeah its been pretty much everythign said on the matter.

Just one thing to add: A high intelligence doesn't induce high wisdom, neither would it the other way roung. I know a lot of people who are really damn smart but lack any common sense whatsoever.
For examples on that, there is a southpark episode where cartman freezes himself to pass the time until the release of the nintendo Wii and wakes up in the far future. Also in DC's 52 comic series, there is Steel's daughter.

I'm planning on making a comic series and one of the characters there in DnD terms would have about a 20-22 Int but a wis of no more than maybe 4.
It will show in them being an incredible mechanic but otherwise acting like a child of maybe 2 years at best.

[Akisa]

High Int and low wis = Elan!

[Eldariel]

High...Int...? I think you just insulted every D&D character with Int of 10 or higher. V even said "you couldn't even cast the simpliest cantrip", which would mean Elan's Int is 9 or lower. I'd bet it's under 8 judging by his actions - the thing he's got is high Cha! Now V on the other hand seems to have high Int, but at best mediocre Wis.

[Spiryt]

Low Int and low wis = Elan!

Fixed.

It's pretty obvious that the only high mental stat of Elan is his Charisma.

[monty]

I'd put V at high Int, low Wis, actually. Researching arcane spells of uber 1337ness? High Int. Going without rest for weeks? Low Wis.

[Shazzbaa]

Arrgh, you're all missing the most obvious application!

WIS controls perception, the ability to notice and pick out important things (Spot, Listen, Sense Motive). So High INT, Low WIS could also be really, really smart; really really unobservant. He's brilliant, but he's so caught up in what he's working on that he totally doesn't notice the world around him.

In general, the thing is to figure out what part of the stat your character fails at. Decide what "low CON" means for you; if that means you have a crappy immune system, or if that means you're strong but have no endurance for cardiovascular activity, or whatever -- I'd roleplay it by kind of taking apart the weird stats' roleplaying application and finding whatever pieces of that application could work together. While Intelligence and Judgement frequently go together (though they don't always), Intelligence and Observation Skills do not, so that may be easier for you to roleplay. CON involves hardiness, yes, but it also involves endurance in running/holding your breath, and it involves resistance to disease, etc., and those things could certainly exist alongside a high strength score. Charisma can be looks or personality; it can mean you're likeable (diplomacy) or intimidating -- Dexterity controls REF saves, but it also controls Pick Lock -- etc. Most stats have more than one application, figure out which ones works best together.

I'm actually playing a high WIS, low INT character now. Not so much the "wise fool," as he's intuitive rather than insightful -- he picks up on stuff (perceptive) but fails to ever piece together the larger significance unless someone explains it to him. With a decent CHA but a low INT, he's a good bluffer but a bad liar -- so far, he pretty much lets others fill in the blanks for him, and then plays along ("I have to go." "Oh, you've been sent on a quest?" "YES! That's it exactly!")

[Da Beast]

I've always seen Belkar as the high int low wis character. He has no idea how the world actually works but he is, as Roy put it, clever in his own brain damaged way.

[TheCountAlucard]

I'm kind of at the opposite end of the spectrum; the BBEG of one of my games has higher-than-average (i.e., greater than ten, less than 18) INT and WIS, but has a CHA of forty-four.

[Threeshades]

I'm kind of at the opposite end of the spectrum; the BBEG of one of my games has higher-than-average (i.e., greater than ten, less than 18) INT and WIS, but has a CHA of forty-four.

That character is not - by any chance- a dragon?

[TheCountAlucard]

That character is not - by any chance- a dragon?

Nope. He's a Human Dread Necro 20. That's one reason why it's scary.

[Telonius]

If anybody here caught the season opener of Heroes ... High Int, Low Wis = Mohinder Suresh. (Either that, or one seriously flubbed Wis check).

[tribble]

all right, thanks for the tips. I now understand why wisdom and INT are separate stats. I also understand that the test in my sig is horribly flawed, because I dont have good WIS.

[Iuris]

If you wish a more "normal" character with high intelligence but low wisdom, you might want to investigate these low wisdom option characteristic:
-idealistic
-easy to con or prank (won't necessarily buy bridges, but would be more easily convinced that the Rolex is original)
-finds it hard to discern lies from truth (he may know that there are liars in the world, and even be very jaded, cynical individual, but would have trouble finding out whether the guy in front of him is a liar, or which of two witnesses to believe)
-susceptible to alcohol/drugs (just can't stop at one or similar)

[Saph]

I've played lots of high-Int low-Wis characters, but right now, like Shazzbaa, my main character's the other way around. He's a high-level Druid with a Wis of 22 and an Int of 11.

He rarely bothers to analyse things and doesn't plan ahead more than twenty-four hours. He's very good at solving problems, but his solutions tend towards brute force. For example, when faced with a door with a complex puzzle lock with a combination based on prime numbers and the lunar calender, his solution would be to demolish the door using wood shape and rusting grasp. One time we were stuck in a section of dungeon filled with teleportation doors, and he got out of it by using repeated castings of stone shape to burrow a hole through the wall into the section we were trying to get to.

No-one's ever going to describe his approach as elegant, but it's generally pretty effective. :)

- Saph