In real life, I'm probably DEX> STR> CHA> WIS with DEX being 16, STR 14 and everything being 12 or less. My point is that I am playing a high INT character while my intellect is not so high. Does anyone have tips on how to RP this better? My RL INT is probably 10.
What's up Adonis!
sorry no real feedback for you, just impressed at how in shape you are
This is not really a problem unless you are the type that thinks role-playing means you have to be your character. That is what game mechanics are for. Same thing if you don't have the social skills your character does. The GM is supposed to take that into account and allow your character to do what he is supposed to do even if you can't. Have fun trying to be smarter or more charismatic than you really are.
If you are playing a character smarter than you are the GM is supposed to be feeding you information. If you are playing a more charismatic character he should cut you some slack about how you phrase things.
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Even fools are thought wise if they keep silent, and discerning if they hold their tongues.(don't just try to sound and act smart)
And ask questions, it's a good learning tool and a good social tool because you can get others to say what it is you would want to say if you could provided they say something smart.
I see the reverse a lot as people with genius level IQs play point buy Barbarians with Int 7. That can be tough too.
For your situation you might want to consider putting ranks in Int based skills such as Knowledge. Then you can roll skill checks, have the DM give you information, and tell the other PCs about it in a "scholarly" tone. Maybe your PC in an "absent minded professor" sort and only remembers all the smart things he knows after making a skill check.
Depending on your group's style you could also use a British accent or talk like Ben Stein. Choosing a few big words to have your PC use a lot could be amusing too, especially if the words might be misunderstood by less scholarly PCs and NPCs (maybe a rare word which sounds like a more common word which is insulting, obscene, or just silly)
Thanks for the feedback!
I've always viewed the "intelligence" score more as discipline and mental focus. A high-intelligence wizard may actually be a very dull and uninventive individual, having learned and mastered magic by rote and discipline. A low-intelligence barbarian may be have ADHD but actually be quite brilliant in his own way, coming up with unique strategies on the fly; he just can never sit down and focus.
I think you can get around this problem with a broader interpretation of what the ability scores mean. The one place where you'll probably have trouble is with conversation skills; someone with poor conversation skills in real life will have trouble roleplaying a character with good conversation skills.
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My suggestions won't create actual intelligence in your character, but it might help give another side that can be role-played as intelligence. Spend more time researching, both as a player and a character.
-Familiarize yourself thoroughly with any spells you may cast as well as those of your party members. Many have little, easy to miss details that can make then ever more effective in the right situation. If a spell has some little caveat, come up with ideas for when it could be exploited.
-Use knowledge skills at every opportunity - in and out of combat. Make at note at the top of your character sheet. It is so easy to forget that roll when a monster is breathing down your neck. It might have a weakness you can determine. There might be something about that town or forest that your DM wrote down and would love to tel you. When your character learns something, then the player should write it down, maybe even a log book of every game session. The 18 int version of you doesn't have to forget as many details as the real-life you. DMs love it when details they drop are brought back into the game by the players instead of himself.
-Diversify your equipment list to handle even unexpected situations. If your can afford the encumbrance or have a bag of holding then start stocking up on inexpensive single use magic items, some alchemical items, skill-boosters, weapons or ammunition of different materials. Many will not benefit you, so pick items that will cover you in situations you can't normally handle - such a a fighter keeping a fly potion handy.
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Compress time. This does require talking to your GM though and getting him on board.
Essentially, the difference between you and a genius is time. If given the same problem, the genius will figure it out quickly in his head while you'll take longer and use paper. Combat is not 1:1 in terms of time and neither should problem solving. What your character gets in 10 seconds might take you a couple minutes.
You can also pass off brainstorming around the table as you're character s independant idea. While in real life five people are collaborating on an idea in that game it's just your character.
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Knowledge skills are definitely your friend, since knowing more about the world helps you appear more intelligent.
If you want to portray "cleverness" or "inventiveness" rather than a good memory and education, try to plan ahead. This is expanding Jester's "compress time" suggestion off-table. If you can use the week between games to figure out a few possible plot points or puzzles and solve them ahead of time, it will look like quick thinking from your character when one of your hypotheticals comes up at the table. An easy way to do this is use tactics off this forum - there are a lot of good ideas here for dealing with common situations, like using a Ghost Touch net to pin down incorporeals.
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Vonklinen, since you posted your real world stats, you must post your level and feats as well. I can't wait to see what build you're using. I started out with one level in actor but changed classes to now a level three asset management analyst. I have the ignore wife feat. Very handy during football season.
I like this thread, it brings attention to a common theme in roleplaying games of: "If you didn't think of it, neither did your character; and just because you thought of it, doesn't mean your character did."
The first is your dilema, and depending on your GM, could end up a hinderance. Lots of GMs don't like problems being solved with dice rolling (i.e. considerable use of Knowledges, Spellcrafts, Bardic Knowledge, etc) even though it can, and in most instances should, be done that way. The second is the fine line of metagaming.
This is a mindset that is in favor with the GM in that information favors his side of the playing board and not yours. It keeps in full control of what's happening, both for NPC interraction and PC choices.
Consult your GM about it. If you think your character should know things that you as a player doesn't (the PC after all LIVES in that world, he'd know the next town over, the name of the road, what those nearby mountains to his home are called, etc) then get the info from him. If he doesn't give it to you, either outright or with Knowledge checks that should gleam something, then decide for yourself how you want to handle that. I personally dislike a GM that keeps me, and my PC, in the dark about things that should be obvious.
I just recently had a conversation with my GM about this. Conversely I GM a game in which he plays. We have somewhat differing attitudes on it.
During the discussion my point was similar to yours. I might be playing a character that is smarter than me. Even if I'm very smart, over time my wizard might gain various bonuses that put him so far outside the normal range of human intellect that it is impossible to measure. A 30 INT is not outside of possibility and I'm sure can't be charted. How am I supposed to represent what that really means?
My GM likes to include puzzles in his games, by which I mean actual word or logic puzzles that the players need to figure out. A puzzle might have a certain amount of XP attached to it. If we can't figure it out unaided, he has a series of hints he can give us, each deducting XP from the final award. It can reach zero if we get too much help.
My concern was that my character should be able to figure it out even if I can't. His point was that the game was there to engage the players.
I think both points are valid and depend entirely on the people involved. In my games I view the various stats as models and the game as something of a simulation. I view the RP aspect as a guide for behavior but use stats to determine success. Made a great speech in front of the group? Roll your Diplomacy check and lets see how it did. Why not let that great speech stand as is and sway the crowd? Because Flimflam the Wizard has an 8 CHA and no ranks in Diplomacy but was the last resort in this situation.
The one thing you can't get around is the strategic and tactical thinking. My theoretical wizard with the 30 INT I would think would be able to figure out the dangers involved with going to war with the dwarves vs going to war with the elves. Or more tactically might be able to figure out the best spell selection for the day or even in a given encounter. No dice rolling can help you there.
So it really goes either way. Talk with your GM, express your concern and make sure you are both on the same page regarding how to handle the INT disparity. In the end, no rule, no houserule, no accepted method of doing things, is so important that it overrides the main point of the game... for everyone to enjoy themselves.
There's several ways play moderate or even low intelligence.
*Defer to others in making decisions.
*Don't put ranks in Knowledge skills, so others can make the rolls.
*Play your character as forgetful or absentminded.
*Always favor the simplest plan/tactic unless others propose something different.
*Ask a lot of questions (this is what high-Wisdom characters with low Int do).
*Play up your character's emotional reactions to situations.
*Ask yourself what the first, reflexive response to any situation would be, and go with that.
*Just focus on what you're good at and let the other PCs handle the rest.
I think the concern the OP and I both have is playing characters with higher intelligence than the player has as that means that for tasks for which a die roll could be used but the GM instead has players solve, you are penalized and for tasks (like simple tactical decisions) which the character should be very skilled at you cannot perform at the appropriate level.
Knowledge skills are definitely your friend, since knowing more about the world helps you appear more intelligent.
If you want to portray "cleverness" or "inventiveness" rather than a good memory and education, try to plan ahead. This is expanding Jester's "compress time" suggestion off-table. If you can use the week between games to figure out a few possible plot points or puzzles and solve them ahead of time, it will look like quick thinking from your character when one of your hypotheticals comes up at the table. An easy way to do this is use tactics off this forum - there are a lot of good ideas here for dealing with common situations, like using a Ghost Touch net to pin down incorporeals.
I hope that you picked up Dodge to go along with your ignore wife feat. Lol
Vonklinen, since you posted your real world stats, you must post your level and feats as well. I can't wait to see what build you're using. I started out with one level in actor but changed classes to now a level three asset management analyst. I have the ignore wife feat. Very handy during football season.
Level 1 Artist
Level 2 Art instructorFeats
Procrastination- able to make something decent out of a pile of crap at the last possible moment.
Alternative usage- able to use whatever is lying around to create makeshift needed item of low quality.
Persuasive- able to get others to believe that I am actually clever and smart.
I have also probably lost two points in both dexterity and strength from being away from the gym so long.