How do you play a character who is much smarter than you are?

Morrus said:

Asking for a friend...

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Smart is something you do, not something you are. This is true in life as well as gaming.

Exhibiting caution so you can think about something before you do it is a trait of "smart people", same with what is often called common sense.

If you're talking about having more knowledge, it's a function of delaying tactics such as "let me look this up" or "I remember this story about X, let me see if I can find it or remember it."

There's also a few tells regarding intellectual speed. Higher IQ (not necessarily smart) people are generally good with kibitz and word play and see connections where others see coincidence.

So playing the character really has more to do with what people perceive as the illusion of "smart" and doing "smart" things, not necessarily being the highest IQ in the land. One does not guarantee the other and some of the folks with the highest intellectual capacity lack the ability to be "smart" in reality.

2c
KB

DEFCON 1 said:

Wow... this friend of your is so lacking in intelligence that they couldn't even formulate the words needed to ask the question themselves, they had to have you do it for them, Morrus?

You know, at some point I guess they really need to cut their losses...

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Maybe they're very shy,

Or in prison.

Or blind.

Or allergic to electronic devices.

Or speak 12 languages but not English.

Or busy saving the world.

Or have tentacles instead of arms.

MNblockhead said:

This is one weakness of the TTRPG as improv, thespian style that the popular play-streams emulate.

One huge advantage of a more mechanical "roll" play style is that you can drive your character based on its drives and it's (and the party's) goals, but the success is decided by the ability score. The players let their imagination fill in the rest.

The downside of the "roll" play focused game is that it can lead to the dice decide everything. People don't have to explain how they search a room. They don't have to try to work out a puzzle. They just roll the dice.

I see the players as the soul of the character. It has to will the character to do something. I find D&D to be most fun when both player decisions and character mechanics are involved in the success. And the results feel right. I mean who doesn't know someone that is demonstrably more intelligent and wise than them that still makes a poor decision.

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And the only player decisions required are those that evoke the character’s intelligence, just play to the characters backstory and experiences so that they constantly appear to be knowledgeable about stuff. It’s imaginative play just like most everything else in the game, IMHO.

I've seen a couple of references to intellgence as a shorthand for education, and I'm not sure I agree with that assessment -- after all, many people have access to education, and the relative success or failure that any individual accomplishes with their own education seems to me to have as much or more to do with factors that have little to do with intelligence (for instance: persistence, which is a big reason for the difference in my first college experience, where I washed out with a sub-2.0 GPA, and my second, where I graduated with honors).

If anything, education seems like more a thing that happens to you, and in that sense it seems better expressed in game mechanics as...experience? (This suggests to me that the Third Edition mechanic of skill ranks that eventually dwarfed your stat modifier in a skill is more 'realistic' than the Fifth Edition mechanic where your best stats will generally be near your proficiency bonus. After all, how often do you run into someone who is really good in a specific field, but seems hopeless in any other area of life? That seems to happen to me a lot.)

I see intelligence as more of a trait that allows a character to perform abstract thinking, adapt to new situations, find connections or patterns, or otherwise apply existing knowledge or understanding to novel situations. 'Quick-thinking' would be part of it, but not everyone who is a quick thinker is necessarily intelligent to the same degree.

As a DM, I like asking for Intelligence checks to allow characters to recall some seemingly-obscure bit of information that nevertheless has some application or provokes an insight useful to the current situation. The application of this approach in fighting monsters (monster lore) or dealing with puzzles seems obvious, but it can also be helpful in giving a character a chance to provide the Help action with a non-intellectual puzzle -- the smart character can recall a story about a farmer taken to the Faerie King and relate some salient details to the rogue, who is trying to persuade the local nobleman to spare his life for seducing the noble's daughter, as an example.

Playing a character smarter than you is, in that sense, no different than playing a character stronger or more dextrous than you -- just figure out what kinds of problems the character might be able to use his intelligence to solve or help solve, and let the dice fall where they may. (Honestly, I find it much more difficult to play a character with significantly higher Wisdom than my own.)

--
Pauper

Morrus said:

Maybe they're very shy,

Or in prison.

Or blind.

Or allergic to electronic devices.

Or speak 12 languages but not English.

Or busy saving the world.

Or have tentacles instead of arms.

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I'm not sure tentacles would be much of an impediment for asking. I only use two fingers when typing (well 3, but I could get by with 2).

The real challenge is roleplaying someone *wiser* than you

Yes but your ability scores are as much a part of your PC as your personality traits are, you have to play both.

If you have an outgoing, happy go lucky fighter with low INT then that PC would probably spout off ideas on what to do not knowing that they probably bad ideas. You as a player would have a better idea on what to do, but to RP your PC you might have to do the “wrong” thing on purpose. As DM of course I would give inspiration for doing so right away.

It isn’t handicapping your PC, it’s playing your PC according to what your PC is. “I would do that but my PC wouldn’t” is good RP, which should be rewarded. That’s realization of what your PC is and isn’t. It’s also great fun at the table.

The ability scores are all still there, but they are presented through the lens of the personality you want to play (or are, most peoples PC personality is their own base personality).

I think a lot of this including this thread is DMs not using inspiration or something similar to reward PC. In the OP case if playing a highly intelligent PC an appropriate reward would include a giving that PC a different knowledge set away from the table so that PC (maybe that PC only) has a greater knowledge of world events then other PCs do.

It could also be something as simple as when dividing up treasure as everyone gets 500 gp in various items but “your great knowledge allows you to recognize the ornamental sword isn’t worth 250 gp it’s really worth 2500 gp.”

As a PC you should clearly be asking the DM all the time “Do I notice anything that only my PC would understand?” I would certainly give tidbits as appropriate.

The DM of course should do this for all players as appropriate to their specialties. Even the trope of playing the Gentle Giant correctly could get a piece of information from the street urchin you befriend. The city watch background should give that player and that player only knowledge as indicated in the background. With email it’s even easier to give each player their own knowledge set.

BTW for the DMs out there: it’s to watch how each player shares their own PC knowledge with the group. It is never the case (in 30 years) that any player freely shares their PC knowledge, everyone holds onto it like gold, even if it’s innocuous.

Morrus said:

Asking for a friend...

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One way to do it is the same way the DM plays hyper-intelligent monsters and NPCs: you meta-game and let player knowledge bleed - carefully - into character knowledge. It's important to have the cooperation and consent of the DM and other players, of course. And the DM needs to keep tight control.

It works the other way too, playing a character significantly less intelligent than you.

You have options:

1) The intelligence score is like IQ and only represents one swath of intelligence. This means whatever mechanical bonus you get from the stat, including spell DC, saves, etc.

2) Rely on the game infrastructure to help you. Call for frequent Intelligence (Investigation) or other skill checks when you're not sure how to proceed and/or feel like you're missing something your character should know. This can also include raw Intelligence checks for recalling things from earlier session or checking your train of reason on something (i.e. asking the GM to assist or throw you a bone).

3) Allow other players (especially those who are playing characters below their personal intelligence) to help you. Maybe that conversation about how to overcome the trap wasn't a conversation between the PCs, so much as it was an internal dialog for the insanely smart Rogue. YMMV on how much you want to blur this line, but it's great for the fore-mentioned brainy Rogue, when he's scouting ahead.

I generally encourage a combination of the three, in my games. The approach actually originated from how I handle shy or nerdy players playing Bards or other face characters. A bit of ribbing is part of the game, but I don't like that the string bean gets to play the massive orcish Barbarian without comment, but the wallflower doesn't get an opportunity to practice social interaction in an equally welcoming environment. As long as the player of the face character is the one actually describing the actions and/or at least outlining the speech, I let them get input from the rest of the group and make rolls to offset their own shortcomings.

This also works for the crazy player with a wise PC.

Players who choose characters with extremely high intelligence, IME, tend to be highly intelligent themselves so are able to play the part well. The same question could be asked, and even with more of a potential conundrum, around playing a character with a much higher level of wisdom.