Jester David
Hero
Intelligence is often how fast you think. A really clever person will think of something much quicker than an average person. Asking your DM to give you more time to think and reason will help, as well as aided by dice and checks.
How do you play a character who is much smarter than you are?
- Thread starter Morrus
- Start date
MNblockhead
A Title Much Cooler Than Anything on the Old Site
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.
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.
Paul Farquhar
Legend
I can't, Int is capped at 20 for PCs....
Serious answer: focus on their a brilliant memory and mathematical skills. They don't have to have any tactical acumen.
Paul Farquhar
Legend
I don't think that means what you think it means.
staticdrifter
Explorer
I would hate to play at your table. Many of my characters have different levels of intelligence than I have, but, whether they are smarter than me or not, to limit them to my "type" of intelligence cheats both me as a player and the character as a being in another world.
Personally, I have no knowledge of magics, psionics, fantastic creatures, or anything else found in a medieval fantasy world. How could I?
My IQ is 159 but that would be worthless in such a world, as it is only in reference to the world I, my real self, live in.
Neither do I possess telepathic powers to see into the minds and imaginations of my players/dms.
This lack of "real-world knowledge" of the world in which I play limits all my dealings within said world.
As a DM, I encourage my players to do their best to figure out what they can using the books or materials which describe the world we play in, but when a situation arises where intelligence is a key factor, I encourage them to ask me what they know. A simple intelligence check against an appropriate DM will tell me how to let them know how to respond.
If the check is a success, I simply tell them the details they need based on the details the character should be able to piece together. If it fails, I simply stare that they do not know or, if it's a close call, that they just can't seem to put their finger on it at this time. I tell them, "it escapes you at the moment, so you let it go for now." and if they later succeed at a recall roll on the same subject, I tell them, "you realize what it was you could not recall earlier and using this new idea you arrive at <a particular conclusion>.
To do as you suggest makes every one of your PCs the most highly intelligent beings on your world, or all the stupidest as you simply relate equally to everything and everyone around you. Not realistic, not fair, not fun.
That is just my personal thoughts on your idea as I understand your statement. If its working for you and your people, stick with it.
Cheers.
Laurefindel
Legend
That’s cool if you don’t want to play at my table, but I don’t think you understood my statement.
D&D intelligence is all about the character’s knowledge of their world, but I will not handicap the way I play my character, or withhold ideas I might have, or prevent myself from doing certain things, because my character has a high or low intellligence score. I will withold knowledge that I have as a player but that my character shouldn’t have, but that is done in an attempt to minimize metagaming.
when I was playing AD&D, my philosophy was that « you must role play your stats ». Now, it’s more like « your stats suggest a few ways how you can play your character ».
nowadays, i allow myself to decide whether i play the genius but disorganized wizard, or the knowledgeable but absent-minded professor, or the witty creative guy with a poor memory, or the savvy rogue with ADHD, but I will play all these as character traits regardless of my character’s INT score. If I feel my character shouldn’t be knowledgeable, I try not to invest in those knowledge skills. The contrary is also true; I will attempt to select the skills and classes that represent best my character’s knowledge and abilities. There are myriads or ways to play a 20 INT character, and myriads more for a 6 INT character, but neither will dictate how I think, and the way I play my character will be based on other (but possibly related) character traits.
TL;DR: i play my character according to its personality traits; not its stats. The former is for roleplay, the latter to interface with the game’s mechanics.
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...
staticdrifter
Explorer
And so, diversity in the way the game is played.
I retract my opening line, that was harsh and I was half asleep, it would be interesting to see the two ideologies played side by side.
I encourage my players to play as I would, but I never demand it.
