Role Playing Intelligence

[Li Shenron]

I feel good roleplayers should easily be capable of playing dumber than they, the players, are. Constantly shooting out solutions to puzzles and well-crafted tactical plans when you're playing an Int 6 Half-Orc Barbarian smacks of "I need good Str, Dex, and Con! I have to dump some attribute! But I still should be rewarded for being smart as a player, even if I choose not to roleplay!" to me.

No, because puzzles, plot solution, and overall strategy are not resolved by the PC, they are inevitably resolved by the players. Call them "metachallenges" if you want.

If you want a puzzle to be solved by the PC alone, probably you could just tell the group "here there's a puzzle, everybody makes an Int check" and no need to even describe the puzzle. Which obviously is not a suggestion...

 

[Sir_Mathius]

personally since i never DMed such a situation i can only speak from a player's perspective, as a player i try my best to act as i see my character acting, and if the party wizard happens to be acting like a moron, if the DM allows I pass him a bit of advice or try to give him some of my better ideas that as a character i would not be able to implement.

 

[Empirate]

No, because puzzles, plot solution, and overall strategy are not resolved by the PC, they are inevitably resolved by the players. Call them "metachallenges" if you want.

If you want a puzzle to be solved by the PC alone, probably you could just tell the group "here there's a puzzle, everybody makes an Int check" and no need to even describe the puzzle. Which obviously is not a suggestion...

True enough, puzzles are a hard thing to implement in a pure roleplaying environment (which is the main reason why I mostly eschew puzzles in my campaigns). Plot solution, strategy etc. are roleplayed in my group, though. We've had quite a few interesting moments where the characters' morality, mental faculties, or cultural background prohibited them from taking the (to the players) obvious road to salvation...

 

[Li Shenron]

True enough, puzzles are a hard thing to implement in a pure roleplaying environment (which is the main reason why I mostly eschew puzzles in my campaigns).

I love puzzles, but my main reasons for using them sparsely is first that it's hard to find a really cool puzzle, and second that to be cool it must be a good challenge, the consequence of which is that it must take time to solve... it cannot be solved to quickly. This means the best time you can deliver a puzzle to the group is at the end of a gaming session, and timing such thing may not be easy. (Also, if you think there's a chance they won't be capable of solving it, then you must remember to provide alternative solutions to get past it, or otherwise not make the puzzle an adventure-blocker but rather an extra-treasure-enabler)

Plot solution, strategy etc. are roleplayed in my group, though. We've had quite a few interesting moments where the characters' morality, mental faculties, or cultural background prohibited them from taking the (to the players) obvious road to salvation...

I actually like those moments! But when thinking of Intelligence rather than morality, the scenario I have in mind is typically the "who's the murderer?" case. I cannot imagine a group of players who purposefully ignore what they believe is the solution, to better roleplay their low-Int characters, o who silently wait for the lesser-gifted Wizard player solve the case by himself.

 

[Empirate]

Sure, if plot solution is all about connecting the dots, player smartness (or lack thereof) comes into play heavily. But it's still fun to have a player groaning that his character would probably not see the obvious and follow the killer Doppelgänger (whom he takes to be just an attractive serving wench out for his - you know)... alone... into the cellar...

 

[Meatboy]

Int and Wis are areas where I like to make judicious use of skill checks. If the characters ask what do I know about (whatever) make a check and viola answers. OR if a character is about to do something foolish, but have a high Wis then I just have them make a roll and maybe politely ask them if they are 100% sure that is what they want to do.

One always has to let the player make the decision but if they have good stats I like to help them out occasionally.

 

[Meatboy]

[MENTION=9249]Viktyr Korimir[/MENTION]
True but could they articulate it to the group?

 

[TrueSpade]

I got a question: What if your character is too smart to play? (Like has an Int of over 30+)

I can't talk like a Ph.D ALL the time. Can a High Int character talk "normal"? Is that even conceivable?

What if his Int was liek, 100+ O____o'

 

[kitcik]

I got a question: What if your character is too smart to play? (Like has an Int of over 30+)

I can't talk like a Ph.D ALL the time. Can a High Int character talk "normal"? Is that even conceivable?

What if his Int was liek, 100+ O____o'

Speaking: no worries, keep your trap shut. Stephen Hawking can't speak after all.

Other: you don't have to act like you have 30 or 100 Int, just like you have a higher Int than the baddies and no one will know the difference. This means having a higher Int than the DM. Hmmmmm.

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

I can't talk like a Ph.D ALL the time. Can a High Int character talk "normal"? Is that even conceivable?

High Intelligence doesn't mean that you're an intellectual or even educated, and trying to "talk Ph.D" all the time is actually going to make you less credible unless you have that kind of educational background yourself.

The trick to playing a very high Intelligence character credibly is to remember that he doesn't have to think better than you-- unless the other players are that much smarter than you-- he just has to think faster. The game structure already allows you to do that. Think up a couple of clever plans in advance, and don't mention them until they "come in handy"; then pass it off like your character just thought of it.

Also, personality quirks that give an impression of high Intelligence. Make up a list of things your character "thinks about"-- specifically in case someone ever asks him what he's thinking about. If your character ever explains why he did something, use a weird justification.

Have you ever seen Tango & Cash, with Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell?
[sblock]At the end, where they're facing the bad guy in a funhouse mirror and they both immediately shoot the same mirror and kill him? They both make the right decision immediately, but Cash made the decision based on common sense-- the man's wedding ring-- while Tango made it on more specialized knowledge: the monogram on the man's suit. Wisdom and Intelligence.[/sblock]

Ask a lot of questions, in and out of character; in-character, focus on "what if?" Then act thoughtful when you get the answers.