D&D 5E So 5 Intelligence Huh

[Yardiff]

I feel the point was pretty clear, but I'll sum it up for you.

The point is this: If you want to say that other people are roleplaying wrong by not applying their low Int score to all of the listed facets of the Int attribute (like Max very clearly is saying), and you want to claim that you absolutely have to apply it to all of those facets with no exceptions in order to be following the rules (again, as Max has very clearly said), then you don't get to selectively apply your high Int score without hypocritically violating your own statements. Calling it a "quirk" doesn't negate that. To paraphrase you, "it seems an awful lot like someone's bending over backwards so they don't have to roleplay their ability scores."

Ooh you got me there, I was trying trying my damnedest to not have to play a high mental ability score.

 

[MechaPilot]

Ooh you got me there, I was trying trying my damnedest to not have to play a high mental ability score.

Well, I wasn't trying to "get" you. I just don't want people to say I'm "roleplaying wrong" according to the rules only for them to be doing the exact same thing while saying they're doing it right. What's good for the goose is good for the gander. If the stat has to apply to all of its facets, that applies whether your stat is high or low. If it doesn't have to apply to all the facets, then a low Int doesn't have to mean that all of those facets are low. If a stat doesn't have to apply to all of its facets, then I think that opens up more room for characters to be different from each other even when they have the same stats.

 

[Yardiff]

I've got a question for anyone reading this thread....

How many of you have seen or heard of someone with a high mental ability score roleplay it as signifigently lower then it is.

 

[Satyrn]

I've got a question for anyone reading this thread....

How many of you have seen or heard of someone with a high mental ability score roleplay it as signifigently lower then it is.

I would say that my Cleric has rarely if ever had his Wisdom portrayed sufficiently through my roleplaying. Indeed, he can be pretty foolish, including tossing away his holy symbol to spite his god after I rolled several 2s in a row.

 

[Yardiff]

I would say that my Cleric has rarely if ever had his Wisdom portrayed sufficiently through my roleplaying. Indeed, he can be pretty foolish, including tossing away his holy symbol to spite his god after I rolled several 2s in a row.

What I meant was consistantly portrayed the character that way.

I've seen one post on the paizo forums were a poster was complaining about someone in his group who played his character as a complete moron when his character sheet had high int score recorded. But I think that might just be one in a million.

 

[MechaPilot]

I've got a question for anyone reading this thread....

How many of you have seen or heard of someone with a high mental ability score roleplay it as signifigently lower then it is.

I think you'll find that occurs consistently with a lot of wizard characters. I doubt most of the people who play wizards are the geniuses that their characters are.

It also probably happens consistently with a lot of Cha-related characters like bards and sorcerers. It's pretty hard for some of the introverted people who participate in the RPG hobby to accurately portray a high Cha.

Edit: As far as I'm aware, that's part of the point of the mental stats, so that players aren't disadvantaged in play because they can't be a great as their characters, and so that smart or charismatic players don't get away with dumping the stats they can naturally excel at.

 

[Satyrn]

Yeah, I've been pretty consistent in playing my character as unwise. I was even gonna have him enter the dungeon without his holy symbol after throwing it away, despite requiring it to cast several of his prepared spells. The only thing that stopped me from doing so was that my fellow players didn't want their support handicapped that way.

I also had him try to throw away a key that we needed, but we retconned that into someone else picking it up because it would be rather idiotic to have left it behind just because nobody bothered to say they picked it up.

No, he does not live up to his high Wisdom.

 

[Yardiff]

I think you'll find that occurs consistently with a lot of wizard characters. I doubt most of the people who play wizards are the geniuses that their characters are.

It also probably happens consistently with a lot of Cha-related characters like bards and sorcerers. It's pretty hard for some of the introverted people who participate in the RPG hobby to accurately portray a high Cha.

Edit: As far as I'm aware, that's part of the point of the mental stats, so that players aren't disadvantaged in play because they can't be a great as their characters, and so that smart or charismatic players don't get away with dumping the stats they can naturally excel at.

This disagreement has never been about not being able to roleplay an ability score well, its about not even attempting to roleplay the low ability. No one thinks people need to be celebrity star caliber actors to roleplay.

 

[MechaPilot]

This disagreement has never been about not being able to roleplay an ability score well, its about not even attempting to roleplay the low ability. No one thinks people need to be celebrity star caliber actors to roleplay.

I beg to differ. I think a lot of people won't really be able to roleplay a significantly low Int without resorting to offensive stereotypes; I even mentioned this earlier in the thread when I referenced Cartman in the Special Olympics episode of South Park. It certainly doesn't help the issue that the rules never quantify the Int levels in easily relatable ways, which is also something that I've mentioned previously.

I think a lot of people, due to their lack of familiarity with interacting with people with substantially low intelligence, will be as unable to roleplay those stats as they will an intelligence that is beyond their own.

 

[Yardiff]

I beg to differ. I think a lot of people won't really be able to roleplay a significantly low Int without resorting to offensive stereotypes; I even mentioned this earlier in the thread when I referenced Cartman in the Special Olympics episode of South Park. It certainly doesn't help the issue that the rules never quantify the Int levels in easily relatable ways, which is also something that I've mentioned previously.

I think a lot of people, due to their lack of familiarity with interacting with people with substantially low intelligence, will be as unable to roleplay those stats as they will an intelligence that is beyond their own.

Cartman would be low cha not int. And I think you use this as an excuse not try.


You want to see a low int roleplayed well watch Critcal Role. The barbarian Grog has an int 6 and he isnt offensive.