D&D 5E Geniuses with 5 Int

[Guest 6801328]

Yes I have: University of Dallas, Trinity University, Loyola and Tulane. Plus I've been a guest in the houses of those who make multimillion dollar donations to two of those universities...because I went to school with them.

Wait...is this related to your .sig, as some kind of credential that is meant to give weight to your opinions?

I think I've even heard of those schools...some kind of southern thing, right?

 

[Maxperson]

The Str 7 burly Hobgoblin had some form of injury I think. So he looked strong, but was unable to put force behind his blows, or carry a full backpack, or jump far or similar IIRC.

The issue I have with that is if you can't use it, you lose it when it comes to muscle. He'd be burly for a few months after the injury, but his burl would be fading slowly over that time until his former muscle was fat and flab.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Wait...is this related to your .sig, as some kind of credential that is meant to give weight to your opinions?

I think I've even heard of those schools...some kind of southern thing, right?

Simple statements of fact. I got degrees (one undergrad, one grad) from 2 of those schools, but have high level familial and social connections with all four. I am not exaggerating when I say I went to school with scions of those with names on campus buildings all over the South (mostly Texas), and as such, I have invites to those kinds of events.

 

[TwoSix]

So, at best, the Hobgoblin will look burly only for a short period of time before muscle atrophy sets in, and his former ripped physique begins to be replaced by a scrawny new reality.

Actually, he had (has, I guess, since he's one of my current characters) a crippling injury to his right (dominant) arm, which prevents him from lifting anything heavier than a pound or two in that arm. I figure his proficiency and Expertise in Athletics is more than enough justification for him to continue being described as large and muscular.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Actually, he had (has, I guess, since he's one of my current characters) a crippling injury to his right (dominant) arm, which prevents him from lifting anything heavier than a pound or two in that arm. I figure his proficiency and Expertise in Athletics is more than enough justification for him to continue being described as large and muscular.

Well, yes and no. He may be strong and burly as a whole, but he is clearly weakened in one arm. That arm will atrophy...but the rest of him is unaffected. No way I'd call that character 7 Str.

Which goes back to what I said very early in this thread: there are games win which it is easy to model something like this, and D&D isn't one of them. D&D physical stats describe whole-body conditions. They do not model someone with an atrophied arm who is otherwise strong and fit.

 

[Maxperson]

Actually, he had (has, I guess, since he's one of my current characters) a crippling injury to his right (dominant) arm, which prevents him from lifting anything heavier than a pound or two in that arm. I figure his proficiency and Expertise in Athletics is more than enough justification for him to continue being described as large and muscular.

Then he has a circumstance penalty when using that arm only. He can still use his full massive strength to knock down doors, bullrush opponents, shield bash them with his off hand, and so on. He would not have a low strength from that example.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

Got it. Let me noodle on that and I'll respond. I do agree wholeheartedly with the bold part, although on the other hand I'm very much opposed to players ever rolling, or needing to roll, social skills "against" one another. So this is a good puzzler you've given me.

Actual rolls aren't required. You come to the same dilemma even if you assume that these players just talk out their characters' interaction. Int 5 means Bruce is mechanically prohibited from the narrative option of seeing through Eloelle's deception, just as it means that Eloelle herself is prohibited from the narrative option of revealing information voluntarily. Even if Eloelle's player agrees that under the circumstances it would be most appropriate or dramatic for Bruce to figure it out, her choice to represent her character mechanically as though the information did not exist means she cannot allow the nonexistent information to get out or else she is breaking the rules. Had she simply modeled the information as existing, or ditched the rules that say it doesn't, they would not have this problem.

Oh, sure. But that's a voluntary limiting of future choices for that character. The same thing happens when you pick an alignment other than neutral (well, for those few of who think alignment still means anything.) Or when you pick a Paladin with an Oath instead of Fighter with no constraints.

Alignments and codes are a matter solely of a character's internal decision-making, and a character can choose to break them at any time. If a player decides that her paladin is consumed with rage and renounces her vows to go on a killing spree, the rules can resolve that action perfectly well. On the other hand, being an Int 5 genius as you have described requires a character to act in a certain way which she cannot choose to break, and which furthermore requires external elements in the world to all conspire to maintain her status quo.

For me by far the more important range of conceptual choices are those available to me when I'm creating a character.

Given that you've acknowledged you could build Eloelle with a high Intelligence as well as a low one, and your argument has been throughout that the mechanical construct of an Intelligence score doesn't mean anything conceptually... how can this conceptually-meaningless number be a conceptual choice? Per your premises, it's strictly a mechanical choice, as as far as mechanical choices go it's an ill-advised one because it cuts off potentially fruitful paths your narrative might take.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

Actually, he had (has, I guess, since he's one of my current characters) a crippling injury to his right (dominant) arm, which prevents him from lifting anything heavier than a pound or two in that arm. I figure his proficiency and Expertise in Athletics is more than enough justification for him to continue being described as large and muscular.

The analogy to Eloelle would be if you said he could kick down doors like a boss, but only did it when no one was looking, never went through them, and always rebuilt them immediately afterward. And if circumstances didn't permit him to rebuild the door, a god would do it for him.

And yes, like I said earlier, I would have a problem with that.

 

[pemerton]

If you have a zone of truth that a PC fails and you narrate it as a success, there is a disconnect that breaks the game.

But the PC hasn't failed. S/he has succeeded.

At the table, the player has failed a saving throw. This constrains his/her narration of his/her PC's success - namely, s/he must keep up the deception and hand over the information to which s/he is entitled in virtue of his/her poor INT checks.

 

[TwoSix]

No, he doesn't. He uses intuition. He intuitively understands people. That's Wis, not Int.

Wasn't this the whole point of BI's character concept? That he's a low Int, High Wis (assumedly high Cha) character who's running a con to make people think he's a genius? It's a shift from the initial set-up, but still falls under the broader topic of the post.

OK, definitely getting a strong psychopathic vibe now. This guy's a horrorshow villain sending others on suicide missions to maintain his academic position.

Not seeing a problem with that.

So, the school has an administration of 1? How many other teachers? How does he keep any of them on when word of his serial plagiarism reaches them? What happens when THEY reveal the emperor has no clothes?

Maybe that's what's going to happen next? It's a pet peeve of mine when people assume that characters (or settings, where the assumption is even more noxious) have to be in some sort of steady-state equilibrium. Why can't the con-man professor be on the cusp of being found out? Isn't that a better concept for a campaign goal of injecting drama?