Exactly how dumb is a 7 Int?

[Arravis]

Jack Burton??
That name sounds familiar... who is it?

 

[Hand of Evil]

Jack Burton??
That name sounds familiar... who is it?

Big Trouble in Little China come to mind.

 

[DDK]

With your wisdom score being so high, I would say your PC has tons of common sense, but has a hard time with rote memorization. I would probably play him like he has attention deficit disorder. The pc might have a hard time focusing on the task at hand and gets bored easily. He might seem lazy or unfocused to others, but he would be johnny on the spot with common sense stuff that genius level PCs might have a hard time with. He would probably tend to be very non analytical, but not impulsive. He will be a most interesting character to play. I hope you really enjoy him.

Actually, from what I understand, ADD people can be incredibly bright.

Also, from what I understand, a lot of intelligent people lack focus BECAUSE of their intelligence. They become easily bored when not confronted with mental challenges and so tend to wander from this to that in a regular environment, seeming listless and unfocused.

Only when put in a mentally stimulating environment does their intellect show.

 

[Arravis]

Ah... I knew I had heard that name before . That is a good choice .

 

[DDK]

As per my first post... that logic falls apart if you look at the statistics of average IQ's and you look at the amount of variaty of stat differences in D&D... By that logic alone, the average peasant has an average IQ of 90, while the average IQ is actually 97-100. A considerable difference.

Heh, I don't know about in America, but IIRC, the average IQ in Australia was around 100-110. We had one of those IQ tv shows a few months back yah see

I'd say that the x10 thing is pretty accurate. Your average peasant has an Int of 10-11 as per the standard ability spread so this fits nicely. I don't see your problem with it.

If you're using point-buy, it utilizes a bell curve too so that it's much less likely that you'll get a person with a very high or very low IQ.

150 (or 15) is considered the top of the range for the 'average' person, IIRC and is enough to get you into MENSA.

People with IQ's of 180 (or 18) are quite rare and are therefore highly gifted individuals and are almost certain candidates for MENSA (if they apply themselves).

Only the true genius would ever apply all their brainpower and so anyone with over 180 IQ is most likely someone who is exceptionally dedicated to academic pursuits, much like a wizard would be, and therefore it would be these people who would put extra ability points into their IQ, thus potentially raising their IQ to 200 (or 20, 8th-level) but even then, few ever go beyond this and reach legendary intelligence status.

Btw, I remember hearing conflicting reports about Albert Einstien. Once I remember hearing he had a 90 IQ because he was so flippant and another time I remember hearing he had a 340 IQ because... well because he was a genius.

 

[Cedric]

The problem with the x10 thing is the percentage of the population that turns out to be at moron level or below. Not to mention the fact...a 30 IQ (minimum of 3) would be brain dead by the IQ test standards.

For the average person it works...at the ends of the curve, it doesn't.

Cedric

 

[Arravis]

Correct... at the lower extreme, it makes no sense at all, so it's not in any way near to accurate.

Additionally, the average stat for the average peasant, is 9 not 10-11. The average roll with 3d6 would be 9.

 

[Fenes 2]

No, on the average, a d6 results in 3.5 ( 1+2+3+4+5+6)/6. So the average stat is 10.5, or 10 to 11.

 

[faete]

average 3d6 is 3*3.5 or 10.5

(may as well point out before someone else does)

 

[kkoie]

My image of someone with a low int. but high wis and charisma might be someone like a country bumpkin. Someone who has lots of common sense, but who is naive when it comes to things that are more knowledge or world-wise based.

A great example of this would be someone who instinctively dislikes outsiders, but is otherwise a wise person. He goes about his life as usual, and never does anything that gets him into trouble. But due to his low intelligence has the misunderstanding that any and all outsiders (possibly due to a bad experience) are bad, and thus not welcome in town.

For fighter types, the obvious barbarian, they know what works and what doesn't.

For clerics with low int. Think of the small town preacher. He knows the ways of his god, and the strictures of the faith, but has no understanding or appreciation for anything outside his church.

Someone with a low int but high wisdome isn't dumb or stupid, they are ignorant. They don't know any better. A perfect example of ignorant are those people, who when asked why they always do something or perform a specific task, respond with the classic line "but we've always done it this way?" They are not intelligent enough to understand that they can change or question something, or come up with something new or differn't.