How does one roleplay a 49 Intelligence? Plus! Mega Super *BONUS* Questions!

[Craer]

Three questions.

First: How the *heck* do I roleplay my Archmage with an intelligence of 49? It's a really high level game. I'm simply at a loss, and am considering having the character just go mute and only listen, never speak.

Second: What might be some neat uses for a Trap The Soul'd 29th level Nezumi (ratman from OA) rogue's soul? It's in an emerald the size of a baby's head.

Third: Can you name some colorful and unique high level spells? There aren't very many ninth level spells in the core books. Homebrew stuff is valid, I'd just need to get it approved by the DM.


I'm not used to being so high level. It is fun.

 

[Xath]

How do you even have a 49 Int? Aren't there caps for magic item, and magical stat enhancement?

 

[Dagger75]

You don't have to be arrogant or anything like that. Did you ever see that show on Fox called John Doe. The guy know everything and was really smart but was likeable and didn't flaunt it. I wouldn't worry to much on how to role play.

As for the trapped soul, maybe you can bargin it to a god or something like thatm Maybe the DM will lt you use it to help make a magic item or something.

 

[Craer]

Xath: I am totally incapable of answering your question. Work with me here.

 

[Crothian]

How do you even have a 49 Int? Aren't there caps for magic item, and magical stat enhancement?

Well, in the peic level handbook there are items that give +12, wishes, level advancements, epic feats....it's possible

 

[Abisashi]

For strength at least, +5 ability is x2 capability. Let's assume the same holds true for Intelligence. 23 intelligence is the most a human can ever achieve, so Albert Einstein had 23 int. Your character has 26 more points of intelligence, which makes you about 2^5.2 times smarter - which is to say, more than 36 times as intelligent. In one hour he accomplish what would take Einstein 4.5 days (assuming he's working 8 hours a day.) He is 128 times as smart as someone with 14 int.

Your character has the brainpower to make any sort of calculation very quickly, and doesn't need to rely on his intuition (aka wisdom). Even with a terrible wisdom score, he won't fit the "absentminded professor" stereotype because he can easily keep track of plenty of things in addition to any experiments he may be conducting.

To make this a little more concrete, let's compare the wizard (we'll call him Cereb) to his friend, Jack (who has 14 int - he's very smart). Both of them are attending college. Jack shows up to class (usually), occasionally takes notes, and sometimes reads the textbook. On tests, Jack gets As in the classes where he tries and Bs or Cs in those where he tries very little.

Cereb never goes to class and only skims the text. Cereb completely understands the material even if the text was poorly written, and can easily extrapolate beyond it. Cereb aces all the tests (and catches any mistakes the teacher makes). By the time Jack is starting problem 5 on the 50-question multiple-choice final, Celeb is handing it in, and would have been done before Jack finished the first question if he didn't have to spend time reading the questions.

Mechanically, Celeb should be able to leave some spell slots un-assigned and just make int checks to have them be what he needs when he needs them. He could have figured out what he needed beforehand, but there's no way you could, both because you lack his godly intelligence and you don't actually live in a fantasy world.

edit: For actual roleplay, bring over 100 extra people and whenever you need to make a decision, poll them. You'll get lots of overlap so you'll still only be around 30 int equivalent, but you might have trouble fitting more in the house.

 

[Craer]

Crothian, you dog! When did you break 20,000 posts?

Seriously, though. Any ideas, anyone? I'm at a loss.

 

[The Amazing Dingo]

I agree with Dagger75 - your character doesn't even have to show he's brilliant. The easiest way is to obviously use some big words (remember, if there is a two syllable word that has a four syllable synonym, use the four syllable one as it sounds smarter: i.e, teacher -> educator -> facilitator).

And besides, realistically, no one really knows how to play someone with an Intelligence of 49. I'm sure we could count on our hand the number of people throughout history who has even had an intelligence of 30. It is just unrealistic to even try to really consider it in anything realistic.

For spells and such, this definately sounds epical in scope. You might want to check out Sepulchrave's Story Hour and Rogue's Gallery thread for a few epic level spells that his PCs and Baddies have used. They follow the Epic Level Rules very well and goshdarnit its such a good Story Hour (heck, one of the characters was toting an Intelligence of I think 150 for a short while).

As for having the Soul of such a character....oh, there are so many interesting things I'd love to do as a DM with such. I'd talk to your DM about this since this has "plot hook" written all over it. But if left to me as a PC, it would definately have to become to type of magical item if not something of minor artifact status.

Edit: With that type of intelligence, Cereb would be smart enough to know what the teacher was going to ask even before the teacher realized what he would ask.

 

[Craer]

Ninja edit: Thank you Abisashi. That's a good starting point for me to consider. As for the other questions, does anyone have any experience with the Avascular Mass spell from Libris Mortis?

The character has few moral restrictions. I think I may make the gem the capstone for a staff or rod - I'll be taking a magic item crafting feat very soon.

 

[fafhrd]

Just adopt Hong's personality. One (simplistic) way to look at genius is to assume that great intellects arrive at the same conclusions as other. They just get there faster. Spend time between sessions gaming things out, figuring out contingencies for circumstances you can imagine happening. Well reasoned arguments, plans, and rebuttals will come together with incredible ease. If your DM is nice, maybe they'll give you a few probable items to work on beforehand. It's not a perfect solution, but it might help to get the "look" right.