How smart is a 3 INT in d20?

[Kalanyr]

Heh, a fairly accurate table is this (it doesn't have a pretty formula though, its a bellcurve so its just one of those evil things) : (Easy translation guide Int 3 is IQ 59-64, Int 4 is IQ 65-69, etc).

Score Lowest IQ Equivalent
3- 59
4- 65
5- 70
6- 76
7- 81
8- 86
9- 92
10- 97
11- 103
12- 108
13- 114
14- 119
15- 124
16- 130
17- 135
18+- 141+

(And I hope I don't get a repeat of the time I posted this on the WotC board and 5 people out of 6 claimed 18+. I'll specifically note this is for a MENSA 100 Average, 130- 98th Percentile IQ test, there's a few other scales too (which as far as I know have lower deviations so higher scores are more frequent))

 

[Kalanyr]

After a quick comparison S'mon's rule of 5 is pretty darn close.

 

[S'mon]

(And I hope I don't get a repeat of the time I posted this on the WotC board and 5 people out of 6 claimed 18+. I'll specifically note this is for a MENSA 100 Average, 130- 98th Percentile IQ test, there's a few other scales too (which as far as I know have lower deviations so higher scores are more frequent))

Hey, I scored a 150 on my first IQ test!
Probably an easier test, though. I completely agree, different tests give different results. AFAIK some tests put top 1% population at IQ 140+, I think the one I did put top 1% at IQ 150+, which is a roll of 17-18 on 3d6.

edit: And Sharon Stone claims to have an IQ of 165.

 

[diaglo]

I want to know In game how smart would a 3 int be? For a 30 iq is not playable and want some real tips not just auggh me hurt you.

Yogi: Smarter than your average bear, Boo boo.

 

[Umbran]

INT & IQ - these days, looking at IQ bell curves vs 3d6 and typical D&D distributions...

There's a number of reasons to not look at things this way...

Modern IQ tests follow a bell curve. The 3d6 distribution follows a bell curve. But that does not at all imply that the two are equivalent. There's only a vague handwaving argument to support the average on IQ tests to be the average of 3d6, and that the bell curves would have similar widths, and so on.

The hadwaving argument has many weaknesses:
1)some aspects of modern IQ tests are better modelled by Wisdom instead of Intelligence.

2)Modern IQ tests correllate to performance in school, but their correllation to what humans describe as "intelligence" is somewhat weaker.

And, perhaps most importantly
3) The Int scores of PCs and NPCs are not usually generated using 3d6 in the current edition of the game. The 3d6 curve is thus irrelevant! It is an artifact of previous editions that no longer applies.

 

[WayneLigon]

This is completely incorrect on a fundamental level. Do you think that 1 in 256 of the D&D population is that non-functional? I don't!

No, I think that most people that abysmally stupid are killed by circumstance long before they reach the age that they can speak - same thing for those up to about a 5 int or so; primitive societies like most D&D ones (away from the larger or more enlightened cities) have no room for someone that stupid. They might, with some patient and very understanding parents, make it to walking/talking age at which point they'll wander off into the woods, having no real means of ever understanding the danger implicit in the woods, or the river, or whatever, and get eaten by wolves or something.

After thinking about it overnight, in fact, I think I pull back from some of my original ideas of just how competant they are. A 3-4 int might be OK for your basic Jungle Lord, who's been raised by higher order animals like apes. But for most people it's a crippling disadvantage simply because they don't have an animals instincts and those hard-wired behaviors that, say, a dog is born with. Basically, they are getting all the disadvantages of being a beast with none of the advantages, and they'll never ever get any better.

 

[SinisterMinister]

It's important to remember that a 3 INT doesn;t mean that one would be doomed to a life of failure.... it's even possible that someone could be elected President of the most powerful nation on earth, provided he's got a recognizable name.

 

[S'mon]

There's a number of reasons to not look at things this way...

(Evil Lawyer stuff snipped)

..And, perhaps most importantly
3) The Int scores of PCs and NPCs are not usually generated using 3d6 in the current edition of the game. The 3d6 curve is thus irrelevant! It is an artifact of previous editions that no longer applies.

Nevertheless, Evil Lawyer Dude, my 'rule of 5' above gives reasonably good results if you wish to make a comparison.

(I did actually _say_ that the INT & IQ Bell Curves are different, *sheesh*) :\

 

[S'mon]

It's important to remember that a 3 INT doesn;t mean that one would be doomed to a life of failure.... it's even possible that someone could be elected President of the most powerful nation on earth, provided he's got a recognizable name.

Not IRL, surely?!

 

[Kalanyr]

There's a number of reasons to not look at things this way...

Modern IQ tests follow a bell curve. The 3d6 distribution follows a bell curve. But that does not at all imply that the two are equivalent. There's only a vague handwaving argument to support the average on IQ tests to be the average of 3d6, and that the bell curves would have similar widths, and so on.

The hadwaving argument has many weaknesses:
1)some aspects of modern IQ tests are better modelled by Wisdom instead of Intelligence.

2)Modern IQ tests correllate to performance in school, but their correllation to what humans describe as "intelligence" is somewhat weaker.

And, perhaps most importantly
3) The Int scores of PCs and NPCs are not usually generated using 3d6 in the current edition of the game. The 3d6 curve is thus irrelevant! It is an artifact of previous editions that no longer applies.

The first 2 points are good. The 3rd however isn't, the 10 10 10 11 11 11 array or the non-elite array used for average NPCs are both equivalent to 3d6. Which means the world at large does fit a bell curve and the special array/4d6 method just acts as selection to pick out heroic individuals.