How to roleplay Int 6?

[der_kluge]

One of the most fun characters I ever played was a female Paladin named Catherine that had an Int of 7.

She was real noble, good, and pure of heart, but she was just stupid. So, she'd say things like "we need to go into the forest to chase after the villains, so we might need to go into town to buy some sleeping bags and stuff".

Since she was female, it was easier to pull off the whole "air-head" kind of thing.

I agree with Trentonjoe, I'd make him illiterate, and just basically very unknowledgable about the world. Play him like Forrest Gump.

With a 6 int, you are mentally retarded. I mean, if you equate I.Q. to Intelligence, a 10 Int is like having an I.Q. of 100. An Int of 18 would be like having an I.Q. of 180. Ergo, an Int of 6 is like having an I.Q. of 60. In fact, I think Gump's I.Q. in the movie was 70-something, which is considered borderline.

And, as un-politically correct as it may be, playing a mentally retarded cleric might be kind of fun.

 

[maddman75]

High wis and low int - luckily you have a famous character to model.

Forrest Gump. He wasn't bringht, and knew that he wasn't smart. But he always did the right thing and things worked out for him.

I also like the 'letting people die if he isn't sure about them.' Sounds very elvish.

 

[Bagpuss]

Not nearly as hard as to roleplay a genius .

For some reason I find this very easy.

But if you arn't a natural genius then it can be simulated through high skill checks and the like.

 

[Trepelano]

High Wis Low Int - makes me think of someone who has a general distrust of highly educated people and education in general. Possibly a very rural person. he has a lot of common sense, and can often make good decisions, but he has to rely on intuition rather than drawing on personal knowledge about anything outside of basic ordinary common knowledge.

He's like the farmer that doesn't know about politics or science or "book-stuff" but he knows people, and he knows how to make do with what life has given him.

He's probably pretty conservative. He usually thinks that morale problems are cut and dried. The "correct" answer to a morale problem is usually correct "because that's just the way it is".

His view of the world is very personal - isn't based on a lot of knowledge of anything outside his immediate experience - and is generally unshakeable.

 

[Sir Edgar]

Now, I'm thinking he's kind of like a "savage" of some type. The sort that tends to hide in the brush like an animal and patiently waits for his prey. When he sees someone in need of assistance, he gets confused and takes a while to figure out what to do. If he does offer help, he treats that person like an injured animal. He may even grunt and have limited vocabulary at that low of an Intelligence. But he has a feral charm to him and people tend to trust his animal instincts, especially in the woods. He may talk about his religious beliefs in a very primitive way showing the person he saved murals he drew in a cave or something. He can either be extremely anti-social or highly dependent on a character of superior intelligence. He is very loyal, but it takes a while for him to trust someone. Basically, he's a dumb wild animal.

 

[Li Shenron]

just be yourself.

How did you know I failed twice the primary school entry exam?
And if I played it as myself, he should have Wis 3, that's me... always absent-minded and with the willpower of a snail.

Thanks for the Forrest Gump idea, it's GREAT! Now I pretty much now how to RP him. Well, I don't think 6 Int means as much as "retarded", what would have I been if I had rolled a 3??? A Simpson?

He's probably pretty conservative. He usually thinks that morale problems are cut and dried. The "correct" answer to a morale problem is usually correct "because that's just the way it is".

Not this. He's Chaotic, so he's definitely progressist or otherwise liberal, I believe a Chaotic character doesn't think this way but the opposite. And saying it like you did seems that all conservative should be wise & stupid, while I think it's completely a matter of alignment, not Int or Wis!

It largely depends on how you view wild elves which I can see we differ on and that's fine.

You're probably very right, I haven't read much about Wild Elves. In fact I pictured them very open to others, just "distant": they don't care if you're different, which may have both good and bad consequences...

 

[RSKennan]

Sir Edgar beat me to it.

I was thinking of the little boy from a particular Mad Max movie, but with healing abilities. "Semi-feral with a heart of gold" is the direction I'd go with that description.

 

[Balgus]

I would say you work solely from experience. If someone tells you something, or you have to research something- it is a wash.

You have to learn the hard way,a nd once you learn, you never forget.

I would put the Skill pt on concentration- as combat casting is much more important to a cleric than heal. you always have a heal spell to fall back on, but losing spells cause you don't have a good roll is just saddening.

 

[Sir Edgar]

Sir Edgar beat me to it.

I was thinking of the little boy from a particular Mad Max movie, but with healing abilities. "Semi-feral with a heart of gold" is the direction I'd go with that description.

Are you talking about that little blond kid with the boomerang? He cut off all the fingers of a guy who tried to catch it when he threw it at him.

Anyhow, I'd recommend that the starter of the post research more about wild elves before anything else. They are quite different from the elves most people are accustomed to seeing in D&D. Best words: savage, feral, primitive, etc. I think they have lower intelligence, too, just like this character.

 

[sigfried]

I had this NPC cleric I ran for the party (because they didn't have one for a while). He was dunb as a box of rocks and he was called Brother Landon (after the actor michael landon from that silly tv show he was in).

Anyhow he was just background in the original game but when we revisited it a number of years later I played up his massive stupidness. Basicly unless somone told him to do someting he would just stand around whisteling or praying. Once when a dragon attack was iminent everyone went around hiding preparing spells and such. When the dragon arived they finaly realized poor Landon was just standing in the open studing his prayer book unaware of what was happening.

I'd make up a list of rules your characters god follows and just stick to those rules in any and all situations, taking the most literal interpretation possible.