No love for the stupid wizard?

[Wolfwood2]

It's simple. Just play a melee-focused wizard. Wade into battle with your quarterstaff and teach those monsters a thing or two. Don't be some kind of wuss retreating for healing all the time either. When you drop to negatives, that's the game telling you it's okay to quit.

I predict your problem of a wizard with a 6 intelligence will be "solved" in short order.

 

[Woas]

Use a cross-bow and prepare the bolts with oil and rags to make them flaming bolts. Then declare you are casting your most powerful spell, Flame Bolt!

 

[Numion]

Use a cross-bow and prepare the bolts with oil and rags to make them flaming bolts. Then declare you are casting your most powerful spell, Flame Bolt!

Now we're getting somewhere. How about eating three plates of beans as a material component, then 'casting' Stinking Cloud?

 

[billd91]

If you're going to play a wizard who's too dumb to cast any spells, why not take an NPC class and play that? The Expert seems like a good choice in this circumstance.

The only reason I can think of to play a wizard who isn't capable of casting spells is for using spell-completion items since they don't need a minimum intelligence as far as I recall. But then again, an expert with Use Magic Device as a class skill can generally do better. And the character would still have a decent number of skill points, even with the Int penalty, to pick up decent skills.

 

[Numion]

The only reason I can think of to play a wizard who isn't capable of casting spells is for using spell-completion items since they don't need a minimum intelligence as far as I recall. But then again, an expert with Use Magic Device as a class skill can generally do better. And the character would still have a decent number of skill points, even with the Int penalty, to pick up decent skills.

Expert doesn't fit the concept. The dude is a wizard - he's spent all his time learning spells, so he's not supposed to have a lot of skills. And the experts HD is too much, this is supposed to be a frail wizard

 

[ZSutherland]

I'd go the Thag route. Make the character a rogue with a 6 Int who thinks he's a wizard. Play up the schtick. Wear a colorful robe and hat, wield a quarterstaff, take ranks in Diplomacy and Bluff and tell your party-members you used your magic to "charm" people every time you use those skills.

Alternatively, play the character as a wizard with a decent Int but a 6 Wis, and play him as completely daft. Work with the DM to have lost your spell-book for the first adventure so you get it back at the end, but get to play up the magic-less wizard schtick for one session. Subsequently, always cast the "wrong" spell for most occassions, one that isn't completely wasted but isn't SOP either. This will require a lot of creativity on your part, but could be quite fun if you can pull it off.

 

[Rel]

I'd go the Tharg route.

That's THAG! Thag no like when people not say Thag's name right! Thag is Wizard who knows there is much power in True Name like THAG!

 

[hafrogman]

If you're actually going to try to be an effective character then sorcerer is the way to go. A sorcerer, with 6 int, who spent his life studying spells as a wizard and struggling to even read his spell book. He still carries around a spellbook, because he's too stupid to realize that what magic he has is actually innate.

 

[Nyeshet]

Expert doesn't fit the concept. The dude is a wizard - he's spent all his time learning spells, so he's not supposed to have a lot of skills.

By the rules this is impossible. He has to have at least Int 10 to learn cantrips, at least Int 11 to learn first level spells, etc. With an Int 6 he has never (and could never) learned any spells.

However, that doesn't mean he doesn't think he's been learning spells. Maybe he's a Sorcerer or Warlock who does not realize that his magic is innate. Perhaps all his life he has never encountered an innate caster, and while young he decided to become a wizard. So he bought and studied magical books, and one day the spell he was trying to cast worked! In truth the spell was an innate aspect of himself, something he could have cast all along, but he does not realize this. He sought out and 'learned' other spells (basically trial and error learning new spells, occationally 'succeeding' and adding those 'learned' spells to his 'spellbook').

So, play a Sorcerer (or Warlock) that carries around a spell book and studies it for an hour every morning. You can even tell the other members of your team that you are a wizard. (The DM will need to know the truth, of course.) It could be a great role playing experience, actually. Due to his low Int, he is barely capable of rational thought, so he will never believe anyone who tells him he does not need his spellbook to cast spells. Like a child with a security blanket or teddy, he 'needs' the spellbook to cast his spells. Perhaps he even reads a line or two out of it (or studies the finger paint art that is actually on the page, as his being able to read better than 'see spot run' is highly questionable) whenever he casts a spell.

 

[ZSutherland]

That's THAG! Thag no like when people not say Thag's name right! Thag is Wizard who knows there is much power in True Name like THAG!

My apologies. Editted to correct.