Roleplaying character attributes, specifically Widsom & Intelligence

[Hellcat]

I recently began running a Ptolus campaign. One of the PCs is a monk with a high Wisdom score and low Intelligence score. The player is looking for advice on how to roleplay this. Any advice?

 

[Stormborn]

The character should be highly perceptive of others feelings (regardless of Sense Motive - he might not be able to tell when someone is lying but he can tell if they are sad or angry, expecially in the group and with friendly NPCs) and his surroundings (again regardless of skills) but have very little factual information. He might ask for details to be repeated such as the history of an item, place, or NPC as he probablly doesnt learn very quickly. On the other hand he can probablly give good advice about relationships and have strong gut feelings about what people are like, even if he isnt very good at relationships himself. A low intelligence does not neccearily equal stupid, it can simply mean uneducated and unconcerened about "knowledge" and "book learning" as such. Unless the character had a really low INT (say 3, 4, or 5) I would not portray him as mentally handicapped or even slow. Given a high Wisdom he will also know that he isnt that knowledgable and is unlikely to say and do things that show his ignorance. Rather he will remain quiet and be thought much more intelligent than he actually is.

 

[Nonlethal Force]

I high wisdom low intelligence character should speak out of their life experience, not on their ability to deduce. For example, I have a druid named Rhaka who often speaks of wisdom in terms of what she has learned from the forest animals and her environment. She hardly ever speaks of logic.

To me, a high wisdom low intelligence means that they are more likely to pick the wise course of action, but not necessarily go about it in the most effecient manner. They'll likely be slow to speak since it'll take them a bit longer to catch on. But once they figure it out they should have solid things to say.

They should also have a strong will - perhaps in the right character even rigid. They should be assure of themselves, etc. Hence the whole reason WILL saves come out of wisdom.

 

[Shadowslayer]

He'd know the only way to stall the advancing army is to destroy the bridge. Unfortunately, after lighting the bridge ablaze, he'd realize he was now standing on the wrong side of it.

 

[billd91]

He'd know the only way to stall the advancing army is to destroy the bridge. Unfortunately, after lighting the bridge ablaze, he'd realize he was now standing on the wrong side of it.

I think that example would apply better with the opposite combination: high intelligence, low wisdom. He's clever enough to come up with the plan, lacking enough foresight and perceptiveness to execute it right.

 

[Stalker0]

Another thing you might do is ask a lot of questions all the time, because you see everything, but don't know what it means.

While a high int, low wis might says, "What? Can you repeat that?" You'd be like, "So what does that mean, why are we going there...Hey, that guy around the corner said gorbat, what's a gorbat?"

 

[Vuron]

A High Wisdom Low Intelligence monk would likely be an infrequent speaker but when he chooses to speak often will say deeply meaningful things.

He'll discern the truth of a situation not through learning or logical deduction but rather intuition, ie he sees to the heart of the matter without dwelling on the specifics.

He might not be a learned man, or a well spoken man, but his wisdom gives him insight into the hearts and minds of men (sense motive) and a sense of attunement with his surroundings (spot, listen) and his body (heal).

 

[Celebrim]

I recently began running a Ptolus campaign. One of the PCs is a monk with a high Wisdom score and low Intelligence score. The player is looking for advice on how to roleplay this. Any advice?

Depends on what you mean. As a rough guideline.

Int 8-9: It won't be immediately noticable that this person has below average intelligence. Only when you have oppurtunity to observe thier knowledge and reasoning tested over a period can you deduce it. They are still adequately compotent when dealing with thier 'home turf' and may even possess a narrow expertise born from experience.
Int 6-7: It will be apparant in casual conversation that this person is lacking in critical reasoning skills and has very large gaps in thier knowledge.
Int 4-5: This person will be obviously mentally retarded and it will probably be possible to tell this from thier manners. They will have great difficulty being even compotent in any area of knowledge.
Int 3 or less: Will have great difficulty even taking care of themselves. Technology of any sort will utterly confuse them. Abstract thought is generally beyond them.

None of this percludes high wisdom.

A person with high wisdom but low intelligence will possess a natural grace and instinct to thier actions. In a good aligned person (to another good aligned person of sufficient wisdom), this will likely cause them to seem innocent and endearing. In an evil aligned person (to a good aligned person of sufficient wisdom), this likely to cause them to seem uncanny and unnatural. (If the low intelligence but high wisdom person also has high charisma, they are able to produce either effect in anyone with equal ease.) HWLI are very likely to be able to empathize with animals and children - both of whom tend to have wisdom scores higher than thier intelligence (remember intelligence is also a measure of what you know, and children no relatively little).

People with high wisdom but low intelligence are generally able to do things, but generally unable to express how they did them, to teach anyone else, or even to understand anyone else's instruction. They simply do. People with high wisdom but low intelligence will tend to be more comfortable in simple, low technology environments, in which they have a regular reutine. Knowing thier own limitations, they will go out of thier way to find such safe havens. Knowing thier own limitations, they will go out of thier way to pair themselves with a learned and intelligent person.

A person with high wisdom but low intelligence will be the epitome of doing much with little. They will prize economy in word and deed. They tend to be thrifty, humble, hard working, and extremely persistant. They overcome problems with very simple plans and brute effort. They have a tendancy to see simple solutions to complex problems. They don't spend much time thinking things through, but they tend to stumble on the right solution immediately. When a problem is well above thier ability, they realize it immediately and either simply avoid the problem or transform it into a different more understandible problem. Often this means attempting to turn the problem into someone else's problem - one they recognize to be better suited to the task. If the HWLI person also has high charisma, they tend to be very good at doing this.

HWLI person's will ask questions all the time. They will generally be unable to understand or remember the answer, and they will only make an effort to remember the answer if the information is something very basic to what they do all the time. Rather than being primarily an attempt to gather information, asking questions is for the HWLI person a means of recruiting other people into thier problems. Interestingly, while the HWLI person may not know the answer themselves, they have a very strong instinct for what the right question is in a given circumstance. They are very good at detecting the outlying information admist the noise, often more so than very high intelligence people who are distracted by the numerous possibilities, avenues, and thoughts and are therefore working on the wrong problem. In this way, HWLI people can form very strong and mutually beneficial relationships with a high intelligence character. When they do ask the right question, a HWLI person tends to not realize why it is the right question, or even necessarily that it is particularly important.

HWLI people will have extremely firm belief systems, usually something that can be expressed as simply as a single line. Because of this, they are almost impossible to trick, coerse, distract, or seduce. They might not understand anything going on or why anything is happening, but they know who they are.

The classic example from literature is 'Forrest Gump' (INT: 7, WIS: 14 or so).

 

[Tonguez]

IMHO for DnD

Wis = Perception and Intuition
Int = Learning and Reason

So as stated the monk is highly perceptive and has an intuitive graps of things
but lacks learning and does not apply reason when 'working things out'