Roleplaying high INT and CHA with low WIS

[JoelF]

I have a character with 18 Int, 5 Wis - he's a wizard who constantly makes unwise choices - mainly rushing off into melee when "it makes the most logical sense" and knowing that his magic "is superior to the mere mundande weapons" of his foes and will therefore protect him from harm. This is despite the fact that he's been brought to negative hit points a few times from this strategy. I see him continuing to do this even though he's hitting mid levels now.

 

[Henry]

-The Lunatic

Brilliant, forceful, COMMANDING...but thoroughly insane. He suffers from any number of minor and major neurosis and psychosis...and if he weren't so darn intelligent and persuasive, he'd have been locked up years ago.

Some of the incarnations of Doctor Who come to mind when I read this!

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I think Baltar from Battlestar Galactica (TNS) might also be a good example of the high Int+Cha and low Wis archetype:
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=166076&page=2

He is so incredibly smart that, while originally being a programmer and lead developer of the Colonial Defense System, he later also managed to understand important part of Cylon biology. He is charismatic enough that people follow him, ignore his strange behaviour, and he has no trouble charming women. He even manages to gain the trust of a abused, raped women in a matter of hours.
But he has a poor choice of friends and allies, makes stupid decisions and is very obsessed with things (like himself and his sex life).
Six became his girlfriend, and he allowed her to manipulate the defense mainframe code (without bother double-checking her work or even doubting that it could be for anything else but for futher defense contracts of her employer). He messed with another girl while involved with Six (and even let her find out). He gave Gina a nuke, completely ignoring what she could do to it. his He decided to stay on "New Caprica" ignoring that there was still a risk of being discovered despite the cloud around the system...

 

[barsoomcore]

The character above is the classic 1st edition AD&D Wizard who casts the fireball in the 5-foot wide tunnel without thinking. They are the fighter who jumps down the well because of the prophecy to "follow the light" -- not remembering they're wearing plate mail and the water is 15 feet deep. They are the Rogue who searches for traps AFTER picking the lock. They are the classic "look before you leap" impulsive types, who would only fear a situation if there was obvious danger, like an open lava pit.

Every PC that ever lived.

Fixed it for you.

 

[Imruphel]

Try googling narcissistic personality disorder. Not only does NPD describe every enterpreneur I have ever met, it describes a high Int/Cha and low Wis character perfectly IMO.

 

[exile]

I am currently playing a character that falls into the high int, high cha, low wis type being discussed above...or at least she did until her low wis got her into enough trouble that the other abilities started to suffer too.

Caprice started play as a very talented, very charming (and pretty) apprentice wizard at the Hall of Mysteries (a school of magic that plays heavily in the current game). While naturally intelligent, she often chose social activities over hard work. As her magical training was drawing to an end, she found that she was actually in the running to capture the Headmaster's Prize (a very valuable scholarship). Her chief competition in this matter was another young lady who actually believed in hard work and fair play. Caprice realized that she would have no trouble passing, even honoring her exams, but she knew that to beat out her rival and win the Headmaster's Prize, she would have to cheat. Thanks to her low wisdom (and chaotic nature) she did just that.

Unfortuantely for Caprice, her dishonesty was easily discovered. As punishment, the Headmaster transformed her into a drudgethrall (think a cross between Igor and the Hunchback of Notre Dame that is used for menial tasks about the school). The transformation lowered her strength, dexterity, and charisma all to 8. Of course her physical deformities (hunchback and clubfoot) have other mechanical effects in game, but I'll not dwell on those here.

Chad

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

For those who have read the Dragonlance books think Tasslehoff.

Dang! First Baywatch, then a big music career in Germany...now Dragonlance novels, too?

Does his wellspring of talent have any limits?

 

[Herremann the Wise]

Dang! First Baywatch, then a big music career in Germany...now Dragonlance novels, too?

Does his wellspring of talent have any limits?

No, he just knows no bounds. Go the Hoff!!!

I'm going to go against the grain a little here. Having played a similar styled character (see my Lucifus Cray story hour below), I can suggest that in a lot of areas, intelligence can take up a little bit of the slack in terms of severe wisdom deficit. To have survived, the character has learned ways of doing things, methods and possible programs of behaviour to cope with a variety of situations - thus giving the appearance that ones wisdom is not in fact totally lacking. However, scratch beneath the surface and a complete lack of wisdom will become obvious. Thus most of the time, the character will get along quite well with strange personal rituals or behaviours. However, when they have a classic "moment of clarity; not", they will have stuff ups of truly epic proportions - just ask Lucifus!

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise

 

[Heathen72]

Well, no, don't do any of those things because they will be annoying to the other players and not conductive to good gaming.

Only if the other players were uptight and had a limited idea of what 'good gaming' was.

 

[apsuman]

Think Gilderoy Lockhart (sp?) from the Movie (not the book) Harry Potter and the what book he was in.