Stop me from obliterating him!
- Thread starter brun
- Start date
I dunno.. with five intelligence I think the most honest portrayal of roleplaying this character is having him stand there in a nearly catatonic state drooling or playing the town idiot- characters that seem to lack the charm or strength of character you'd find in a high CHA.. I don't mean this to be offensive. Personally, I had a 7 int character with 13 wisdom at one point, and while everyone recommended i play a streetsmart chap, I had a hard time seeing how I could survive on my own just due to my lack of brain power.
This player has a very hard job ahead of him trying to justify how he acts within reason of his stats.. He's so low in Int he probably should barely speak his primary language, and his wis is so low he may possibly have lucid moments where he's able to act as his Charisma would imply or remember things that fall under his bardic knowledge. If he comes up with a zinger of a backplot, it'll work I guess. You won't need to stretch to blat him, he'll blat himself more than likely if he sticks to character.
This player has a very hard job ahead of him trying to justify how he acts within reason of his stats.. He's so low in Int he probably should barely speak his primary language, and his wis is so low he may possibly have lucid moments where he's able to act as his Charisma would imply or remember things that fall under his bardic knowledge. If he comes up with a zinger of a backplot, it'll work I guess. You won't need to stretch to blat him, he'll blat himself more than likely if he sticks to character.
Dr. Strangemonkey
First Post
5 intelligence could be viable, you just have to accept the idea that the mental system of DnD represents intelligence as a variety of categories where IQ as we know it is a general description with a slant towards the area that DnD defines as Int.
Even without that dodge...
...Muhammad Ali tested as having a 70 IQ according to the army, and he's a more than viable sort of a human being. Fairly good model for a character in many ways.
Aside from that, however, I do believe you can make him reroll, his character does not have a net +2 benefit from his attributes.
But the character could also be portrayed as someone who has excellent muscle memory and fantastic social intelligence, but who has issues...
For Instance:
The character has a powerful mental handicap or two. Perhaps the character has developed a very flawed ability to translate between his short and long term memory.
So that the character can remember his initial bard training to be a good musician and friendly guy, the high charisma bonuses, but has a crippling learning disability, low low rank accumulation for every level, and has both a dim ability to understand situations over a day old and some sort of dare-devil problem, low wisdom, because he is:
A.) Overconfident because he has overcome his problem
B.) Manic depressive from having seen his vast potential crippled.
I would make a deal with the player. If you can both find some way to play the character that satisfies everyone, then you have just had a genuine role-playing moment. If you can't within the first few games, then obliterate the character.
Even without that dodge...
...Muhammad Ali tested as having a 70 IQ according to the army, and he's a more than viable sort of a human being. Fairly good model for a character in many ways.
Aside from that, however, I do believe you can make him reroll, his character does not have a net +2 benefit from his attributes.
But the character could also be portrayed as someone who has excellent muscle memory and fantastic social intelligence, but who has issues...
For Instance:
The character has a powerful mental handicap or two. Perhaps the character has developed a very flawed ability to translate between his short and long term memory.
So that the character can remember his initial bard training to be a good musician and friendly guy, the high charisma bonuses, but has a crippling learning disability, low low rank accumulation for every level, and has both a dim ability to understand situations over a day old and some sort of dare-devil problem, low wisdom, because he is:
A.) Overconfident because he has overcome his problem
B.) Manic depressive from having seen his vast potential crippled.
I would make a deal with the player. If you can both find some way to play the character that satisfies everyone, then you have just had a genuine role-playing moment. If you can't within the first few games, then obliterate the character.
Darkness
Hand and Eye of Piratecat [Moderator]
Re: Re: Stop me from obliterating him!
Str 11 is +/- 0
Dex 17 is +3
Con 10 is +/- 0
Int 5 is -3
Wis 7 is -2
Cha 16 is +3
0+3+0-3-2+3 = 1
Thus, his total bonus is +1, not +0 - and thus, legal according to the PHB.
He doesn't fail the test:Pielorinho said:
Str 11 is +/- 0
Dex 17 is +3
Con 10 is +/- 0
Int 5 is -3
Wis 7 is -2
Cha 16 is +3
0+3+0-3-2+3 = 1
Thus, his total bonus is +1, not +0 - and thus, legal according to the PHB.
As someone suggested earlier the low intelligence and wisdom scores could be interpreted as simply the result of a particular mental illness (or curse?)
Taking a page from my own personal life you could suggest the bard has the fantasy equivalent of "Asperger's Syndrome". Its high functioning autism. Rigidly defined social guidelines, resistance to change (to the point of abusive behavior and tantrums), and a need for a daily set routine. His need for a daily set routine could be construed as a low wisdom since it fails to allow the character to change based on circumstance, thus giving him the appearance of no common sense.
The low intelligence aspect of the disorder could be less of an inability to talk and more about his constant mutterings of inane topics of sole interest to HIM. My son's fascination is dinosaurs. Has been for a very long time. He talks about them constantly and even projects his own feelings through them.
Let me confirm though that all of this behavior IS annoying and I cant imagine adults would CHOOSE to adventure with someone like that. That person would HAVE to offer the party something of significance in order for them to realistically want to keep him around.
Maybe that curse is the way to go after all...
Eric Price
Dragon Scale Counters
http://www.dragonscalecounters.com
Taking a page from my own personal life you could suggest the bard has the fantasy equivalent of "Asperger's Syndrome". Its high functioning autism. Rigidly defined social guidelines, resistance to change (to the point of abusive behavior and tantrums), and a need for a daily set routine. His need for a daily set routine could be construed as a low wisdom since it fails to allow the character to change based on circumstance, thus giving him the appearance of no common sense.
The low intelligence aspect of the disorder could be less of an inability to talk and more about his constant mutterings of inane topics of sole interest to HIM. My son's fascination is dinosaurs. Has been for a very long time. He talks about them constantly and even projects his own feelings through them.
Let me confirm though that all of this behavior IS annoying and I cant imagine adults would CHOOSE to adventure with someone like that. That person would HAVE to offer the party something of significance in order for them to realistically want to keep him around.
Maybe that curse is the way to go after all...
Eric Price
Dragon Scale Counters
http://www.dragonscalecounters.com
Henry
Autoexreginated
clark411 said:
I have to disagree here. Even an animal has an INT of 2, and an animal is not necessarily a "drooling idiot." For an intelligence of five, the character might have little deductive reasoning, rarely pondering cause-and-effect, and simply caring little about reading or literary pursuits. They might not be lettered, because it simply played little part to their lives. A wisdom of 7 means that not only do they rarely ponder cause-and-effect, they probably get into the same trouble again and again, because they never learn from their mistakes. Now, because of their high INT and CHA, they frequently can dodge out of or talk their way out of the consequences of their mistakes - which doesn't help in their learning from them.
Catatonia is defined by an INT of 0 - a 1 is a dim animal, while a 2 is a normal to smart animal. INT 5 is far from INT 0. So there is PLENTY of interaction room for a low INT low WIS character. Check out the article "Wise as an Ox, Strong as an Owl" in an issue of Dragon Magazine from last year (I'm afraid I don't have the issue handy). They give excellent pointers on roleplaying a character with one or two VERY low stats.
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