What is a character with a 6 INT, 6 CHA, and 8 WIS like?

[Voadam]

Low int not that bright

Low wis, not that strong willed.

Low charisma, could be ugly, could be unimposing, could be socially dysfunctional.

3's are still functional and can be played by a character, sixes and an eight can be as well.

Stats are more for mechanics than roleplay. I would not force the character to do incredibly dumb or boorish things in game, I would just have it come out from other's interactions with him, conversations don't go right, he can't convince others to do anything, if he tries to bargain it goes bad, etc.

If he wants to run with the concept let him, unless you think it will disrupt your game (suicidally and arbitrarily dumb characters can do that).

 

[Celebrim]

"They were supposed to be STR 18, DEX 16, CON 12, INT 6, WIS 8, CHA 6."

Oh, this was a point buy and not a roll? And there was an 18 STR involved?

Now things are starting to add up. If you can't see 'Timmy Powergamer' here, then you haven't been DMing long enough.

Your player was trying to pull one over on you and there isn't a politer way to put it. Basically, this character was going to ignore the penalties of being 6 INT and 6 CHR whenever it suited him to do so. Expect the player to come up with bright ideas and suggestions and to try to be charming no matter what his character's stats are.

I can almost here your conversation with him in my head. Let me guess, he tried to convince you that 6 INT and 6 CHR was only barely below normal - hardly so low that you would notice. He probably told you that 6 CHR just meant that his character was tactiturn and didn't talk that much, or had scars on his face but was otherwise 'normal', etc.

[[[My slightly exagerated take on that conversation]]]

DM: "What's _your_ idea of 6 CHR?"

Timmy Power Gamer: "Wolverine. He has a 6 CHR because he's gruff, mean, always in trouble, and doesn't talk to much."

DM: "I was wondering why you had named your character 'Logan Darkwalker'"

Timmy Power Gamer: "Yeah, and see he doesn't remember his childhood but he's actually like the son of a King and he was a champion pit fighter until he was adopted by the last Shoalin master and taught the secret martial arts..."

DM: "I see. Sort of like Conan, Aragorn, and Batman..."

Timmy Power Gamer: "Yeah, well they have 6 CHR too - see I'm perfectly in character. By the way, I gave my character the Whirlwind Attack feat chain, because of the super martial arts training in my background."

DM: "But he's only a 1st level Barbarian."

Timmy Power Gamer: "Yeah, but because..."

DM: "And I really think the two +5 Katana's of sharpness are a bit much, but let me guess, he inherited them from his former master..."

 

[ForceUser]

Tough character to pull off. I play a character with a 6 Int and a 7 Cha, but he's got a 16 Wis so I am able to portray him as full of common sense, but lacking social graces or book knowledge. If I didn't have the high Wis to lean on, I'd play him as a cypher - an utterly forgettable person, and one whose very presence may be distasteful to more mentally capable people around him. Breaking it down:

6 Int means he's not well learned, nor possesses the mental faculties to retain much knowledge. So one way to RP him would be as unable to remember much, slow to make decisions, and lacking book knowledge.

8 Wis means he lacks common sense, and possibly when combined with the other low stats a sense of self-preservation. He could be foolhardy or overly superstitious. He could be stubborn, a person you'd find nearly impossible to persuade because of his own root beliefs. A person with an 8 Wis could be a sympathetic figure, or a frustratingly bullheaded one.

6 Cha means the character lacks some accepted social graces as well as force of personality. He's not necessarily physically unattractive, but his personality is one that others will soon forget or be loathe to interact with. He could be a loudmouth giving orders no one follows, or a total Poindexter unable to convince a barkeep to sell him a drink. Either path is interesting, but from a meta-game standpoint, unless you go the Poindexter route you'll quickly aggrivate the other players.

Taken as a whole, this is a person that could be possibly worthy of pity, derision, dismissal, or even loathing. If the person is good he's the simple sod who wants what's best but lack the mental package to know how to make good choices; he'd make a good tag-along or stalwart-but-frustratingly-inept friend. If neutral, I suspect this person would be a coward because he lacks the mental power to make complex moral or ethical decisions; a mentally stunted neutral person just wants to be left alone. If evil, he's probably someone's lacky and most certainly a cruel thug.

A difficult character to portray.

 

[jasper]

Well he rides the short bus with the Dumb and Dumberer guys, just break things when he gets excited. Let go of the mayor's hand George.
You could play him as your typical high school football either guard or tackle, punk. I good at one thing but don't care about anything else.

 

[green slime]

The guy looses two skill points every level.

He falls for every Will save spell that comes his way.

NPCs totally ignore what he has to say, no matter how important, because

1) They'd rather stare at a blank piece of wall than talk to this uncharismatic idiot.
2) He has no presence what so ever, so even if he has something interesting to say, everyone ignores him anyway.
3)If they absolutely have to talk to him, they can't wait for him to finish his sentences, they complete them for him constantly, because he is so slow, and stutters, and mumbles. They tend to misconstrue what he is trying to say.
4) Because he is such an idiot, noone takes any consideration of his feelings. When they fail to hear his mumblings, the standard question (asked so the entire room can hear) "What did that IDIOT just say?" "I dunno, something about the weather? "

20 people in a crowded room:
Bert (the uncharismatic, foolish, idiot) FIRE!!!! (runs around screaming)
Bartender (2 minutes later): Hey! Where did all this smoke come from?

Equipment costs 50% markup, IF he can get the salespersons attention. This is a mark that isn't going to have the gumption to come back and complain.

Being such a mountain of muscle combined with a piddling little brain, he gets all the dirty unpleasant jobs. Got a pile of corpses to move? Got a latrine pit that needs to be redug? Got a door that needs to be held against a raging dragon? And the good news? This guy gets told what a lucky guy he is to get the easy jobs, and believes it!

I'd say sure, let him play this character! He wouldn't keep playing this character for very long. Just the Will saves makes it all worthwhile.

 

[Ashe]

He is that pimply faced kid in the back of class that eats paste and can barely figure out how that page folding trick in the back of MAD magazine works. But was super fast and was always first picked for the recess football team.

That description or Sloth from the Goonies comes to mind as well.

 

[Zhure]

Is it just me or are there no guidelines for point-buying below an '8' for a reason?

Greg

 

[Joseph Elric Smith]

He acts liek my older brother. actually he is just a bit slow, and probably, uncouth.
ken

 

[Darklone]

Of Mice and Men was mentioned. Good.

If that guy is NOT a powergamer, let him pick another PC as friend. That friend actually likes him. Tough, but playable.

CHA 6 does not mean he's not liked. He may be shy and insecure, some people think that's nice.

His int and wis make him slow and dimwitted. He prolly tends to do things slowly and very carefully (like taking twice the time to put his armour and checking all things twice).

He's dim but not dim enough (Int 3) not to know that he's not as clever as others. So he looks for others to tell him what to do.

Have fun playing. Chars like this can be a blast, but they'll never be heros.

 

[Torillan]

STR 16
DEX 14
CON 12
INT 6
WIS 8
CHA 6

With a slightly higher STR and CON score, these could be the stats of Mike Tyson!! Some of the descriptions on here could definitely describe him.