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Message: <blockquote data-quote="LazarusLong42" data-source="post: 748114" data-attributes="member: 9620">Disclaimer:  I'm not trying to come off as a jerk.  Really.  Trying to tie any numerical system to intellect is difficult if not impossible (even Binet thought, at the end, that his IQ test was crap), but DnD is an abstraction, and it can be done with some forethought.  I try my best not to be arrogant about intelligence, for two reasons:  being intelligent has made my social life hell at times, back when I was fourteen and still arrogant about it; and I've had my ego blasted enough times to have gladly spent the GP for a wish spell for an inherent -5 penalty to INT.  Unfortunately, I live in the real world.However, as some would dispute any claim of 18 or greater, I feel I must defend.To get a sense of INT distribution, I used a standard bell-curve (normal) distribution based on 3d6 (which gives a number between 3 and 18 on dice, but leaves out those with severe mental handicap and anything above 18).  One standard deviation--that is, approximately 15 IQ, depending on who you ask and whose test you're taking--is 3 INT.  So, 19 INT is 145 IQ, approximately--not 190.  Sorry, Sixchan.Just based on die rolls of 3d6, ~0.5% of the population has 18 or higher INT (one in 216 die rolls gives you an 18).  Extrapolating the bell curve out further:  about 0.1% have 19 INT, about 0.02% have 20 INT, and about 0.002% have 21 INT--4 standard deviations from the mean, 10.  In other words, you probably know someone with 18 or 19 INT.  Given what I know about DnD players, you may well *be* that person.For mine, I took 19 INT base +1 for fourth level.  My mother would say I'm selling myself short, but mothers are great for boosting egos in the face of harsh facts. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Now, Celebrim, let's look at the criteria you listed (for brevity's sake, I'm removing one's I can't claim):Parts one and three aren't INT; they're ranks in Knowledge (General).  But yes, I have part two.(Part one also includes a lot of luck to even get to try out).Yep, got that.Part one, yes.Read my disclaimer above.  Or talk to my shrink.No, that would likely be about a level 16 expert with a 20-22 INT; earning a Field medal or Nobel Prize takes either decades of work and dedication to your field, or extreme amounts of serendipity (cf. Linus Pauling).  Being Chairperson of the RAS or NAS, OTOH, does not require incredibly high INT; it does require 16+ CHA, 15 ranks each in Diplomacy and Knowledge (Politics) and the Leadership feat. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />One last thing:  Given what I know about people who play DnD, they're generally highly intelligent.  For instance, unlike so many other 'Net message boards, I rarely see posts here written with such poor grammar that they make no sense.  I would peg the *average* INT of a DnD player at about 13-14, that is, 80th percentile, around 115-120 IQ.OK.  There's my defense of those claiming 18+ INT, and defense of my own choice.Edited:  Missed a zero in the percentage for 21 INT.</blockquote>

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