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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Clint_L" data-source="post: 9823717" data-attributes="member: 7035894">That's my point. Int. 3 on a character is clearly not the same as the general intelligence of a house pet or toddler. You can build a perfectly functional character who goes on to great things, reaches level 20, etc. with Int. 3.The D&D attributes do not have real world analogues. They are far, far too reductionist and simplistic for that. They are a game device that reflect a D&D character's competence at extremely narrowly defined tasks. There is no such thing in the real world as Int. 3, or anything like it.In terms of roleplay, this means that your assumptions about how Int. 3, Char. 3, Str. 3 should be performed are completely biased and not based on any kind of objective reality. Objecting to how someone else chooses to play their character because of their attributes is simply projecting your own assumptions. The game mechanics will impose specific limitations that will probably suggest ways of playing the character to you, but extending these to judge someone else's interpretation of, say. Wis. 3 is totally subjective.This goes the other way, too. Maybe I want to play my Char. 18 character as someone who is completely obnoxious and destable, but manages to get their way through sheer chutzpah and intimidation, while you see Char. 18 as the most charming person in the world. Both are valid! And if we think of pop culture characters, I am sure that we can think of examples of both.That's why I think characters should be based on the things that writers have been building characters from forever - goals, flaws, needs - and not arbitrary scores that were designed as game aids, and derived specifically from war games.Trust players to roleplay their characters the way they want. Diversity is a good thing. Maybe their intepretation will be something you never, ever would have imagined...and that is amazing!</blockquote>

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