Very Low Intelligence Scores [Archive] - Wizards Community

Very Low Intelligence Scores [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Misyrr
04-04-04, 11:06 PM A PC in my campaign has an intelligence score of 5.

I'm looking for advice to give him about how he might portray a character of so low intelligence beyond the short blurb in the 3.5 PHB at the end of the Ability Scores chapter.

Thanks for any help provided!
CursedMoredhel
04-05-04, 01:29 AM make him get confused an frustrated when the rest of the group uses, words with 2 syllables for example. when the groups discussing there next move he could get bored or loose complete interest then walk away and entertain himself playing wars with his pet hamster maybe(slight bg1&2 inspiration there), also make him fascinated by bugs or sumfin like that, eg if he see a grasshopper have him run over an watch it, when it jumps have him shout for joy
Henry Hankovich
04-05-04, 04:23 AM Actually, the interesting part is that (depending on his WIS and CHA scores), he doesn't have to be a complete retard. He can be relatively canny and bright, when it comes to day-to-day actions, figuring out the situation around him, knowing who to trust, etc. I generally see INT as your academic ability--it's a measure of how much abstract learning you can absorb: magic, languages, history, etc. WIS is common sense and associative reasoning ("if I stack the boxes on top of each other, I can reach the banana").

He could be an idiot savant--good at his specialty, but basically nonfunctional at everything else. He could be like Tarzan--not 'stupid,' just so completely uneducated that he's incapable of picking up abstract skills. Like grammar. :) He could be Silent Bob--never giving the impression that he's paying attention or listening to what people say, but still managing to do just the right thing when it really counts.
JohnSnow
04-06-04, 06:59 PM It really sort of depends on his other stats.

Low Int and Med-High Wisdom would result in a character who's very "in-tune" and "aware" but not real bright. He uses small words (or misuses big ones), forgets things, and generally speaking doesn't really get "book learning" much. He may even be dismissive of it. He may even brag about the fact that he doesn't really read and only enjoys comedies. If he's charismatic enough, he might be able to convince people he knows more than he does. With a 5 Int, this would generally be by keeping his mouth shut a lot and nodding sagely.

He also probably likes to simplify situations into simple black and white. Since he can't deal with complex problems, it's much easier to just decide that way X is RIGHT and way Y is WRONG. No amount of reasoning will convince the character otherwise, because he's too simple to follow the vagaries of argument. Just as a suggestion, read old Hulk comics.

A strong but stupid character is going to try to brawn his way through problems. Brute force is the key here. Highly dextrous, but slow? Tough combo to RP...Depends on some of the other attributes (Charisma and Intelligence especially). So what are the stats other than the 5 INT?
Metis
04-06-04, 07:46 PM His Wisdom is 12, and his Charisma is 10. His Strength is his highest score otherwise, with Constitution behind that.
JohnSnow
04-06-04, 08:14 PM Originally posted by Metis
His Wisdom is 12, and his Charisma is 10. His Strength is his highest score otherwise, with Constitution behind that.

Okay, 12 Wisdom is a character who's reasonably sensible and possessed of a fair bit of willpower. That's enough to play against the low intelligence. He's not particularly persuasive, but he has about an average number of friends. He's reasonably likeable, but pretty "slow."

You might say he's an intellectual lightweight (and maybe a bit obsessive). He has above average dedication, cunning, intuition, perception and common sense though, and gets around fairly well in the "real world." This character is sorta "Forrest Gump"-ish. Although off the top of my head, I'd guess Forrest had a higher charisma and an even HIGHER Wisdom.
JohnSnow
04-06-04, 08:26 PM As an aside, Burrough's Tarzan was VERY intelligent, and learned things VERY quickly.

He mastered English and French between the time he was found in the Jungle and when he got back to London. Kinda like in Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan.

Uneducated doesn't mean unintelligent. Intelligence isn't just whether you've HAD learning, but how well you absorb it when you do get it. Granted Tarzan also had a high wisdom, but he was not "simple," just uneducated. And, IIRC, he learned several "Craft" skills on his own, certainly a mark of intelligence...
Lanoitakude
04-09-04, 01:16 AM If your friend wants to entertain (and frustrate) the other party members, he can act like the 1/2 Orc Barbarian (very low Int) in my party. He plays this character like he as 3 Int and 3 Wis and 3 Cha.

The rest of us consider killing his character, because of how much trouble he gets into. While we (me [wiz/rogue] and Barb) were hiding from some guards, we heard footsteps coming. So Ront II (the barb) yells "FOOTSTEPS!" at the top of his lungs. He then leaps out of hiding, yelling "FOOSTEPS!" and runs around the town randomly. He constantly does completely random and hillarious things. This may be a bit extreme, however...
sparkster4242
04-12-04, 05:14 AM One of my favorite party-members was a high-wis low-int cleric. he couldnt pronounce his deity's name, but they seemed to get along pretty well anyway.

he spent alot of time waiting for the other party members to quit talking, and then making profound announcements like 'him bad! he lie!' and suchlike. more than half the time, he turned out to be right. on occasion, when his player figured something out and the rest of us were drawing a blank, that cleric would stare at the problem, smoke a bit from his ears, and confidently announce that 'Big Man say do this!' ... and procede to fix things.

a low-int character may not be very bright, but that doesnt mean hes a total incompetent, either.
Henry Hankovich
04-14-04, 12:25 AM JohnSnow: True, I suppose. I read Tarzan when I was maybe 12 or so and barely remember it. I was more interested in describing the sort of character who can be very canny and sophisticated, but without the benefits of book-learnin', as an alternative to the "just use caveman-talk" method of low-INT roleplaying. :)
Kakita Yoshi
04-17-04, 10:04 AM Originally posted by sparkster4242
One of my favorite party-members was a high-wis low-int cleric. he couldnt pronounce his deity's name, but they seemed to get along pretty well anyway.

:rofl: laughed so hard some one from the cubical next to me came over to see what was so funny... he still thinks i am crazy :looloo:
m15a
04-21-04, 01:21 AM keep in mind that an intelligence of 5 isn't *that* low. say, in a room of 100 people, they probably wouldn't be the least intelligent. there'd be about 3 less intelligent people. (if my math is correct: he/she would be less intelligent than 95% of the population, but more intelligent than 2%. so, somewhere in that range.) i think on an IQ test, they'd score above 70, which some classify as "borderline deficiency". that's what i got from a google search, anyway.

sorry, i don't have so much more input right now. most people would try to play down their low ability scores. i, for one, have a pretty low strength, maybe around 5. but i just don't put myself in those situations (i don't play sports, when i open a jar, i pry it with a spoon, etc.) and that's that. of course, the more interesting and perhaps braver option, would be to try to over come this negative. so, your character could be the type that is always trying to learn more about things. similarly, you could see an unintelligent person either hating smarter people or admiring them.

i'd choose the type that's a little admiring of, say, the party wizard. he'd be studying and my character would sit and watch. ask him what he's doing and why.

not that you wanted a vote, but my vote is definitely against using a low intelligence as a source for jokes (more often than occasionally). just, you know, enough of that! :-)
Soichiro Arima
04-21-04, 07:30 AM If you drop the score to 3 you can take this feat:

So Stupid it Warps the Universe
Prerequisites: Int 3
Benefit: You may do really, really stupid things and somehow live through them, usually in a rather cheesy and contrived way. You may use sword-chucks without disembowelling yourself.
Dimeron
04-22-04, 08:41 PM What alignment is he? I don't think 5 int is that stupid. If he has 12 wisdom, he should be smart enough to know not to yell "Foot step, foot step" when guards comes over. IMO, things like this really falls into wisdom.

I think a 5 int character can talk, express simple ideas, but nothing too abstract, and since he has above average wisdom, he would know when to let other people handle things, (ie, anything that requires planning) and how to smash people when told.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Misyrr 04-04-04, 11:06 PM	A PC in my campaign has an intelligence score of 5. I'm looking for advice to give him about how he might portray a character of so low intelligence beyond the short blurb in the 3.5 PHB at the end of the Ability Scores chapter. Thanks for any help provided!
CursedMoredhel 04-05-04, 01:29 AM	make him get confused an frustrated when the rest of the group uses, words with 2 syllables for example. when the groups discussing there next move he could get bored or loose complete interest then walk away and entertain himself playing wars with his pet hamster maybe(slight bg1&2 inspiration there), also make him fascinated by bugs or sumfin like that, eg if he see a grasshopper have him run over an watch it, when it jumps have him shout for joy
Henry Hankovich 04-05-04, 04:23 AM	Actually, the interesting part is that (depending on his WIS and CHA scores), he doesn't have to be a complete retard. He can be relatively canny and bright, when it comes to day-to-day actions, figuring out the situation around him, knowing who to trust, etc. I generally see INT as your academic ability--it's a measure of how much abstract learning you can absorb: magic, languages, history, etc. WIS is common sense and associative reasoning ("if I stack the boxes on top of each other, I can reach the banana"). He could be an idiot savant--good at his specialty, but basically nonfunctional at everything else. He could be like Tarzan--not 'stupid,' just so completely uneducated that he's incapable of picking up abstract skills. Like grammar. :) He could be Silent Bob--never giving the impression that he's paying attention or listening to what people say, but still managing to do just the right thing when it really counts.
JohnSnow 04-06-04, 06:59 PM	It really sort of depends on his other stats. Low Int and Med-High Wisdom would result in a character who's very "in-tune" and "aware" but not real bright. He uses small words (or misuses big ones), forgets things, and generally speaking doesn't really get "book learning" much. He may even be dismissive of it. He may even brag about the fact that he doesn't really read and only enjoys comedies. If he's charismatic enough, he might be able to convince people he knows more than he does. With a 5 Int, this would generally be by keeping his mouth shut a lot and nodding sagely. He also probably likes to simplify situations into simple black and white. Since he can't deal with complex problems, it's much easier to just decide that way X is RIGHT and way Y is WRONG. No amount of reasoning will convince the character otherwise, because he's too simple to follow the vagaries of argument. Just as a suggestion, read old Hulk comics. A strong but stupid character is going to try to brawn his way through problems. Brute force is the key here. Highly dextrous, but slow? Tough combo to RP...Depends on some of the other attributes (Charisma and Intelligence especially). So what are the stats other than the 5 INT?
Metis 04-06-04, 07:46 PM	His Wisdom is 12, and his Charisma is 10. His Strength is his highest score otherwise, with Constitution behind that.
JohnSnow 04-06-04, 08:14 PM	Originally posted by Metis His Wisdom is 12, and his Charisma is 10. His Strength is his highest score otherwise, with Constitution behind that. Okay, 12 Wisdom is a character who's reasonably sensible and possessed of a fair bit of willpower. That's enough to play against the low intelligence. He's not particularly persuasive, but he has about an average number of friends. He's reasonably likeable, but pretty "slow." You might say he's an intellectual lightweight (and maybe a bit obsessive). He has above average dedication, cunning, intuition, perception and common sense though, and gets around fairly well in the "real world." This character is sorta "Forrest Gump"-ish. Although off the top of my head, I'd guess Forrest had a higher charisma and an even HIGHER Wisdom.
JohnSnow 04-06-04, 08:26 PM	As an aside, Burrough's Tarzan was VERY intelligent, and learned things VERY quickly. He mastered English and French between the time he was found in the Jungle and when he got back to London. Kinda like in Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan. Uneducated doesn't mean unintelligent. Intelligence isn't just whether you've HAD learning, but how well you absorb it when you do get it. Granted Tarzan also had a high wisdom, but he was not "simple," just uneducated. And, IIRC, he learned several "Craft" skills on his own, certainly a mark of intelligence...
Lanoitakude 04-09-04, 01:16 AM	If your friend wants to entertain (and frustrate) the other party members, he can act like the 1/2 Orc Barbarian (very low Int) in my party. He plays this character like he as 3 Int and 3 Wis and 3 Cha. The rest of us consider killing his character, because of how much trouble he gets into. While we (me [wiz/rogue] and Barb) were hiding from some guards, we heard footsteps coming. So Ront II (the barb) yells "FOOTSTEPS!" at the top of his lungs. He then leaps out of hiding, yelling "FOOSTEPS!" and runs around the town randomly. He constantly does completely random and hillarious things. This may be a bit extreme, however...
sparkster4242 04-12-04, 05:14 AM	One of my favorite party-members was a high-wis low-int cleric. he couldnt pronounce his deity's name, but they seemed to get along pretty well anyway. he spent alot of time waiting for the other party members to quit talking, and then making profound announcements like 'him bad! he lie!' and suchlike. more than half the time, he turned out to be right. on occasion, when his player figured something out and the rest of us were drawing a blank, that cleric would stare at the problem, smoke a bit from his ears, and confidently announce that 'Big Man say do this!' ... and procede to fix things. a low-int character may not be very bright, but that doesnt mean hes a total incompetent, either.
Henry Hankovich 04-14-04, 12:25 AM	JohnSnow: True, I suppose. I read Tarzan when I was maybe 12 or so and barely remember it. I was more interested in describing the sort of character who can be very canny and sophisticated, but without the benefits of book-learnin', as an alternative to the "just use caveman-talk" method of low-INT roleplaying. :)
Kakita Yoshi 04-17-04, 10:04 AM	Originally posted by sparkster4242 One of my favorite party-members was a high-wis low-int cleric. he couldnt pronounce his deity's name, but they seemed to get along pretty well anyway. :rofl: laughed so hard some one from the cubical next to me came over to see what was so funny... he still thinks i am crazy :looloo:
m15a 04-21-04, 01:21 AM	keep in mind that an intelligence of 5 isn't that low. say, in a room of 100 people, they probably wouldn't be the least intelligent. there'd be about 3 less intelligent people. (if my math is correct: he/she would be less intelligent than 95% of the population, but more intelligent than 2%. so, somewhere in that range.) i think on an IQ test, they'd score above 70, which some classify as "borderline deficiency". that's what i got from a google search, anyway. sorry, i don't have so much more input right now. most people would try to play down their low ability scores. i, for one, have a pretty low strength, maybe around 5. but i just don't put myself in those situations (i don't play sports, when i open a jar, i pry it with a spoon, etc.) and that's that. of course, the more interesting and perhaps braver option, would be to try to over come this negative. so, your character could be the type that is always trying to learn more about things. similarly, you could see an unintelligent person either hating smarter people or admiring them. i'd choose the type that's a little admiring of, say, the party wizard. he'd be studying and my character would sit and watch. ask him what he's doing and why. not that you wanted a vote, but my vote is definitely against using a low intelligence as a source for jokes (more often than occasionally). just, you know, enough of that! :-)
Soichiro Arima 04-21-04, 07:30 AM	If you drop the score to 3 you can take this feat: So Stupid it Warps the Universe Prerequisites: Int 3 Benefit: You may do really, really stupid things and somehow live through them, usually in a rather cheesy and contrived way. You may use sword-chucks without disembowelling yourself.
Dimeron 04-22-04, 08:41 PM	What alignment is he? I don't think 5 int is that stupid. If he has 12 wisdom, he should be smart enough to know not to yell "Foot step, foot step" when guards comes over. IMO, things like this really falls into wisdom. I think a 5 int character can talk, express simple ideas, but nothing too abstract, and since he has above average wisdom, he would know when to let other people handle things, (ie, anything that requires planning) and how to smash people when told.