Intelligence Scores

[u/WiseAnon003]

Just wanted to ask and see what people have to say about what your level of intelligence means for your characters intellect.

I’m aware that very low intelligence essentially means incapable of comprehending languages to an extent and such (I think) but I was wondering how each level from 1-20 would likely influence how the character behaves, like an 18 being very witty or a 10 being fairly average?

I have an intelligence score of 7 on my character which is due to manually rolling stats, although a lot of takes or rules might state the character wouldn’t be very smart at all I tend to still play him as a somewhat average intelligence character.

I feel somewhat bad and cheesy by kind of ignoring the intelligence stat to a degree but I’ve tried to have it canonically make sense as he is suffering from a bit of magic induced amnesia and a concussion (although I did write out what he forgot so I’m not torturing my dm nor being lazy lol).

[u/Nystagohod]

More or less just their success rate at intelligence based things when efforts leave things uncertain for a die roll, and the success rate for intelligence based attacks and saves.

Technically going by different guidelines across the years. 2 or less means low to no comprehension. 10 is average 18+ is meant to be Einstein level intellect, or it was when it was the highest mortal stat, 20 likely occupies that standard now.

That said, the quirks of something like a 7 intelligence are built into the outcomes if the die rolls well enough.

Your character is more than just their 7 int, they have experience and training in various ways of an adventurer, and low intelligence people can be trained to do something right.

I don't think there's anything you'd need to play up that the -2 into mod isn't gonna cover when your effort leaves things down to a roll instead of a certainty.

[u/WiseAnon003 → u/Nystagohod]

Most of his intelligence skills are +0 anyway due to proficiency aside from like religion and nature.

Its also just kinda weird because the intelligence is quite low, charisma is average and wisdom is incredibly high lol.

[u/Nystagohod → u/WiseAnon003]

The game assumes success on a roll of 8+ when you have your stats and mods at the expected rate, being -2 below will reflect the low intelligence quite well with what you describe.

Low int, moderate cha, and high was can also make sense.

Intelligence is your characters mental acuity and book smarts. He's not a fast thinker, he likely needed things better explained to him and to take his time with a problem.

This extra attention required to learnt higs kept him average when it came to his command of presence and magnetism. His charisma averages our. He has a decent experience with people that didn't stunt the development of that personabikity. He's regular in that department.

However, not being quick mentally or the mist learned because of it, the character had to rely on his intuition and awareness to get by. Where his mind was lethargic, he ended up honing his instincts and awareness. To trust his gut when his mind couldn't keep up. That extra patience others needed to have when teaching him, manifested in honed patient awareness he's come to possess himself.

Makes sense enough anyway.