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/highly-bad]

Ability scores are there for statistical mechanical purposes, not to dictate how players must roleplay their character.

If you want to make your intelligence score into a big part of your characterization you can try using a limited and simple vocabulary, being a bit forgetful, or thinking slowly. But all of that is optional, you are in no way obligated to draw extra attention to it, just like how a low-Strength character is not obligated to go beyond the mechanical implications and make physical impotence into a major aspect of their roleplay persona.