RPing Intelligence

[Gulnyr]

Consider for a second that a 20 Intelligence is, numerically, twice a 10 Intelligence.  So, you could, if you wanted, say that means a character with a 20 Intelligence is twice as smart as a person with a 10 Intelligence.  

Since a 10 Intelligence is average, we could say that about half the ideas of a character with a 10 Intelligence could be considered some degree of smart, and the other half would be some degree of not-so-smart.  So a 20 Intelligence represents being twice as smart as someone who is 'not-so-smart' half the time.  That doesn't mean the guy with the 20 Intelligence would be 'smart' all the time, or even almost all the time.  It only means he would be 'smart' more often than the typical Commoner.

Adventurers, regardless of their levels, are not meant to be infallible.  Wilma Wizard may be 'twice as smart' as Carlos Commoner, but even she can have a bad day or use faulty logic, and be shown up by Carlos with a much simpler explanation now and then.  Jennara has an utterly amazing Dexterity compared to Peter Peasant, but she tripped up and got knocked into a tree not long ago.  That's not broken.  It's fun.  It's nice to know that things can go wrong even in mundane circumstances, so that everything isn't an instant win.

Besides that, going out risking death for the things adventurers typically risk death for doesn't seem all that clever, so how smart can they really be?

[Weeblie]

The statement "twice as intelligent" is extremly fussy. I tend to view the ability scores scales as scales based on normal distribution, just like IQ tests are in the real world.

A 20 intelligence character probably has an IQ at around 200, which is, with a quick glance on the internet, insane. To put it shortly, it means the character is smarter than 99.99999%+ of the population.

The non-linear progression is also the reason a 20 strength character can carry much more than twice the amount of what a 10 strength character can.

But, yes... even the smartest/strongest/most dexterious person can fail... Which is... shown by the 1 and 20 rolls.

[Gulnyr]

I really don't think the whole "Intelligence is IQ divided by 10" thing makes any difference, and isn't a very good explanation of what's what.  It just seems like a way to multiply a stat by 10 to get a new number that is equally as vague.  If someone has a 140 IQ, what does that mean, exactly?  Without a lot of specific information, it doesn't mean anything more than that he's been tested in various fields, and that his average score from all the tests says he's 40 points above a hypothetical average person, which is pretty smart according to the scale.  That doesn't mean he's not going to say or do really dumb things now and then, and doesn't guarantee he'll say or do anything particularly intelligent.  Isn't the Intelligence scale of D&D just as vague and/or explanatory?  

Bell curve distribution is a fine example.  I agree that's how the stats should be seen, but I don't agree that a 14 Intelligence should automatically be aligned with a 140 IQ on a standard chart.  People with 140+ IQs make up a tiny fraction of a percent of the total population of Earth, but 14 Intelligence is not uncommon among characters on Layonara.  I think it would be silly to assume that all the smartest people in the world became adventurers or dangerous villains.  So, it shouldn't be too uncommon to find NPCs with scores of 14.  Scribes in churches, village leaders, maybe lawyers.  They could be all over the place.  A 14 Intelligence isn't necessarily genius-level thinking.  It could be more like a 110 or 115 IQ, maybe, if you insisted on a real world equivalent.

The stats themselves are what is fuzzy.  What does a 14 Intelligence mean?  It means whatever you decide and the DM lets you get away with.  Speaking of that...

Ah, heh... Well... I'm personally using (on my quests):

Modifier + floor(d20 / 5)

Which is:

Modifier + [0 to 4]

I'm not questioning whether doing something like this is right or wrong.  I do have questions about it, though.  

Normally, to make something easier, the DM lowers the DC.  It looks like you have flipped it around so that the PCs can have random bonuses that make things easier.  So, in the case of an Intelligence roll, a character would roll d20 + Int Modifier + d5-1, right?  Or is there no d20?  Do you alter the DCs?

Doesn't that just make characters better than their stats would otherwise suggest?  It looks like there is a chance for flashes of intelligence but not flashes of stupidity, meaning there is no built-in potential for a negative modifier.  In other words, everything has a chance to be as easy as it would have been or easier, with fewer chances of failure, which makes the characters "better".  Is that right?

[Weeblie]

Oh, yes... Agreed that "Intelligence is IQ divided by 10" is not so very accurate due to the fact that... well... the world would otherwise be quite swamped by super (REALLY super) smart people.

What I normally tend to do is the following:

1. Ask you to roll, just as you would do normally. Say that you received 16 + 3. 16 is the roll on a d20 and +3 is the modifier due to the fact that you have 17 intelligence.

2. We take your roll and divide with 5, rounding down. So... The "roll" I use is floor(16 / 5) = 3. Together with you modifier you received a intelligence roll of 3 + 3 = 6.

Rolling 1 and rolling 20 will naturally have other effects (I know, true D&D rules doesn't have that) to symbolise that even the best/worst can do the exceptional... good or bad...

And, ah... hehe... yes... DCs are also scaled down, exactly how much depending on the situation, of course.

I guess, you could do the other way around and multiply the modifier with 5 to get the same desired effect.

[Gulnyr]

Cool.  Thanks.  I misunderstood.