so I am starting a new campaign playing a dragonborn druid with 7 INT and 17 WIS. I play them very "okay, whatever the group wants" unless we just "know" something is wrong. My character also likes history, strength and arcana (goes with the druid.) I built this into her back story explaining how it was this miraculous event as a child that brought them to druidism and to the practice. So things are just done--because.
so I am starting a new campaign playing a dragonborn druid with 7 INT and 17 WIS. I play them very "okay, whatever the group wants" unless we just "know" something is wrong. My character also likes history, strength and arcana (goes with the druid.) I built this into her back story explaining how it was this miraculous event as a child that brought them to druidism and to the practice. So things are just done--because.
She doesn't need to know why it rains to know that she needs to get out of it :)
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Ancient GM, started in '76, have played almost everything at some point or another.
I run/play Mercer-style games, heavy on the RP and interaction, light on the combat-monster and rule-lawyering. The goal is to tell an epic story with the players and the players are as involved in the world building as the GM is. I run and play a very Brechtian style, am huge into RP theory and love discussing improv and offers.
Low wisdom: naive/gullible characters, lacks patience and tends to jump before looking, lacks sense of their mortality, general unawareness/tends to space out, or lack of emotional control (not the "emotional" person sense, more of like tends to blow things out of proportion all the time, like constantly crying over spilt milk or screaming at a cashiers who mispronounce their name)
High wisdom: strong willpower (not the same as stubborn, but similar and could be both), perceptive, focused, good at reading people, knows when to take action, or has a lot of practical common knowledge and knows which of it is actually true vs false (but not necessarily why), good instincts
Low int: lacks education, low memory retention, or doesn't question knowledge, doesn't understand new concepts easily
High int: educated, very good memory, analytical, strategic, or just knows a lot of random useful info (like has overheard a bunch of stuff and that's how they know to use fire to stop troll regeneration), and understanding of abstract concepts.
So if you think of a High Int Low Wis character type - its an absentminded professor. Book smart but doesn't realize they left their glasses on their forehead or their keys in the door. High Wis Low Int character type - is more like a Tarzan character or a street smart urchin. Not well educated but great instincts and perceptive.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Check out my Disabled & Dragons Youtube Channel for 5e Monster and Player Tactics. Helping the Disabled Community and Players and DM’s (both new and experienced) get into D&D. Plus there is a talking Dragon named Quill.
You found a mysterious potion. You examine it and try to figure out what it is. Smell it, shake it. Try to remember any bits of knowledge or history that might help out, but your too dumb to figure any of that.
What you do know for certain is that it is a bad idea to just drink it.
You don't know how to run a business. You aren't good at math, reading isn't your strong suite, and when it comes to concepts like market saturation, or demographics, you just can't wrap your head around it.
But you do know the benefits of maintaining a healthy work life balance.
You listen to a bard at a tavern, and he spins the tale of a king from a far off land, who tells of magical curses and betrayals, weaves an epic story spanning the entire kingdom and our king regains his long lost son back to him. Your parties very intelligent mage, knows the history this is based off of. He knows the lands, the magical incantations that were likely a part of the story, and remembers bits of lore about this far land.
You know the meaning of the story. The moral of the story. While the mage can point out the leads heraldry, and sires, and titles...you can point out the very moment in the story in which the lead began to change emotionally and why. What was a catalyst for the change.
Think of a high int low wis character as someone who can memorize lines of Shakespeare, and retell it perfectly. And a high wis, low int character who can actually tell you what it means, and how it applies to this situation.
ok 8 vs 16 is one thing... I used rolls on discord and after my racial and class traits I ended up with 19 wisdom vs 5 int, Aarakocra astral body monk.
what's worse is, after reading through all the posts on the topic, as a person I would consider myself high int, low wis... (and even less charisma).
I am at a loss of how to juxtapose the two, the hardest part is the high wisdom for me. I can imagine/remember being dumb as a kid. I don't ever remember being wise, or know how that works.
High int low wis would be seeing a demon, blurting out facts about the demon’s type, and how it can easily kill people, while said demon annihilates the character
Low int high wis would be seeing a demon, not knowing what it is, but knowing to run and hide.
"Another way to play him is to play him with heavy reliance on his training....
A smart (int) warrior might be able to analyze an opponent mid-fight , and come up with a new tactic to defeat him.
A wise (wis) warrior might remember his training, and rely on practiced tactics to overcome a foe."
I actually disagree and think it would be the opposite. A smart warrior would rely on his training, remembering practiced moves and fundamentals, where wisdom would allow for instincts, perception, and insight into the opponent to create opportunities. I suppose INT could allow analysis too.
I'm about to jump into a character with an even bigger gap: 8 INT, 19 WIS. Just gonna tag in to get my thoughts on the RP out and maybe someone will be able to draw some inspiration.
As a lot of people have said, characters like this would have a lot of street smarts and practical knowledge but not much formal education. My firbolg was literally raised by wolves, so he didn't really go to school but learned a lot about how to survive and what plants were good for food and medicine vs which ones were poisonous. He also has a good sense for what's going on because not being observant and able to read situations will get you killed in the wild.
If anyone asks him what he knows about an academic subject or to help search a library, the response is "I never did go in fer all that fancy readin'. I do enjoy a good trail guide and the occasional story book, but I think you're better off askin' the wizard." Conversely, in a survival situation or facing a health issue, he'll shove the "idiots" out of the way so he can get to work fixing the problem.
I also think characters like this need to have just a twinge of superstition or quirkiness to them. My firbolg believes that every spell and magical effect he does has a material component. He's got a bag of grass he carries around with him that he chews on or scatters when he casts spells without material components. Ex. he chews on grass when he casts Guidance on himself. If he casts Guidance on another creature, he gives them a handful of grass saying, "Here. Chew on this. It'll help ya." His leather armor is a patchwork of furs of animals he can wildshape into that he rubs when he changes into another creature. He also rubs the furs together to generate static electricity for lightning and thunder spells.
My Barb is 8 int 15 wis, I manual moved his int down for the character from a 12.
His back ground gave him no formal schooling, he never learned to read write or as he says "Do fancy numbers in my head.". I'll play him as simple, but knows he doesn't know. He's actually trying to learn how to read as much as it irritates the Wizard in our group. He also is wise enough that after he got swindled the first time, to buy the rouge in our group drinks to go shopping with him so he dose the haggling.
He figures spells take intelligence to cast, and if the Wizard gets spells from his book, i.e. intelligence then all he has to do is read with the wizard. Of course asking the wizard how to pronounce C A T when he's "reading" the picture books as the Wizard is prepping for the next day has given me a lot of amusement, we'll see how long it takes my DM to give me a point in Int and the ability to read.... then we can start with writing....
I always absolutely loathed the whole "Wisdom is Intelligence but better except for dumb people!" thing. The whole schtick about how you don't know anything formal, you ain't got no book lernin', but you know what's truly important and you can understand the true meaning of everything around you so much better than those stupid snooty smart people and their oversized brains.
No. Absolutely not.
If we're necroing this thread to hell and back, allow me to propose a new dichotomy: "intelligence" is learning, "wisdom" is instinct. Note that Wisdom is tied to skills that allow you to perceive, to read moods and work with instinct-driven creatures. With the exception of Medicine, which should not be a Wisdom skill by any means, Wisdom skills are all gut-feeling things. Perception and reaction, bypassing intellect and training. An attunement to one's surroundings and an instinctive grasp on the behavior of others. In a way it's almost feral, the human(oid) animal beneath all the learning and erudition.
What Wisdom is not is a replacement for Intelligence for people who don't like Intelligence being useful to an adventuring band. Stop that. That sort of "wisdom" is a crystallization of experience and maturity and is best represented by your proficiency bonus, not your 'Wisdom' score.
I always absolutely loathed the whole "Wisdom is Intelligence but better except for dumb people!" thing. The whole schtick about how you don't know anything formal, you ain't got no book lernin', but you know what's truly important and you can understand the true meaning of everything around you so much better than those stupid snooty smart people and their oversized brains.
No. Absolutely not.
If we're necroing this thread to hell and back, allow me to propose a new dichotomy: "intelligence" is learning, "wisdom" is instinct. Note that Wisdom is tied to skills that allow you to perceive, to read moods and work with instinct-driven creatures. With the exception of Medicine, which should not be a Wisdom skill by any means, Wisdom skills are all gut-feeling things. Perception and reaction, bypassing intellect and training. An attunement to one's surroundings and an instinctive grasp on the behavior of others. In a way it's almost feral, the human(oid) animal beneath all the learning and erudition.
What Wisdom is not is a replacement for Intelligence for people who don't like Intelligence being useful to an adventuring band. Stop that. That sort of "wisdom" is a crystallization of experience and maturity and is best represented by your proficiency bonus, not your 'Wisdom' score.
so what your saying, if im understanding you right is wisdom is stuff like "hey...im getting a gut feeling hes got something weird going on with him, I think hes a danger to me" and intelligence, might be something like, basic first aid, and most of the practical knowledge a person might have? i like the idea of that
do correct me if im wrong im running off very little sleep and just trying to understand
Intelligence is proactive. Wisdom is reactive. Charisma is substantive. (Generally speaking)
Intelligence lets you know how to navigate a labyrinth. Wisdom tells you that you're not alone in the labyrinth. Charisma means that the minotaur might let you finish the labyrinth.
"I cant learn more easily but I sure as hell remember what I know"- Quote from a campaign where we had a 6 int 15 is character
so I am starting a new campaign playing a dragonborn druid with 7 INT and 17 WIS. I play them very "okay, whatever the group wants" unless we just "know" something is wrong. My character also likes history, strength and arcana (goes with the druid.) I built this into her back story explaining how it was this miraculous event as a child that brought them to druidism and to the practice. So things are just done--because.
She doesn't need to know why it rains to know that she needs to get out of it :)
Ancient GM, started in '76, have played almost everything at some point or another.
I run/play Mercer-style games, heavy on the RP and interaction, light on the combat-monster and rule-lawyering. The goal is to tell an epic story with the players and the players are as involved in the world building as the GM is. I run and play a very Brechtian style, am huge into RP theory and love discussing improv and offers.
Low wisdom: naive/gullible characters, lacks patience and tends to jump before looking, lacks sense of their mortality, general unawareness/tends to space out, or lack of emotional control (not the "emotional" person sense, more of like tends to blow things out of proportion all the time, like constantly crying over spilt milk or screaming at a cashiers who mispronounce their name)
High wisdom: strong willpower (not the same as stubborn, but similar and could be both), perceptive, focused, good at reading people, knows when to take action, or has a lot of practical common knowledge and knows which of it is actually true vs false (but not necessarily why), good instincts
Low int: lacks education, low memory retention, or doesn't question knowledge, doesn't understand new concepts easily
High int: educated, very good memory, analytical, strategic, or just knows a lot of random useful info (like has overheard a bunch of stuff and that's how they know to use fire to stop troll regeneration), and understanding of abstract concepts.
So if you think of a High Int Low Wis character type - its an absentminded professor. Book smart but doesn't realize they left their glasses on their forehead or their keys in the door.
High Wis Low Int character type - is more like a Tarzan character or a street smart urchin. Not well educated but great instincts and perceptive.
Check out my Disabled & Dragons Youtube Channel for 5e Monster and Player Tactics. Helping the Disabled Community and Players and DM’s (both new and experienced) get into D&D. Plus there is a talking Dragon named Quill.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPPmyTI0tZ6nM-bzY0IG3ww
You found a mysterious potion. You examine it and try to figure out what it is. Smell it, shake it. Try to remember any bits of knowledge or history that might help out, but your too dumb to figure any of that.
What you do know for certain is that it is a bad idea to just drink it.
You don't know how to run a business. You aren't good at math, reading isn't your strong suite, and when it comes to concepts like market saturation, or demographics, you just can't wrap your head around it.
But you do know the benefits of maintaining a healthy work life balance.
You listen to a bard at a tavern, and he spins the tale of a king from a far off land, who tells of magical curses and betrayals, weaves an epic story spanning the entire kingdom and our king regains his long lost son back to him. Your parties very intelligent mage, knows the history this is based off of. He knows the lands, the magical incantations that were likely a part of the story, and remembers bits of lore about this far land.
You know the meaning of the story. The moral of the story. While the mage can point out the leads heraldry, and sires, and titles...you can point out the very moment in the story in which the lead began to change emotionally and why. What was a catalyst for the change.
Think of a high int low wis character as someone who can memorize lines of Shakespeare, and retell it perfectly. And a high wis, low int character who can actually tell you what it means, and how it applies to this situation.
ok 8 vs 16 is one thing... I used rolls on discord and after my racial and class traits I ended up with 19 wisdom vs 5 int, Aarakocra astral body monk.
what's worse is, after reading through all the posts on the topic, as a person I would consider myself high int, low wis... (and even less charisma).
I am at a loss of how to juxtapose the two, the hardest part is the high wisdom for me. I can imagine/remember being dumb as a kid. I don't ever remember being wise, or know how that works.
High int low wis would be seeing a demon, blurting out facts about the demon’s type, and how it can easily kill people, while said demon annihilates the character
Low int high wis would be seeing a demon, not knowing what it is, but knowing to run and hide.
"Another way to play him is to play him with heavy reliance on his training....
A smart (int) warrior might be able to analyze an opponent mid-fight , and come up with a new tactic to defeat him.
A wise (wis) warrior might remember his training, and rely on practiced tactics to overcome a foe."
I actually disagree and think it would be the opposite. A smart warrior would rely on his training, remembering practiced moves and fundamentals, where wisdom would allow for instincts, perception, and insight into the opponent to create opportunities. I suppose INT could allow analysis too.
I'm about to jump into a character with an even bigger gap: 8 INT, 19 WIS. Just gonna tag in to get my thoughts on the RP out and maybe someone will be able to draw some inspiration.
As a lot of people have said, characters like this would have a lot of street smarts and practical knowledge but not much formal education. My firbolg was literally raised by wolves, so he didn't really go to school but learned a lot about how to survive and what plants were good for food and medicine vs which ones were poisonous. He also has a good sense for what's going on because not being observant and able to read situations will get you killed in the wild.
If anyone asks him what he knows about an academic subject or to help search a library, the response is "I never did go in fer all that fancy readin'. I do enjoy a good trail guide and the occasional story book, but I think you're better off askin' the wizard." Conversely, in a survival situation or facing a health issue, he'll shove the "idiots" out of the way so he can get to work fixing the problem.
I also think characters like this need to have just a twinge of superstition or quirkiness to them. My firbolg believes that every spell and magical effect he does has a material component. He's got a bag of grass he carries around with him that he chews on or scatters when he casts spells without material components. Ex. he chews on grass when he casts Guidance on himself. If he casts Guidance on another creature, he gives them a handful of grass saying, "Here. Chew on this. It'll help ya." His leather armor is a patchwork of furs of animals he can wildshape into that he rubs when he changes into another creature. He also rubs the furs together to generate static electricity for lightning and thunder spells.
Fun topic, know it's old, but cool to see it.
My Barb is 8 int 15 wis, I manual moved his int down for the character from a 12.
His back ground gave him no formal schooling, he never learned to read write or as he says "Do fancy numbers in my head.". I'll play him as simple, but knows he doesn't know. He's actually trying to learn how to read as much as it irritates the Wizard in our group. He also is wise enough that after he got swindled the first time, to buy the rouge in our group drinks to go shopping with him so he dose the haggling.
He figures spells take intelligence to cast, and if the Wizard gets spells from his book, i.e. intelligence then all he has to do is read with the wizard. Of course asking the wizard how to pronounce C A T when he's "reading" the picture books as the Wizard is prepping for the next day has given me a lot of amusement, we'll see how long it takes my DM to give me a point in Int and the ability to read.... then we can start with writing....
I always absolutely loathed the whole "Wisdom is Intelligence but better except for dumb people!" thing. The whole schtick about how you don't know anything formal, you ain't got no book lernin', but you know what's truly important and you can understand the true meaning of everything around you so much better than those stupid snooty smart people and their oversized brains.
No. Absolutely not.
If we're necroing this thread to hell and back, allow me to propose a new dichotomy: "intelligence" is learning, "wisdom" is instinct. Note that Wisdom is tied to skills that allow you to perceive, to read moods and work with instinct-driven creatures. With the exception of Medicine, which should not be a Wisdom skill by any means, Wisdom skills are all gut-feeling things. Perception and reaction, bypassing intellect and training. An attunement to one's surroundings and an instinctive grasp on the behavior of others. In a way it's almost feral, the human(oid) animal beneath all the learning and erudition.
What Wisdom is not is a replacement for Intelligence for people who don't like Intelligence being useful to an adventuring band. Stop that. That sort of "wisdom" is a crystallization of experience and maturity and is best represented by your proficiency bonus, not your 'Wisdom' score.
Please do not contact or message me.
so what your saying, if im understanding you right is wisdom is stuff like "hey...im getting a gut feeling hes got something weird going on with him, I think hes a danger to me"
and intelligence, might be something like, basic first aid, and most of the practical knowledge a person might have? i like the idea of that
do correct me if im wrong im running off very little sleep and just trying to understand
Intelligence is proactive. Wisdom is reactive. Charisma is substantive. (Generally speaking)
Intelligence lets you know how to navigate a labyrinth. Wisdom tells you that you're not alone in the labyrinth. Charisma means that the minotaur might let you finish the labyrinth.