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Love to hear you guys do a segment on "mini games" within ttrpg's; how to handle smaller contests within a system in a satisfying way; gambling or "downtime" activities, for example. I saw the film Animal World on Netflix, and I would love to intro a procedural mini game with high stakes in my narrative.
high Int, low Wis characters remind me of this Ian Malcom's quote: "Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should."
Found this awhile ago (sorry I do not know the source): Strength 1 (-5): Morbidly weak, has significant trouble lifting own limbs 2-3 (-4): Needs help to stand, can be knocked over by strong breezes 4-5 (-3): Knocked off balance by swinging something dense 6-7 (-2): Difficulty pushing an object of their weight 8-9 (-1): Has trouble even lifting heavy objects 10-11 (0): Can literally pull their own weight 12-13 (1): Carries heavy objects for short distances 14-15 (2): Visibly toned, throws small objects for long distances 16-17 (3): Carries heavy objects with one arm 18-19 (4): Can break objects like wood with bare hands 20-21 (5): Able to out-wrestle a work animal or catch a falling person 22-23 (6): Can pull very heavy objects at appreciable speeds 24-25 (7): Pinnacle of brawn, able to out-lift several people Dexterity 1 (-5): Barely mobile, probably significantly paralyzed 2-3 (-4): Incapable of moving without noticeable effort or pain 4-5 (-3): Visible paralysis or physical difficulty 6-7 (-2): Significant klutz or very slow to react 8-9 (-1): Somewhat slow, occasionally trips over own feet 10-11 (0): Capable of usually catching a small tossed object 12-13 (1): Able to often hit large targets 14-15 (2): Can catch or dodge a medium-speed surprise projectile 16-17 (3): Able to often hit small targets 18-19 (4): Light on feet, able to often hit small moving targets 20-21 (5): Graceful, able to flow from one action into another easily 22-23 (6): Very graceful, capable of dodging a number of thrown objects 24-25 (7): Moves like water, reacting to all situations with almost no effort Constitution 1 (-5): Minimal immune system, body reacts violently to anything foreign 2-3 (-4): Frail, suffers frequent broken bones 4-5 (-3): Bruises very easily, knocked out by a light punch 6-7 (-2): Unusually prone to disease and infection 8-9 (-1): Easily winded, incapable of a full day’s hard labor 10-11 (0): Occasionally contracts mild sicknesses 12-13 (1): Can take a few hits before being knocked unconscious 14-15 (2): Able to labor for twelve hours most days 16-17 (3): Easily shrugs off most illnesses 18-19 (4): Able to stay awake for days on end 20-21 (5): Very difficult to wear down, almost never feels fatigue 22-23 (6): Never gets sick, even to the most virulent diseases 24-25 (7): Tireless paragon of physical endurance Intelligence 1 (-5): Animalistic, no longer capable of logic or reason 2-3 (-4): Barely able to function, very limited speech and knowledge 4-5 (-3): Often resorts to charades to express thoughts 6-7 (-2): Often misuses and mispronounces words 8-9 (-1): Has trouble following trains of thought, forgets most unimportant things 10-11 (0): Knows what they need to know to get by 12-13 (1): Knows a bit more than is necessary, fairly logical 14-15 (2): Able to do math or solve logic puzzles mentally with reasonable accuracy 16-17 (3): Fairly intelligent, able to understand new tasks quickly 18-19 (4): Very intelligent, may invent new processes or uses for knowledge 20-21 (5): Highly knowledgeable, probably the smartest person many people know 22-23 (6): Able to make Holmesian leaps of logic 24-25 (7): Famous as a sage and genius Wisdom 1 (-5): Seemingly incapable of thought, barely aware 2-3 (-4): Rarely notices important or prominent items, people, or occurrences 4-5 (-3): Seemingly incapable of forethought 6-7 (-2): Often fails to exert common sense 8-9 (-1): Forgets or opts not to consider options before taking action 10-11 (0): Makes reasoned decisions most of the time 12-13 (1): Able to tell when a person is upset 14-15 (2): Can get hunches about a situation that doesn’t feel right 16-17 (3): Reads people and situations fairly well 18-19 (4): Often used as a source of wisdom or decider of actions 20-21 (5): Reads people and situations very well, almost unconsciously 22-23 (6): Can tell minute differences among many situations 24-25 (7): Nearly prescient, able to reason far beyond logic Charisma 1 (-5): Barely conscious, incredibly tactless and non-empathetic 2-3 (-4): Minimal independent thought, relies heavily on others to think instead 4-5 (-3): Has trouble thinking of others as people 6-7 (-2): Terribly reticent, uninteresting, or rude 8-9 (-1): Something of a bore or makes people mildly uncomfortable 10-11 (0): Capable of polite conversation 12-13 (1): Mildly interesting, knows what to say to the right people 14-15 (2): Interesting, knows what to say to most people 16-17 (3): Popular, receives greetings and conversations on the street 18-19 (4): Immediately likeable by many people, subject of favorable talk 20-21 (5): Life of the party, able to keep people entertained for hours 22-23 (6): Immediately likeable by almost everybody 24-25 (7): Renowned for wit, personality, and/or looks
I imagine Wisdom as more intuitive, and aware of surroundings, and in touch with the world, vs Intelligence is structure and studying and analytical. Then Charisma is more the force of your personality and presence, or the "vibe" you give off. Like you said about entering a room, and everyone noticing or not.
yeah i see a low wis character as that guy that cant "read the room" or say stuff out of place, like a bad joke in a funeral or something like that.. or go running inside a tomb without much pondering beforehand
A classic illustration: Strength is being able to crush a tomato. Dexterity is being able to dodge a tomato. Constitution is being able to eat a bad tomato. Intelligence is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put a tomato in a fruit salad. Charisma is being able to sell a tomato based fruit salad.
My favorite character I ever played was functionally illiterate. He would often go off investigating on his own and it became troublesome trying to relay info to the rest of the party. It wasn't that he had a particularly low Int score I just didn't opt to read/write any languages(playing a modified 3.5) so he began leaving his companions notes. Things like "gon 2 howce met u at sord bar at med nit -B" often with a doodle of like two buildings at each end of the paper with a little stickman close to one building and a clock face near the other. He would also get handed documents he couldn't read and it always took the party a couple moments to remember why he was just looking at it and not reading it to them. Or he'd break into a place and couldn't tell what Intel was worth stealing so he'd just start grabbing whatever loose papers were laying out on a desk. Despite how he sounds he was quite smooth and a damn good rogue. Of course his magic talisman didn't hurt his thieving skills any.
@@PsychedelicLasagna Hmmm, definitely don't agree. Charisma is also associated with emotional intelligence, tact, extroversion, humor, and openness to new experiences. If by physicality, you mean physical attractiveness e.g. facial symmetry etc, I think that has a pretty minor role in charisma. Few people would say Danny Devito is a pinnacle of physical attractiveness but nobody would deny he is hugely charismatic.
@@PsychedelicLasagna Charisma is definitely personality. It has a bit to do with appearance but you could have a really low Charisma character who’s beautiful but very socially awkward
An interpretation of someone with high CHA, without being a typical charmer: Someone who's super quiet and introverted to the point where they often seem pitiful. Instead of a cocky wink and a winning smile, persuasion checks are done with giant puppy-dog eyes and quivering lips. Instead of false sincerity and outright lies, deception checks are done by stuttering unsurety of what the truth even IS. And instead of angry threats to a person's well-being, intimidation checks are done with a sort of regret for the person's well-being and a "please don't make me have to do this!"
My fiance has a sort of this. She plays an 18 cha swashbuckler, but her character is most definitely not suave. She bumbles over her words and has a bad habit of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time and putting her foot in her mouth. Her 18 cha is used instead as her ability to salve situations where she does this
in the rpg Reign there are a bunch of different sort of 'schools' of charisma. This method of influence is referred to as "the path of the moistened eye" and is heavily associated with court intrigue focused characters.
I understood what high charisma meant from a coreography teacher. Somehow I've managed to join a tango coreographic group and the lady teaching us was a mostly grumpy underslept mother of two wearing old sweatpants. Suddenly she gets angry with the girls being not imposing enough and she does a pose and the room goes SILENT and everyone is observing her and I thought, that's how you should roleplay a bard that uses dancing instead of music.
I’m playing a paladin with an 8 int, 13 Wisdom, and 18 charisma. I play him like he knows that he isn’t the smartest but he’s charming enough that people listen to what he says.
My low intelligence character was action oriented, stubborn in morality, thoughtless to consequences or motivations in complexity. So very much "the direct action is the correct action" not just as a normative choice but it's what they thought of and then I, the player, relaxed trying to find other solutions.
Charisma also plays into capacity to handle interracting with the eldritch and otherworldly - warlocks. I think you mentioned being sure of themselves and this I suspect is related to that
I could have used this video last time I played a high-CHA paladin. I didn't want him to be bold and outgoing, I wanted him to be humble and contemplative and grave. It was hard reconciling the way I wanted to portray him with the way I thought I was "supposed to" portray him.
I've always role played low intelligence characters as individuals that sort of stumble into success, like Forrest Gump. They're not clever, but that's not imperative to their problem solving process.
Every time I see these two on a greenscreen for a second I think they're actually together but then one of their bodies starts stuttering or Jim's hand gets sucked into the void I remember 'oh yeah, they're miles apart'
A rough rule of thumb: int is the kind of hard logic that you could spell out a clear logical chain from cause/observation to effect/conclusion. Wisdom involves intuition, soft logic, and lateral thinking. If you can only explain it via metaphores and weaving observations (often of the unmeasurable kind) into a picture that only really takes form when you look at them as a whole, you're dealing with wisdom. If you're familiar with the terms, deductive vs inductive reasoning are also good ways to think of int vs wisdom. If you're familiar with the Jungian personality type model via something like the MBTI, you're looking at Te and Si for int and Ti, Ni, and Se for wisdom. None of that is perfect, of course, but hopefully some of that will help.
Enjoy. Played a tabaxi with high wisdom low intelligence. So not an idiot, but couldn't read or write. Made for some many funny moments. Example, the only charater that found the quest board in town i just ignored it, so the party never followed any of them plot hooks lol
I liked having a gravitic sorceress that was not very smart or well spoken but had some instincts. Wizards and scholars would study her and want to ask her what and how she did what she did, and she would explain things in simple analogies, actually explaining gravidic pole with a fat man and a skinny man. Because she put it in such an odd and simple way people would not except what she said but in reality it is an analogy for the pole of mass she just couldn’t explain it well.
I remember rolplaying my characters slightly below average wisdom modifier as a slight recklessness. the best example of this was my party finding a smoky black crystal ball that was contained within a lead lined box and I as a player (and forever DM) said "I'm pretty sure I know what this is but Grohm doesn't. So this is going to be fun! I look into the ball to see if there are any runes on or in it." My character is a rune knight and has a fascination with runes vs traditional enchantment so of course he would check it out. and after the resulting psychic backlash my character learned. "ok so lead boxes mean dangerous items... good to know... ow."
I personally prefer it when ability scores are separate from personality types. So, a high wisdom character might have an instinctual sense that something is a bad idea, but if they're reckless they might decide to do it anyway.
A rough rule of thumb: int is the kind of hard logic that you could spell out a clear logical chain from cause/observation to effect/conclusion. Wisdom involves intuition, soft logic, and lateral thinking. If you can only explain it via metaphores and weaving observations (often of the unmeasurable kind) into a picture that only really takes form when you look at them as a whole, you're dealing with wisdom. If you're familiar with the terms, deductive vs inductive reasoning are also good ways to think of int vs wisdom. If you're familiar with the Jungian personality type model via something like the MBTI, you're looking at Te and Si for int and Ti, Ni, and Se for wisdom. None of that is perfect, of course, but hopefully some of that will help someone.
@@gusg6197 very much disagree as INTP. Ti-Ne is the pinnacle of philosophy, logic and reasoning. It's much more close to INT stat than WIS stat. Wisdom would be Fi Se and maybe Ni.
I have a rogue with really high dexterity and low strength. They’re usually doing card tricks, tossing dice, playing knuckle bones, occasionally doing somersaults or tumbling. But if you try to get them to row a boat they’ll do more harm than good, and they have to use magic to dig pit traps.
Excellent video topic and execution. Ya'lls explanations of the wisdom score was exactly what I was thinking. For low wisdom, someone very impulsive is what I picture. And what Jim described for high wisdom sounds a lot like the concept of "mindfulness," which again is very much what I picture. (listening further - ditto charisma)
We had an Ork barbrarian named frog with really low int, but a decent wisdom score. This mannifested in him being completely uncouth, and not understanding society and beurocracy what so ever. But he just so happened to be the only person who could identify purple wyrm poison, so he became the, “this is food, this, is not food” guy and we loved him.
I'm going to be playing a high INT, high WIS (16 and 18, respectively) cleric with a low CHA (12) -- we rolled, and I actually requested my DM let me drop her CHA and STR by 2 for a bump of 2 to her INT (clerics in their world go to temples OR secular academies) -- so I plan to RP her as highly inquisitive and intuitive while being SO outgoing (primarily about her work and research) that she puts people off.
As far as being engaged is a player while not deviating from your low intelligence score, I could see it at someone who solves Problems by being either insanely lucky, or just stumbles on the answer. After all, I wouldn't exactly said any of the hobbits were bastions of high int stats, but they were the ones who stumbled on how to open the door to the mines of Moria... that could easily be a player having figured out what the answer to the riddle is, and then being like well it's not like my character figured it out, but he just happened to say the right thing.
It just occurred to me that Captain America's Vibrainium shield should not be bouncing off of things. The material is said to absorb all vibrations... so it shouldn't bounce when it impacts against another object, it should absorb all of that energy.
@@mme.veronica735 I wish. I'd trade my left nut for the Keen Mind feat to get me through these mountains of school work. Oh to have a photographic memory.
In the comics at least it deflects the energy, and if unable to do so explodes. The shield is a Vibranium/Adamantine alloy, which is why it had its properties. Anything unable to be reflected is directed into the adamantine, which just takes the hit because its tough. This is how it's SHOWN in the movies, for instance Thor's hammer hitting the shield and reflecting back a blast. it's just not explained much because it didn't really matter to the plot.
A message to Jim and Pruitt; An interview with Jim Butcher, author of The Dresden Files. If you guys did a discussion with Butcher, discussing how his character of Harry Dresden and the world of magic he lives in has shaped your campaigns/DMing approach to how magic exists in the game world, that would be so amazing! Mostly, I just want to see Pruitt's reaction to speaking with one of his favorite authors. Thanks guys, for all of the inspiration and hours upon hours of incredible content!
Lt Columbo: " "All my life I kept running into smart people. I don't just mean smart like you and the people in this house. You know what I mean ..." He added, "I could tell right away that it wasn't gonna be easy making detective as long as they were around", but he determined that he could even the odds "by working harder than any of them, reading all of the required books and paying attention to every detail."
I like that you mentioned that your ability score does not necessarily dictate how you have to play your character. As one of my favorite characters I've ever played said on multiple occasion: "Look out world! I've gotta' wisdom of 14, and I act like I have half of that!" Chaotic Neutral changeling divination wizards with the lucky feat are a blast to play.
Here's a short lesson about Intelligence and Wisdom; Intelligence is what the bard learned in his tome college; math, reading, elegant writing, a bit of history, and some languages, Wisdom is what the rogue learned on the streets; How to read people to tell when they're lying to you, the seemingly mistrustful paranoid thought processes that kept them from emptying their pockets to the street-corner charlatan. Things that help them apply what knowledge they have. If a character is a dull shonen protagonist who doesn't understand even the most obvious of seduction, follows instructions to the letter, and answers questions literally and without sensitivity, but has never lost a game of scrabble, and recites their paladin order's rules on the dot, from memory, then their Wisdom is low and their intelligence is high. If the half-orc fighter can't count past 3 and only knows, like, 100 words in orcish and 10 in english, but spots the Kobold Ambush before the Ranger does, then they have High Wisdom and Low intelligence. They are NOT the same thing.
People really need to start taking their real-world definitions and understanding for these words out of how they conceptualize the game’s version of Int. and Wis. These stats don’t represent single concepts anymore than our collective or individual conceptualization of the words do. In terms of D&D stats, Intelligence is problem solving ability/reason/logic combined with knowledge/learning. A character could be high Int. because they’re incredibly great at logical reasoning, or because they retain a lot of information they have learned, or because they can do both. In terms of D&D stats, Wisdom is awareness of your self and the world combined with instinct. It’s sort of just a measure of your connection with your animalistic nature. A high Wis. character might be totally unaware but have incredibly pronounced instincts. In terms of D&D stats, Charisma is your attractiveness combined with your ability to manipulate language combined with your force of personality/will. You could be super attractive and otherwise unimpressive. You could be blunt and even a little rude and still have people follow your lead because of your seeming conviction. You could be unattractive and weaselly, but be able to dress common phrases in layers of adroit eloquence. Let’s think about Insight. What do most people do to determine a lie? It’s purely instinctual for most people. Let’s think about Nature. What does Nature measure? It measures your knowledge of plants or your understanding of how they do what they do. Instinct and awareness won’t help you determine what plants have what effects when consumed. Let’s look at Deception. What does it take to lie convincingly? Well, there are a couple things which could help you tell a lie. Being beautiful means people naturally except you to be good and virtuous (there are studies on this), and are therefore more likely to trust you. Skillful manipulation of language can turn an obvious untruth into a convincing sounding argument. Finally, saying anything with enough conviction will make people inclined to believe you-especially in a world of magic & monsters.
People really need to start taking their real world definitions and understanding for these words out of how they conceptualize the game’s version of Int. and Wis. In terms of D&D stats, Intelligence is problem solving ability/reason/logic combined with knowledge/learning. A character could be high Int. because they’re incredibly great at logical reasoning, or because they retain a lot of information they have learned, or because they can do both. In terms of D&D stats, Wisdom is awareness of your self and the world combined with instinct. It’s sort of just a measure of your connection with your animalistic nature. A high Wis. character might be totally unaware but have incredibly pronounced instincts. In terms of D&D stats, Charisma is your attractiveness combined with your ability to manipulate language combined with your force of personality/will. You could be super attractive and otherwise unimpressive. You could be blunt and even a little rude and still have people follow your lead because of your seeming conviction. You could be unattractive and weaselly, but be able to dress common phrases in layers of adroit eloquence. Let’s think about Insight. What do most people do to determine a lie? It’s purely instinctual for most people. Let’s think about Nature. What does Nature measure? It measures your knowledge of plants or your understanding of how they do what they do. Instinct and awareness won’t help you determine what plants have what effects when consumed. Let’s look at Deception. What does it take to lie convincingly? Well, there are a couple things which could help you tell a lie. Being beautiful means people naturally except you to be good and virtuous (there are studies on this), and are therefore more likely to trust you. Skillful manipulation of language can turn an obvious untruth into a convincing sounding argument. Finally, saying anything with enough conviction will make people inclined to believe you-especially in a world of magic & monsters.
@@gusg6197 "Let’s think about Insight. What do most people do to determine a lie? It’s purely instinctual for most people." It is!? How the *hell* can you use instinct for that? Is my instinct just *that bad* that I can't even fathom how someone with good instincts would use that to determine whether someone is lying? For me, the only way I can determine whether someone is lying is via logical reasoning, if something is contradictory.
@@mclark347 That's why you can use other ability scores for skills. You're describing Insight (Intelligence), not the default Insight (Wisdom). Most people don't do the logical reasoning to determine if something is a lie. Most people try to read facial ques. Interpreting facial expressions on that base level is an animal instinct thing. "Instinct" is just subconscious reasoning. When it feels like something is "off" that means you've (general you) subconsciously recognized something that you aren't consciously aware of--such as a contradiction in a liar's story.
@@gusg6197 But... Interpreting facial cues is a learnable skill. It's entirely mathematics and reasoning. I just haven't learned the mathematical aspect.
My lizardfolk druid's dumpstat is Charisma, so I play him as an unintentionally clueless individual with remarkably atrocious social manners. He has a difficult time observing personal boundaries or respecting privacy or ownership because in his tribe his people exhibited communal behavior, sharing everything and sleeping together for warmth. Because of his endless curiosity he constantly pokes, prods, and eventually breaks things he touches. As the cherry on top, I've made it part of his daily ritual observance to wake up at the crack of dawn to commune with nature by drumming and dancing, much to the annoyance of everyone still abed.
This was an excellent topic and it did get me thinking. Some of the examples Jim and Pruitt were talking about were great! And I thunk I found a way to summarize it: intelligence is the mind and its ability to retain facts and utilize logic (ex. Spock or Sherlock Holmes), wisdom is the soul and represents ones connection with life around them on a personal level whether through reading body language or having similar experiences and the mental fortitude to stand by one's own opinion (ex. Hawkeye), and Charisma is the heart and its passion overflowing (ex. Raven from Teen Titans). Just some thoughts I had. Thanks @WebDM for more thought provoking videos! This is one I'll be talking over my players with at home.
I would say much like Wisdom is about connections to the world, Charisma is about connections to people, but not just those around you. The ability to understand ones self plays as much of a part into CHA as understanding someone else at any given moment. For Paladins, CHA is their selected stat because it reflects willpower and conviction, not their ability to commune with and charm others. And I think once you have a broader look at what real world applications that has it can be fairly simple to draw up some extra personality traits that you can use to roleplay. A low CHA character would be impulsive, fidgety, and overreacts to just about every situation. Not knowing when to keep their mouth shut when stealthing past some guards, will purchase just about any shiny put in front of them. Further attributes could be the person is unwilling to do what is the correct choice because they dislike the outcome. They would avoid the hard decisions to make because they cannot regulate their own standards,. The flipside of that is the character who aside from the obvious abilities to understand social environments and know how to ply words to influence, is in complete control of their emotions. At a most basic level it's the character who has an itchy nose but finds it relatively easy to put up with the itch if the situation requires it. But also the person who can reflect on their own self being and judgements and evaluate what is the correct course of action. Low CHA is someone who despite evidence being presented on a topic chooses to ignore it because it is not aligned with their worldview, where high CHA is always re-assessing when new evidence comes to light their previous attitudes towards something. It's so much more that simply being able to hornybard someone, and I agree with the sentiment that it is sad that people often reduce it to this.
I really enjoy a dump stat for roleplaying, I was sad that the fixing of orc and kobold meant removing their negative stats rather than lean into it and offer them better positive attributes.
Maybe describe the mental stats as follows: Intelligence is how well you can manage your thoughts and inner world. Wisdom is how well you can perceive the world around you and how to act according to that. Charisma is how well you can influence others to perceive you or an idea the way you want them to see it.
one of my current characters has a 6 INT, and another has a 5 dex. The 6 int is legit my favorite to play. I RP it by making her just not able to put 2+2 together on her own. Like if you give her steps and actually get her to pay attention she'll understand you and follow the plan to a T. But her brain sees a problem and does not think past the most immediate feedback, taking the most direct solution to her mind. She gets a lot of info with that 14 WIS, but she lacks problem solving skills. This also makes her somewhat trusting, simply due to the fact that if a person hasn't hurt her before she won't make the connection that they might, unless they physically resemble a creature or person who's hurt her. Then she'll take due note for next time, but her brain just cannot connect dots on its own, she needs to have those connections made for her.
Me and my friend used to say that intelligence is the amount of useful information you have stored in your head. While wisdom is your ability to use the information that you have stored in a effective way.
I had an Aasimar Divine Soul Sorcerer with very low wisdom. He was a Solar who chose to become mortal, and had a very hard time adjusting. Because his ability to pick out a lie used to be automatic, he never developed the ability to read when someone was lying. Because he no longer could cast Detect Evil and Good at will, he was suspicious of strangers. Low wisdom doesn't have to mean that you are gullible. It could also mean that you are paranoid. (The sorcerer also had tiny burning flames instead of eyes, and it turns out that fire is vastly inferior to eyeballs for seeing out of. He was basically legally blind, to account for his naturally low perception)
After the guys where talking about charisma it reminded me of Wonder Woman 1984, Wonder Woman has high charisma and the person who becomes cheetah started with low charisma. As you can guess I'm getting this from trailers and videos about Wonder Woman 1984 not the full movie, but from what I have seen it might be something to check out in defining high and low charisma for your characters.
To me the Intelligence stat is just an in game representation on how much my character *cares* about a given subject like (in 5E at least) History, Religion or Nature. Or how much effort they devote to those subjects. This way I can still be a clever player, one who enjoys solving puzzles, coming up with plans or creating some sort of chicanery, but also adhere to an element of the character sheet, like being forgetful of the important names in history or which religious symbol belongs to which faith.
I’m new, made my first character, and my Paladin got a crap role of 5. My DM let me re roll it, and I got a 7. He recommended that it goes to intelligence. Haven’t had our first session yet and I’ve been thinking of, “how do I role play this, I don’t want to be stupid.” So I decided on, because of my wisdom of 12, I’ll consider wisdom as street smarts/experience, I have practical knowledge, but I’m not book smart/ educated. I like the suggestion you gave of just being a little slow. You can solve problems, it just takes a couple minutes.
For me wisdom is very in tune with self awareness. So knowing yourself to an extent that you either can understand your behaviors and actions and strive for change in them. People with high wisdom not only know that their actions have consequences, but that everything is interconnected. Not in the sense of discovering things, but more at being at peace with the world and what surrounds them. They would be the characters that would allow themselves to forgive a villain for their actions given that they changed for instance. So I think of yogis and Buddhists really :) Low wisdom for me seems more like an inconsequential and stubborn character.
How I usually handle low INT is I just give another character the credit unless it makes sense for my character. Even if I solve the dungeon puzzle IRL, the wizard solves it in-game.
My favourite low charisma character that I played was a Knowledge Cleric who was so high and mighty and judgemental all the time that everyone pretty much instinctively hated her. It was very fun to play
I had a low charisma character, they were essentially tarzan raised by gnolls. and while he was able to understand languages, he was just never got the knack of using words to express something when growls, cackles and physical action which worked most of his life.
Thanks for this! I have just started playing DnD and had to make a Pali and her int is 8 😭 and I wasn’t sure how to play her. I didn’t want to make her completely stupid. I just had her take things on face value and not question things, and sometimes take things literally. But yeah I was struggling. I’m not a super smart person but I can be insightful and clever if I need to be :P I’m going to add in a bit of a foggy memory into my character and a few other things. Thanks guys!
About to play a monk, way of the open hand, with a 7 intelligence but 16 wisdom. The setting is a Eberron and his monastery survived the Last war. He is not educated, but lived in the now and for fighting. Plan on him being more of an Eliza Dolittle mixed with the Piker from Snatch with a little Eggsy from the Kingsman.
This was a neat dive into the topic about the non physical stats of D&D. @Web DM, could you an episode on air travel and & air ships? I am not sure if this has already been covered before on the channel, I just would like to hear your take on the topic.
A leader with a high INT says all citizens should be required to work a job suited to their best talents. A leader with a high WIS says nurturing all citizens with empathy and opportunity will lead to a harmonious society. A leader with a high CHR is able to get the other two leaders to happily work together.
It just occurred to me that "the great beast Rantamay" is just a spoonerism of "manta ray". This might already have been mentioned and is problably obvious but I'm surprised I never thought about it before.
To me wisdom is knowing yourself and being in control of yourself and mechanically that's well reflected by save rolls against mind control being Wis saves. To me a low Wis character is one who is self-deceiving or driven by things outside of themselves like a quest for vengeance or lust for gold or glory, their lack of self knowledge and their extrinsic motivations make them more easily manipulated, controlled or tempted.
The way I've figured it... Is that Wisdom is your input and Charisma is your output. Charisma is your ability to enforce your will onto the world, while Wisdom is taking and processing external information. Intelligence lies somewhere in the middle. I see the difference best between the caster types. Druids and clerics are conduits for divine powers, and so their magic relies on input. Sorcerers, warlocks, and paladins on the other hand enforce their will upon the world through brute force. A paladin's power comes from their oath and bending the world to the vision of how it's supposed to be, while sorcerers do their magic by instinct and bend reality to their will.
I once played a low intelligence monk, so low int high wis. I played it as him being very in tune with his body and the world around him thus very observant but not necessarily knowing all the implications of his observations. And he couldn’t read
I think the whole thing about connections at the start it's not intelligence, but a wisdom thing. Intelligence is how much you know, and wisdom how you use what you know.
@Insignatious if intelligence is how much you know also has to be how fast you learn it and if you need or not someone to teach you that or you learn by your self. English is not my first language, but I'll try my best to explain myself: If you know that grabbing a metal bar increases the force you can apply is int. Thinking that you can use that knowledge for harm is low wisdom, it's basic. Thinking you can use that as a tool for breaking harder fruit shells is one wisdom step more. But learning by your self why it produces more force, and realizing that then if you sharpen it, or you put a rock at the end also will increase your force but in diferent ways is againt intelligence. So, basically, wisdom is how fast you relate you knowledge and the world around you. Intelligence in d&d is basically knowledge. This leads to confusion, but really the other mental stats (wisdom and charisma) are also forms of intelligence. Mainly, emotional intelligence and interpersonal intellige and artistic intelligece for charisma, intrapersonal intelligence, spacial intelligence and some more for wisdom. Maybe you can get things as math and memory on intelligence stat, but really there are no skills related, and for people that had not studied this kind of things, a lot of math and similar things will still be considered part of knowledge so I find it as a pretty good way to describe it to new players.
One thing I have to point out, stats are directly tied to in game attributes, which effect both personality, and how a character performs in combat. Do not punish a player who has come up with a unique character by forcing stats that are not important to their role. Obviously it's better if a character's stats match their personality, but do not FORCE your player to play to their in game stats if they don't want to. If a barbarian wants to be a warrior poet, don't tell them "no your wisdom isn't high enough to pull that off," just let em play it. If a wizard wants to be a bumbling idiot who Mr. Magoo-ed his way into magic, don't tell him to switch to a bard, let him play the wizard. If a Cleric wants to be a manipulative smug snake, don't force him to sacrifice his wisdom for charisma. I am not suggesting, you make playing against stats the default, but it should be considered an option if rolls, or the point buy doesn't allow the player to do what he wants for his personality without suffering in combat or adventure.
I was hoping that they would do examples, or talk about, different combinations for the mental stats. I had a goblin monk that had high wisdom but low intelligence and didn't know how to roleplay that.
@@michaelcrane3993 Uneducated but the things they do know is backed with a ton of logic and insight Think of Intelligence as book knowledge and Wisdom as a mix of street knowledge
@@michaelcrane3993 I do it as really smart, but no common sense. Like you know the right answer and *have* to let everyone know. Or just you can understand consequences just not that the happen to you. That's how I do it
This low charisma bit felt like a very thorough personal attack 😅 at least I’m not terribly stubborn and have gotten better about remembering people’s names
I play a high int and low wis char.. full of tons of ideas.. no idea of which one is a good one and usually does the 1st one that comes to mind. Runs on impulse. could go into a grocery store, get to the front with an empty buggy , then buy all the stuff at the front on the impulse buy shelves.
I think I’ve seen the sort of contradiction between the player and the character most in the cleric/ priest class. A lot of people end up playing it more like a member of a guild or club while neglecting a semblance of theology. Like the nature cleric ends up feeling like a member of some forestry service, the generic good one more like a physician, and the evil cult cleric more like a political anarchist. Like this lack of ecclesiastical rp in the cleric class just really stands out to me. Imo or rather from my observations
Yeah. Each stat is a combination of training and talent. Intelligence is both large amounts of skill and knowlege, and a talent for recall and data analysis. Wisdom is both practice picking up on the world around you, and a sense of being In the Moment that some people can never achieve. Charisma is both having practice being socialized, and being full of social gravitas
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Love to hear you guys do a segment on "mini games" within ttrpg's; how to handle smaller contests within a system in a satisfying way; gambling or "downtime" activities, for example. I saw the film Animal World on Netflix, and I would love to intro a procedural mini game with high stakes in my narrative.
high Int, low Wis characters remind me of this Ian Malcom's quote: "Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should."
Int to know if you can, Wis to know if you should, and Cha to get away with it.
And when you have high int cha and wis you are unstoppable
Except by the barbarian that cuts you in two for reviving the greatest evil because of a failed wisdom check.
@@94ncd you mean cuts you in half while being mind controlled by the great evil, because of a failed Wisdom save, right? ;)
Or, the quote is from a person with low Charisma.
Found this awhile ago (sorry I do not know the source):
Strength
1 (-5): Morbidly weak, has significant trouble lifting own limbs
2-3 (-4): Needs help to stand, can be knocked over by strong breezes
4-5 (-3): Knocked off balance by swinging something dense
6-7 (-2): Difficulty pushing an object of their weight
8-9 (-1): Has trouble even lifting heavy objects
10-11 (0): Can literally pull their own weight
12-13 (1): Carries heavy objects for short distances
14-15 (2): Visibly toned, throws small objects for long distances
16-17 (3): Carries heavy objects with one arm
18-19 (4): Can break objects like wood with bare hands
20-21 (5): Able to out-wrestle a work animal or catch a falling person
22-23 (6): Can pull very heavy objects at appreciable speeds
24-25 (7): Pinnacle of brawn, able to out-lift several people
Dexterity
1 (-5): Barely mobile, probably significantly paralyzed
2-3 (-4): Incapable of moving without noticeable effort or pain
4-5 (-3): Visible paralysis or physical difficulty
6-7 (-2): Significant klutz or very slow to react
8-9 (-1): Somewhat slow, occasionally trips over own feet
10-11 (0): Capable of usually catching a small tossed object
12-13 (1): Able to often hit large targets
14-15 (2): Can catch or dodge a medium-speed surprise projectile
16-17 (3): Able to often hit small targets
18-19 (4): Light on feet, able to often hit small moving targets
20-21 (5): Graceful, able to flow from one action into another easily
22-23 (6): Very graceful, capable of dodging a number of thrown objects
24-25 (7): Moves like water, reacting to all situations with almost no effort
Constitution
1 (-5): Minimal immune system, body reacts violently to anything foreign
2-3 (-4): Frail, suffers frequent broken bones
4-5 (-3): Bruises very easily, knocked out by a light punch
6-7 (-2): Unusually prone to disease and infection
8-9 (-1): Easily winded, incapable of a full day’s hard labor
10-11 (0): Occasionally contracts mild sicknesses
12-13 (1): Can take a few hits before being knocked unconscious
14-15 (2): Able to labor for twelve hours most days
16-17 (3): Easily shrugs off most illnesses
18-19 (4): Able to stay awake for days on end
20-21 (5): Very difficult to wear down, almost never feels fatigue
22-23 (6): Never gets sick, even to the most virulent diseases
24-25 (7): Tireless paragon of physical endurance
Intelligence
1 (-5): Animalistic, no longer capable of logic or reason
2-3 (-4): Barely able to function, very limited speech and knowledge
4-5 (-3): Often resorts to charades to express thoughts
6-7 (-2): Often misuses and mispronounces words
8-9 (-1): Has trouble following trains of thought, forgets most unimportant things
10-11 (0): Knows what they need to know to get by
12-13 (1): Knows a bit more than is necessary, fairly logical
14-15 (2): Able to do math or solve logic puzzles mentally with reasonable accuracy
16-17 (3): Fairly intelligent, able to understand new tasks quickly
18-19 (4): Very intelligent, may invent new processes or uses for knowledge
20-21 (5): Highly knowledgeable, probably the smartest person many people know
22-23 (6): Able to make Holmesian leaps of logic
24-25 (7): Famous as a sage and genius
Wisdom
1 (-5): Seemingly incapable of thought, barely aware
2-3 (-4): Rarely notices important or prominent items, people, or occurrences
4-5 (-3): Seemingly incapable of forethought
6-7 (-2): Often fails to exert common sense
8-9 (-1): Forgets or opts not to consider options before taking action
10-11 (0): Makes reasoned decisions most of the time
12-13 (1): Able to tell when a person is upset
14-15 (2): Can get hunches about a situation that doesn’t feel right
16-17 (3): Reads people and situations fairly well
18-19 (4): Often used as a source of wisdom or decider of actions
20-21 (5): Reads people and situations very well, almost unconsciously
22-23 (6): Can tell minute differences among many situations
24-25 (7): Nearly prescient, able to reason far beyond logic
Charisma
1 (-5): Barely conscious, incredibly tactless and non-empathetic
2-3 (-4): Minimal independent thought, relies heavily on others to think instead
4-5 (-3): Has trouble thinking of others as people
6-7 (-2): Terribly reticent, uninteresting, or rude
8-9 (-1): Something of a bore or makes people mildly uncomfortable
10-11 (0): Capable of polite conversation
12-13 (1): Mildly interesting, knows what to say to the right people
14-15 (2): Interesting, knows what to say to most people
16-17 (3): Popular, receives greetings and conversations on the street
18-19 (4): Immediately likeable by many people, subject of favorable talk
20-21 (5): Life of the party, able to keep people entertained for hours
22-23 (6): Immediately likeable by almost everybody
24-25 (7): Renowned for wit, personality, and/or looks
"Able to tell if someone is upset" is a 2-3 Wisdom level since even babies and toddlers can recognize when someone is upset.
I think this is from pathfinder
The PHB says that 20 is the mortal limit, the pinnacle of what a human could become, and no real life person would have above an 18 in any stat.
Rasmus Juul Svendsen Mortal limit? Thats not hero talk im hearing.
@@RasmusVJS what would make it impossible for someone to have a 19 or 20?
High Wisdom: Uncle Iroh
Must have got a nat 1 on that
"Delicious tea, or deadly poison" herbalism check
Level 20 Way of the Elements Monk
Massively high charisma as well
High intelligence, Low wisdom: early Sokka
But Wisdom is more like senses in DnD. Realising things intuitively and so
I imagine Wisdom as more intuitive, and aware of surroundings, and in touch with the world, vs Intelligence is structure and studying and analytical. Then Charisma is more the force of your personality and presence, or the "vibe" you give off. Like you said about entering a room, and everyone noticing or not.
high int, low wis is that sage background flaw "most people run when they see a demon, I take detailed notes".
@@docnevyn5814 high wisdom, low int I don't know what that is but I know I should run.
@@dicorockhimself Talison playing Caduceus does this really well, I have to say
yeah i see a low wis character as that guy that cant "read the room" or say stuff out of place, like a bad joke in a funeral or something like that.. or go running inside a tomb without much pondering beforehand
@@dynamicworlds1 he definitely does
A classic illustration: Strength is being able to crush a tomato.
Dexterity is being able to dodge a tomato.
Constitution is being able to eat a bad tomato.
Intelligence is knowing a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is knowing not to put a tomato in a fruit salad.
Charisma is being able to sell a tomato based fruit salad.
Very entertaining!😂
That’s just a gazpacho
Which one tells you it's a tomato based fruit salad is salsa?!
Intelligence: The tomato based fruit salad have tomatoes and peppers with onions as the lettuce and added spices.
I dig Jim Davis' new hair style. Plus 10 charisma right there
yes! and if he grows out his beard, even better
Came down here to say this. Hair on point.
So his charisma stat is 30 now, meaning his mod is 10.
Mullet?
It makes me think of Matthew Colville
My favorite character I ever played was functionally illiterate. He would often go off investigating on his own and it became troublesome trying to relay info to the rest of the party.
It wasn't that he had a particularly low Int score I just didn't opt to read/write any languages(playing a modified 3.5) so he began leaving his companions notes. Things like "gon 2 howce met u at sord bar at med nit -B" often with a doodle of like two buildings at each end of the paper with a little stickman close to one building and a clock face near the other.
He would also get handed documents he couldn't read and it always took the party a couple moments to remember why he was just looking at it and not reading it to them. Or he'd break into a place and couldn't tell what Intel was worth stealing so he'd just start grabbing whatever loose papers were laying out on a desk.
Despite how he sounds he was quite smooth and a damn good rogue. Of course his magic talisman didn't hurt his thieving skills any.
I roleplay low charisma every day :(
@@PsychedelicLasagna Hmmm, definitely don't agree. Charisma is also associated with emotional intelligence, tact, extroversion, humor, and openness to new experiences. If by physicality, you mean physical attractiveness e.g. facial symmetry etc, I think that has a pretty minor role in charisma. Few people would say Danny Devito is a pinnacle of physical attractiveness but nobody would deny he is hugely charismatic.
low charisma is saying 'mood' at a funeral
@@PsychedelicLasagna Charisma is definitely personality. It has a bit to do with appearance but you could have a really low Charisma character who’s beautiful but very socially awkward
Eyy well you rolled a high charisma check for that comment, my friend, proving sometimes charisma is just about being funny and relatable :)
I roleplay low inteligence every day
An interpretation of someone with high CHA, without being a typical charmer: Someone who's super quiet and introverted to the point where they often seem pitiful.
Instead of a cocky wink and a winning smile, persuasion checks are done with giant puppy-dog eyes and quivering lips. Instead of false sincerity and outright lies, deception checks are done by stuttering unsurety of what the truth even IS. And instead of angry threats to a person's well-being, intimidation checks are done with a sort of regret for the person's well-being and a "please don't make me have to do this!"
This is perfect. under rated comment on the different ways to play the personality of a persons charisma.
My fiance has a sort of this. She plays an 18 cha swashbuckler, but her character is most definitely not suave. She bumbles over her words and has a bad habit of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time and putting her foot in her mouth. Her 18 cha is used instead as her ability to salve situations where she does this
Like Woody Allen
A very interesting take. This never occurred to me. Time to steal it :)
in the rpg Reign there are a bunch of different sort of 'schools' of charisma. This method of influence is referred to as "the path of the moistened eye" and is heavily associated with court intrigue focused characters.
I understood what high charisma meant from a coreography teacher. Somehow I've managed to join a tango coreographic group and the lady teaching us was a mostly grumpy underslept mother of two wearing old sweatpants. Suddenly she gets angry with the girls being not imposing enough and she does a pose and the room goes SILENT and everyone is observing her and I thought, that's how you should roleplay a bard that uses dancing instead of music.
I’m playing a paladin with an 8 int, 13 Wisdom, and 18 charisma. I play him like he knows that he isn’t the smartest but he’s charming enough that people listen to what he says.
I feel like I’ve dated and or slept with this Pld before lol
I love how the talk about low charisma and being ignored because of it is cut short by the end credits jingle...
My low intelligence character was action oriented, stubborn in morality, thoughtless to consequences or motivations in complexity.
So very much "the direct action is the correct action" not just as a normative choice but it's what they thought of and then I, the player, relaxed trying to find other solutions.
^this
Love the new focused format.
Thank you!
Charisma also plays into capacity to handle interracting with the eldritch and otherworldly - warlocks. I think you mentioned being sure of themselves and this I suspect is related to that
I could have used this video last time I played a high-CHA paladin. I didn't want him to be bold and outgoing, I wanted him to be humble and contemplative and grave. It was hard reconciling the way I wanted to portray him with the way I thought I was "supposed to" portray him.
I've always role played low intelligence characters as individuals that sort of stumble into success, like Forrest Gump. They're not clever, but that's not imperative to their problem solving process.
Forrest had above average Wisdom Id say. Well everything except Intelligence is above average.
@@laoxep That dudes athletics check was the stuff of legends.
@@themaverick6269 He also has god-tier Constitution
Every time I see these two on a greenscreen for a second I think they're actually together but then one of their bodies starts stuttering or Jim's hand gets sucked into the void I remember 'oh yeah, they're miles apart'
Could not have come at a better time im about to play a character with a 7 intelligence and i have no idea what im doing
If you have no idea what you are doing that's a great start
@David Yeakle bidens better th-cam.com/video/zRJh4KGynOI/w-d-xo.html
A rough rule of thumb: int is the kind of hard logic that you could spell out a clear logical chain from cause/observation to effect/conclusion.
Wisdom involves intuition, soft logic, and lateral thinking. If you can only explain it via metaphores and weaving observations (often of the unmeasurable kind) into a picture that only really takes form when you look at them as a whole, you're dealing with wisdom.
If you're familiar with the terms, deductive vs inductive reasoning are also good ways to think of int vs wisdom.
If you're familiar with the Jungian personality type model via something like the MBTI, you're looking at Te and Si for int and Ti, Ni, and Se for wisdom.
None of that is perfect, of course, but hopefully some of that will help.
Enjoy. Played a tabaxi with high wisdom low intelligence. So not an idiot, but couldn't read or write. Made for some many funny moments. Example, the only charater that found the quest board in town i just ignored it, so the party never followed any of them plot hooks lol
@David Yeakle Just watch out for "Fey canoes"
I liked having a gravitic sorceress that was not very smart or well spoken but had some instincts.
Wizards and scholars would study her and want to ask her what and how she did what she did, and she would explain things in simple analogies, actually explaining gravidic pole with a fat man and a skinny man. Because she put it in such an odd and simple way people would not except what she said but in reality it is an analogy for the pole of mass she just couldn’t explain it well.
I remember rolplaying my characters slightly below average wisdom modifier as a slight recklessness. the best example of this was my party finding a smoky black crystal ball that was contained within a lead lined box and I as a player (and forever DM) said "I'm pretty sure I know what this is but Grohm doesn't. So this is going to be fun! I look into the ball to see if there are any runes on or in it." My character is a rune knight and has a fascination with runes vs traditional enchantment so of course he would check it out. and after the resulting psychic backlash my character learned. "ok so lead boxes mean dangerous items... good to know... ow."
I personally prefer it when ability scores are separate from personality types. So, a high wisdom character might have an instinctual sense that something is a bad idea, but if they're reckless they might decide to do it anyway.
Great episode! I love the new format. I also really enjoyed the longer podcast.
Thank you so much!!
A rough rule of thumb: int is the kind of hard logic that you could spell out a clear logical chain from cause/observation to effect/conclusion.
Wisdom involves intuition, soft logic, and lateral thinking. If you can only explain it via metaphores and weaving observations (often of the unmeasurable kind) into a picture that only really takes form when you look at them as a whole, you're dealing with wisdom.
If you're familiar with the terms, deductive vs inductive reasoning are also good ways to think of int vs wisdom.
If you're familiar with the Jungian personality type model via something like the MBTI, you're looking at Te and Si for int and Ti, Ni, and Se for wisdom.
None of that is perfect, of course, but hopefully some of that will help someone.
Wisdom is Ti and Ne. Your awareness of others in the form of Ne is about instinct, and is therefore Wisdom.
@@gusg6197 very much disagree as INTP. Ti-Ne is the pinnacle of philosophy, logic and reasoning. It's much more close to INT stat than WIS stat. Wisdom would be Fi Se and maybe Ni.
I have a rogue with really high dexterity and low strength. They’re usually doing card tricks, tossing dice, playing knuckle bones, occasionally doing somersaults or tumbling. But if you try to get them to row a boat they’ll do more harm than good, and they have to use magic to dig pit traps.
Excellent video topic and execution. Ya'lls explanations of the wisdom score was exactly what I was thinking. For low wisdom, someone very impulsive is what I picture. And what Jim described for high wisdom sounds a lot like the concept of "mindfulness," which again is very much what I picture. (listening further - ditto charisma)
The real high wisdom character: a barber.
This is literally the exact video I’ve been waiting for!!!
An Izzet wizard is a quintessential high Int/low Wis character.
We had an Ork barbrarian named frog with really low int, but a decent wisdom score. This mannifested in him being completely uncouth, and not understanding society and beurocracy what so ever. But he just so happened to be the only person who could identify purple wyrm poison, so he became the, “this is food, this, is not food” guy and we loved him.
Everyone could use an "is this food?" friend!!
I'm going to be playing a high INT, high WIS (16 and 18, respectively) cleric with a low CHA (12) -- we rolled, and I actually requested my DM let me drop her CHA and STR by 2 for a bump of 2 to her INT (clerics in their world go to temples OR secular academies) -- so I plan to RP her as highly inquisitive and intuitive while being SO outgoing (primarily about her work and research) that she puts people off.
As far as being engaged is a player while not deviating from your low intelligence score, I could see it at someone who solves Problems by being either insanely lucky, or just stumbles on the answer. After all, I wouldn't exactly said any of the hobbits were bastions of high int stats, but they were the ones who stumbled on how to open the door to the mines of Moria... that could easily be a player having figured out what the answer to the riddle is, and then being like well it's not like my character figured it out, but he just happened to say the right thing.
It just occurred to me that Captain America's Vibrainium shield should not be bouncing off of things. The material is said to absorb all vibrations... so it shouldn't bounce when it impacts against another object, it should absorb all of that energy.
Your int stat, is 30
@@mme.veronica735 I wish. I'd trade my left nut for the Keen Mind feat to get me through these mountains of school work. Oh to have a photographic memory.
In the comics at least it deflects the energy, and if unable to do so explodes. The shield is a Vibranium/Adamantine alloy, which is why it had its properties. Anything unable to be reflected is directed into the adamantine, which just takes the hit because its tough. This is how it's SHOWN in the movies, for instance Thor's hammer hitting the shield and reflecting back a blast. it's just not explained much because it didn't really matter to the plot.
A message to Jim and Pruitt;
An interview with Jim Butcher, author of The Dresden Files.
If you guys did a discussion with Butcher, discussing how his character of Harry Dresden and the world of magic he lives in has shaped your campaigns/DMing approach to how magic exists in the game world, that would be so amazing!
Mostly, I just want to see Pruitt's reaction to speaking with one of his favorite authors.
Thanks guys, for all of the inspiration and hours upon hours of incredible content!
I would shit a rainbow out of sheer joy if that happens.
Love the way you styled your hair jim. Also really excellent observation regarding philosophy and why it is such a divisive topic.
Lt Columbo: " "All my life I kept running into smart people. I don't just mean smart like you and the people in this house. You know what I mean ..." He added, "I could tell right away that it wasn't gonna be easy making detective as long as they were around", but he determined that he could even the odds "by working harder than any of them, reading all of the required books and paying attention to every detail."
Someone with high charisma is basically someone with a presence. It doesn't really matter if it's because of appearance, manner or both.
A lot of groups i have played with WAY to often ties Charisma as a physical stat of how beautiful and well kept the person was.
I love the low wisdom = impulsiveness. That's AMAZING
I like that you mentioned that your ability score does not necessarily dictate how you have to play your character. As one of my favorite characters I've ever played said on multiple occasion:
"Look out world! I've gotta' wisdom of 14, and I act like I have half of that!"
Chaotic Neutral changeling divination wizards with the lucky feat are a blast to play.
16:50. As a Peter in a family with a brother and father named Paul. I resent and also totally identify with this analogy
Good video guys, I like the advice/guide-line -> if you see/imagine a stat in a low way, you can see it the strong way.
Wisdom as your emotional/spiritual competency is usually how I treat it. Intelligence as actual hard data and ability to apply it is my approach.
I loved the new outro graphic in this video! Keep up the great work guys.
Here's a short lesson about Intelligence and Wisdom; Intelligence is what the bard learned in his tome college; math, reading, elegant writing, a bit of history, and some languages, Wisdom is what the rogue learned on the streets; How to read people to tell when they're lying to you, the seemingly mistrustful paranoid thought processes that kept them from emptying their pockets to the street-corner charlatan. Things that help them apply what knowledge they have.
If a character is a dull shonen protagonist who doesn't understand even the most obvious of seduction, follows instructions to the letter, and answers questions literally and without sensitivity, but has never lost a game of scrabble, and recites their paladin order's rules on the dot, from memory, then their Wisdom is low and their intelligence is high.
If the half-orc fighter can't count past 3 and only knows, like, 100 words in orcish and 10 in english, but spots the Kobold Ambush before the Ranger does, then they have High Wisdom and Low intelligence.
They are NOT the same thing.
People really need to start taking their real-world definitions and understanding for these words out of how they conceptualize the game’s version of Int. and Wis. These stats don’t represent single concepts anymore than our collective or individual conceptualization of the words do.
In terms of D&D stats, Intelligence is problem solving ability/reason/logic combined with knowledge/learning. A character could be high Int. because they’re incredibly great at logical reasoning, or because they retain a lot of information they have learned, or because they can do both.
In terms of D&D stats, Wisdom is awareness of your self and the world combined with instinct. It’s sort of just a measure of your connection with your animalistic nature. A high Wis. character might be totally unaware but have incredibly pronounced instincts.
In terms of D&D stats, Charisma is your attractiveness combined with your ability to manipulate language combined with your force of personality/will. You could be super attractive and otherwise unimpressive. You could be blunt and even a little rude and still have people follow your lead because of your seeming conviction. You could be unattractive and weaselly, but be able to dress common phrases in layers of adroit eloquence.
Let’s think about Insight. What do most people do to determine a lie? It’s purely instinctual for most people.
Let’s think about Nature. What does Nature measure? It measures your knowledge of plants or your understanding of how they do what they do. Instinct and awareness won’t help you determine what plants have what effects when consumed.
Let’s look at Deception. What does it take to lie convincingly? Well, there are a couple things which could help you tell a lie. Being beautiful means people naturally except you to be good and virtuous (there are studies on this), and are therefore more likely to trust you. Skillful manipulation of language can turn an obvious untruth into a convincing sounding argument. Finally, saying anything with enough conviction will make people inclined to believe you-especially in a world of magic & monsters.
People really need to start taking their real world definitions and understanding for these words out of how they conceptualize the game’s version of Int. and Wis.
In terms of D&D stats, Intelligence is problem solving ability/reason/logic combined with knowledge/learning. A character could be high Int. because they’re incredibly great at logical reasoning, or because they retain a lot of information they have learned, or because they can do both.
In terms of D&D stats, Wisdom is awareness of your self and the world combined with instinct. It’s sort of just a measure of your connection with your animalistic nature. A high Wis. character might be totally unaware but have incredibly pronounced instincts.
In terms of D&D stats, Charisma is your attractiveness combined with your ability to manipulate language combined with your force of personality/will. You could be super attractive and otherwise unimpressive. You could be blunt and even a little rude and still have people follow your lead because of your seeming conviction. You could be unattractive and weaselly, but be able to dress common phrases in layers of adroit eloquence.
Let’s think about Insight. What do most people do to determine a lie? It’s purely instinctual for most people.
Let’s think about Nature. What does Nature measure? It measures your knowledge of plants or your understanding of how they do what they do. Instinct and awareness won’t help you determine what plants have what effects when consumed.
Let’s look at Deception. What does it take to lie convincingly? Well, there are a couple things which could help you tell a lie. Being beautiful means people naturally except you to be good and virtuous (there are studies on this), and are therefore more likely to trust you. Skillful manipulation of language can turn an obvious untruth into a convincing sounding argument. Finally, saying anything with enough conviction will make people inclined to believe you-especially in a world of magic & monsters.
@@gusg6197 "Let’s think about Insight. What do most people do to determine a lie? It’s purely instinctual for most people."
It is!? How the *hell* can you use instinct for that? Is my instinct just *that bad* that I can't even fathom how someone with good instincts would use that to determine whether someone is lying?
For me, the only way I can determine whether someone is lying is via logical reasoning, if something is contradictory.
@@mclark347 That's why you can use other ability scores for skills. You're describing Insight (Intelligence), not the default Insight (Wisdom). Most people don't do the logical reasoning to determine if something is a lie. Most people try to read facial ques. Interpreting facial expressions on that base level is an animal instinct thing.
"Instinct" is just subconscious reasoning. When it feels like something is "off" that means you've (general you) subconsciously recognized something that you aren't consciously aware of--such as a contradiction in a liar's story.
@@gusg6197 But... Interpreting facial cues is a learnable skill. It's entirely mathematics and reasoning. I just haven't learned the mathematical aspect.
My lizardfolk druid's dumpstat is Charisma, so I play him as an unintentionally clueless individual with remarkably atrocious social manners. He has a difficult time observing personal boundaries or respecting privacy or ownership because in his tribe his people exhibited communal behavior, sharing everything and sleeping together for warmth. Because of his endless curiosity he constantly pokes, prods, and eventually breaks things he touches. As the cherry on top, I've made it part of his daily ritual observance to wake up at the crack of dawn to commune with nature by drumming and dancing, much to the annoyance of everyone still abed.
This was an excellent topic and it did get me thinking. Some of the examples Jim and Pruitt were talking about were great! And I thunk I found a way to summarize it: intelligence is the mind and its ability to retain facts and utilize logic (ex. Spock or Sherlock Holmes), wisdom is the soul and represents ones connection with life around them on a personal level whether through reading body language or having similar experiences and the mental fortitude to stand by one's own opinion (ex. Hawkeye), and Charisma is the heart and its passion overflowing (ex. Raven from Teen Titans).
Just some thoughts I had. Thanks @WebDM for more thought provoking videos! This is one I'll be talking over my players with at home.
Thank you for the kind words, glad you found it thought provoking
Super useful video gentlemen. Been trying to find that line to ride for my 20 Wis 8 Int Firbolg Cleric.
I would say much like Wisdom is about connections to the world, Charisma is about connections to people, but not just those around you. The ability to understand ones self plays as much of a part into CHA as understanding someone else at any given moment. For Paladins, CHA is their selected stat because it reflects willpower and conviction, not their ability to commune with and charm others. And I think once you have a broader look at what real world applications that has it can be fairly simple to draw up some extra personality traits that you can use to roleplay.
A low CHA character would be impulsive, fidgety, and overreacts to just about every situation. Not knowing when to keep their mouth shut when stealthing past some guards, will purchase just about any shiny put in front of them. Further attributes could be the person is unwilling to do what is the correct choice because they dislike the outcome. They would avoid the hard decisions to make because they cannot regulate their own standards,.
The flipside of that is the character who aside from the obvious abilities to understand social environments and know how to ply words to influence, is in complete control of their emotions. At a most basic level it's the character who has an itchy nose but finds it relatively easy to put up with the itch if the situation requires it. But also the person who can reflect on their own self being and judgements and evaluate what is the correct course of action. Low CHA is someone who despite evidence being presented on a topic chooses to ignore it because it is not aligned with their worldview, where high CHA is always re-assessing when new evidence comes to light their previous attitudes towards something.
It's so much more that simply being able to hornybard someone, and I agree with the sentiment that it is sad that people often reduce it to this.
Wisdom is expertise in the conduct of the pragmatics of living.
What Jim said about philosophy was great!
Joke on you, i already can rp a 8int character perfectly, i do it every day at work.
I was raised Pentecostal too, Pruitt. I feel your pain.
I really enjoy a dump stat for roleplaying, I was sad that the fixing of orc and kobold meant removing their negative stats rather than lean into it and offer them better positive attributes.
Maybe describe the mental stats as follows:
Intelligence is how well you can manage your thoughts and inner world.
Wisdom is how well you can perceive the world around you and how to act according to that.
Charisma is how well you can influence others to perceive you or an idea the way you want them to see it.
one of my current characters has a 6 INT, and another has a 5 dex. The 6 int is legit my favorite to play. I RP it by making her just not able to put 2+2 together on her own. Like if you give her steps and actually get her to pay attention she'll understand you and follow the plan to a T. But her brain sees a problem and does not think past the most immediate feedback, taking the most direct solution to her mind. She gets a lot of info with that 14 WIS, but she lacks problem solving skills. This also makes her somewhat trusting, simply due to the fact that if a person hasn't hurt her before she won't make the connection that they might, unless they physically resemble a creature or person who's hurt her. Then she'll take due note for next time, but her brain just cannot connect dots on its own, she needs to have those connections made for her.
Me and my friend used to say that intelligence is the amount of useful information you have stored in your head.
While wisdom is your ability to use the information that you have stored in a effective way.
Love Jim's wonderful long locks.
I had an Aasimar Divine Soul Sorcerer with very low wisdom. He was a Solar who chose to become mortal, and had a very hard time adjusting. Because his ability to pick out a lie used to be automatic, he never developed the ability to read when someone was lying. Because he no longer could cast Detect Evil and Good at will, he was suspicious of strangers.
Low wisdom doesn't have to mean that you are gullible. It could also mean that you are paranoid.
(The sorcerer also had tiny burning flames instead of eyes, and it turns out that fire is vastly inferior to eyeballs for seeing out of. He was basically legally blind, to account for his naturally low perception)
After the guys where talking about charisma it reminded me of Wonder Woman 1984, Wonder Woman has high charisma and the person who becomes cheetah started with low charisma. As you can guess I'm getting this from trailers and videos about Wonder Woman 1984 not the full movie, but from what I have seen it might be something to check out in defining high and low charisma for your characters.
To me the Intelligence stat is just an in game representation on how much my character *cares* about a given subject like (in 5E at least) History, Religion or Nature. Or how much effort they devote to those subjects. This way I can still be a clever player, one who enjoys solving puzzles, coming up with plans or creating some sort of chicanery, but also adhere to an element of the character sheet, like being forgetful of the important names in history or which religious symbol belongs to which faith.
I love these newer shorter form videos!
I’m new, made my first character, and my Paladin got a crap role of 5. My DM let me re roll it, and I got a 7. He recommended that it goes to intelligence. Haven’t had our first session yet and I’ve been thinking of, “how do I role play this, I don’t want to be stupid.” So I decided on, because of my wisdom of 12, I’ll consider wisdom as street smarts/experience, I have practical knowledge, but I’m not book smart/ educated. I like the suggestion you gave of just being a little slow. You can solve problems, it just takes a couple minutes.
For me wisdom is very in tune with self awareness. So knowing yourself to an extent that you either can understand your behaviors and actions and strive for change in them.
People with high wisdom not only know that their actions have consequences, but that everything is interconnected. Not in the sense of discovering things, but more at being at peace with the world and what surrounds them. They would be the characters that would allow themselves to forgive a villain for their actions given that they changed for instance. So I think of yogis and Buddhists really :)
Low wisdom for me seems more like an inconsequential and stubborn character.
My favorite PC to role play was a Fighter with 18 Int and 9 Wis.
I can just hear Neil deGrasse Tyson now, “Actually a reverse black hole has a name. It’s a theoretical phenomenon called a white hole.”
New character coming in. Firbolg Forge cleric -Charisma is a 6. This will be helpful
1:30 Jim is describing creativity here, which while highly correlated with intelligence, is generally believed to be not the same thing.
Lookin' good, Jim Davis!
How I usually handle low INT is I just give another character the credit unless it makes sense for my character. Even if I solve the dungeon puzzle IRL, the wizard solves it in-game.
That’s actually very good player etiquette. Makes sense for your character and is good player cooperation
I get the feeling that I'm a low-Wisdom character
My favourite low charisma character that I played was a Knowledge Cleric who was so high and mighty and judgemental all the time that everyone pretty much instinctively hated her. It was very fun to play
I had a low charisma character, they were essentially tarzan raised by gnolls. and while he was able to understand languages, he was just never got the knack of using words to express something when growls, cackles and physical action which worked most of his life.
Just rolled a 6 on charisma, this video helped a lot!
Thanks for this! I have just started playing DnD and had to make a Pali and her int is 8 😭 and I wasn’t sure how to play her. I didn’t want to make her completely stupid. I just had her take things on face value and not question things, and sometimes take things literally. But yeah I was struggling. I’m not a super smart person but I can be insightful and clever if I need to be :P I’m going to add in a bit of a foggy memory into my character and a few other things. Thanks guys!
Oh wow, instantly a huge difference in editing quality.
About to play a monk, way of the open hand, with a 7 intelligence but 16 wisdom. The setting is a Eberron and his monastery survived the Last war. He is not educated, but lived in the now and for fighting. Plan on him being more of an Eliza Dolittle mixed with the Piker from Snatch with a little Eggsy from the Kingsman.
This was a neat dive into the topic about the non physical stats of D&D. @Web DM, could you an episode on air travel and & air ships? I am not sure if this has already been covered before on the channel, I just would like to hear your take on the topic.
Thank you for the request!!
A leader with a high INT says all citizens should be required to work a job suited to their best talents.
A leader with a high WIS says nurturing all citizens with empathy and opportunity will lead to a harmonious society.
A leader with a high CHR is able to get the other two leaders to happily work together.
It just occurred to me that "the great beast Rantamay" is just a spoonerism of "manta ray".
This might already have been mentioned and is problably obvious but I'm surprised I never thought about it before.
To me wisdom is knowing yourself and being in control of yourself and mechanically that's well reflected by save rolls against mind control being Wis saves. To me a low Wis character is one who is self-deceiving or driven by things outside of themselves like a quest for vengeance or lust for gold or glory, their lack of self knowledge and their extrinsic motivations make them more easily manipulated, controlled or tempted.
A high wisdom character is a Southern Grandma
The way I've figured it... Is that Wisdom is your input and Charisma is your output. Charisma is your ability to enforce your will onto the world, while Wisdom is taking and processing external information. Intelligence lies somewhere in the middle. I see the difference best between the caster types. Druids and clerics are conduits for divine powers, and so their magic relies on input. Sorcerers, warlocks, and paladins on the other hand enforce their will upon the world through brute force. A paladin's power comes from their oath and bending the world to the vision of how it's supposed to be, while sorcerers do their magic by instinct and bend reality to their will.
Diggin the hair Jim!!!
I once played a low intelligence monk, so low int high wis. I played it as him being very in tune with his body and the world around him thus very observant but not necessarily knowing all the implications of his observations. And he couldn’t read
I think the whole thing about connections at the start it's not intelligence, but a wisdom thing. Intelligence is how much you know, and wisdom how you use what you know.
@Insignatious if intelligence is how much you know also has to be how fast you learn it and if you need or not someone to teach you that or you learn by your self. English is not my first language, but I'll try my best to explain myself:
If you know that grabbing a metal bar increases the force you can apply is int.
Thinking that you can use that knowledge for harm is low wisdom, it's basic. Thinking you can use that as a tool for breaking harder fruit shells is one wisdom step more.
But learning by your self why it produces more force, and realizing that then if you sharpen it, or you put a rock at the end also will increase your force but in diferent ways is againt intelligence.
So, basically, wisdom is how fast you relate you knowledge and the world around you.
Intelligence in d&d is basically knowledge. This leads to confusion, but really the other mental stats (wisdom and charisma) are also forms of intelligence. Mainly, emotional intelligence and interpersonal intellige and artistic intelligece for charisma, intrapersonal intelligence, spacial intelligence and some more for wisdom. Maybe you can get things as math and memory on intelligence stat, but really there are no skills related, and for people that had not studied this kind of things, a lot of math and similar things will still be considered part of knowledge so I find it as a pretty good way to describe it to new players.
Perfect for people trying out the OSR, especially DCC.
One thing I have to point out, stats are directly tied to in game attributes, which effect both personality, and how a character performs in combat. Do not punish a player who has come up with a unique character by forcing stats that are not important to their role. Obviously it's better if a character's stats match their personality, but do not FORCE your player to play to their in game stats if they don't want to. If a barbarian wants to be a warrior poet, don't tell them "no your wisdom isn't high enough to pull that off," just let em play it. If a wizard wants to be a bumbling idiot who Mr. Magoo-ed his way into magic, don't tell him to switch to a bard, let him play the wizard. If a Cleric wants to be a manipulative smug snake, don't force him to sacrifice his wisdom for charisma.
I am not suggesting, you make playing against stats the default, but it should be considered an option if rolls, or the point buy doesn't allow the player to do what he wants for his personality without suffering in combat or adventure.
I was hoping that they would do examples, or talk about, different combinations for the mental stats. I had a goblin monk that had high wisdom but low intelligence and didn't know how to roleplay that.
i love the new set btw, it looks great.
The best low high combo is int and wis
How would one play low Int and high Wis? That's the one combination that I have a hard time role-playing
Michael Crane a good role model for that is Caduceus Clay from Critical Role campaign 2 or Grog from campaign one
@@michaelcrane3993 Uneducated but the things they do know is backed with a ton of logic and insight
Think of Intelligence as book knowledge and Wisdom as a mix of street knowledge
@@michaelcrane3993 I do it as really smart, but no common sense. Like you know the right answer and *have* to let everyone know. Or just you can understand consequences just not that the happen to you. That's how I do it
@@douglaswilson6037 wouldn't that be high INT and low WIS?
This low charisma bit felt like a very thorough personal attack 😅 at least I’m not terribly stubborn and have gotten better about remembering people’s names
I play a high int and low wis char.. full of tons of ideas.. no idea of which one is a good one and usually does the 1st one that comes to mind. Runs on impulse. could go into a grocery store, get to the front with an empty buggy , then buy all the stuff at the front on the impulse buy shelves.
My 9 wisdom sorcerer bought a "cloak of invisibility" that actually affects the wearer with *suggestion* that makes them *think* they're invisible.
Also, holy crap that story at the end...
*I LOVE PHILOSOPHY .*
*I like to write philosophy all the time .*
I was waiting for the "It's big brain time!" joke but it never came D:
Perhaps I should update my meme collection before I look prehistoric xD
Just found out I have all negatives in mental stats. How wonderful.
I think I’ve seen the sort of contradiction between the player and the character most in the cleric/ priest class. A lot of people end up playing it more like a member of a guild or club while neglecting a semblance of theology. Like the nature cleric ends up feeling like a member of some forestry service, the generic good one more like a physician, and the evil cult cleric more like a political anarchist.
Like this lack of ecclesiastical rp in the cleric class just really stands out to me. Imo or rather from my observations
I love that dice shirt!!
Intelligence - the ability to make connections
Wisdom - the ability to make distinctions
Yeah. Each stat is a combination of training and talent. Intelligence is both large amounts of skill and knowlege, and a talent for recall and data analysis. Wisdom is both practice picking up on the world around you, and a sense of being In the Moment that some people can never achieve. Charisma is both having practice being socialized, and being full of social gravitas