How do you play low wisdom?

AandA · Post by **AandA** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 12:18 am

Here's something I've wondered about for a couple characters: How do you play a low wisdom character? What quirks, hints, tips, situations, rolls, etc. have you used, or would you suggest?

I've always thought as INT as how much information the character has at hand and the complexity of reasoning that the character can understand and use and WIS as how to use that information toward making good decisions. E.g., knowing smoking is hazardous to your health and (low WIS) still smoking or (high WIS) trying to quit.

What about in an Avlissian setting? I keep seeing low WIS folks running headlong into battles they know are way out of their favor. What else have folks done, thought of, suggest?

Katroine · Post by **Katroine** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 12:20 am

Wis is my lowest score (still 10 base) and I just play it as her common sense and her being a little naive.

AandA · Post by **AandA** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 12:31 am

I should have said, but I mean for like a 9 or an 8.

darthjee · Post by **darthjee** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 12:31 am

i would say that children tend to have low wis ... since wis is that knowledge that cames with living, child like characters tend to have low wis.

a rogue sometimes would need wis to have the gifts of understanding the streets, while a low wis character would not be able to.

well, and the "do stupid things first and thing about it later" thin

Pathos Street · Post by **Pathos Street** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 12:42 am

Don't get jokes? Low wisdom.

Can't understand why someone is mad at you? Low wisdom.

Come up with devious plans that are much too complicated to ever work? Low wisdom.

Talk back to the shadowy character who appears next to you while you're looting houses? Extremely low wisdom.

Gorgon · Post by **Gorgon** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 12:42 am

I dug up a few (really old) links related to low Wis (and stats in general).

http://www.blackdagger.com/viewtopic.php?t=39815
http://www.blackdagger.com/viewtopic.php?t=34858
http://www.blackdagger.com/viewtopic.php?t=13305

Low Int is easy to do. Cha and Wis are the hard ones to play properly, and I know I don't get them right half the time. I'm pretty sure Smeec has a much higher Wis score than me, so that never helps.

AyounTheDark · Post by **AyounTheDark** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 12:42 am

Having low wisdom could, IMO, be defined by something as lack of willpower, poor judgement (of characters, situations etc.), tendency to be a bit clueless (failing to get the big picture, more or less), dull-witted, ignorant and as Kat said naive works too, and likely many others.

Whereas one with high wis should prove somewhat opposite. Strength of will, wile, cunning, intuitive, strong judgement, enlightened and other qualities pertaining to a wise character.

This is just my opinion of course, and keep in mind english isn't my native tongue, so there may be some "glitches" in the above.

AandA · Post by **AandA** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 12:46 am

Pathos Street wrote:Don't get jokes? Low wisdom.

Can't understand why someone is mad at you? Low wisdom.

Come up with devious plans that are much too complicated to ever work? Low wisdom.

Talk back to the shadowy character who appears next to you while you're looting houses? Extremely low wisdom.

Hehe, I like these, especially the devious plan one. :)

Korennya · Post by **Korennya** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 1:31 am

I've always thought of it this way..

Int = booksmarts/ general knowledge
Wis= common sense/what you do with said knowledge you might have.

10 is average for the given stat.. My main has an int of 16 and an wis of 10. She's failyl smart about how thigns work, yet more often then not makes poor decisions based on that knowledge. She also tends to be more impulsive and less patient.

spool32 · Post by **spool32** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 3:07 am

I played my low WIS character with these traits:

Didn't understand witty humor
Little common sense
Often didn't learn from experience
Sometimes failed to make obvious connections. i.e. metal rods in fire get hot. even on the not-in-fire end.
Poor tactician.
Poor understanding of human motivations

Eventually, as his WIS has increased to a natural 14, most of those things have faded away...

-spool32

Jaybob · Post by **Jaybob** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 3:11 am

Bern's got a relatively low WIS, and as anyone he's adventured with will tell you, he rarely brings the right equipment, and never knows when he's overmatched. everyone in the party is bloodied and out of kits, and Bern, spitting out blood and teeth will say "i think we can take them."

It is tricky, though. Low CHA has got to be the hardest, though, i think.

Darkfire · Post by **Darkfire** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 6:21 am

Act like Levis_Pie

zsenf · Post by **zsenf** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 7:51 am

As a player with high WIS, INT, and low CHA, I think the low ChA is the hardest to RP.

Low INT: crappy at math, obvious physics, learning rules, memory

Low WIS: Crappy at seeing cause and effect relationships, getting jokes, others' perspectives

Low CHA: getting your point across, making others see your point of view, leading.

If I'm wrong, let me know, please.

Tigg · Post by **Tigg** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 9:28 am

I think if you at least try to play something reasonable out while keeping your score in mind, you'll be doing well.

Fire Monkey · Post by **Fire Monkey** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 9:37 am

Lack of empathy towards others, lack of insight, out of touch with the environment around you, poor decision making, poor long term fore thought, generally unwise!

With low personality ability scores its a good idea to stop yourself every now and then and try to not take the obvious beneficial path in a situation. Do something that may have a deleterious effect on your character or his relationship with those around them. For low charisma scores fight the tendecy to always be polite, for low wisdom scores fight the tendency to try and make a good decision. Make a hasty ill formed decision instead and see where it leads you!

You should also remember to take into account the effect that items and spells have on your ability scores. Most spell casters pretty much permanently boost various stats. In this case though they may for example naturally have a wisdom of 8 they may for the majority of the time be operating with a wisdom of 10-13, big difference.

Rain&Clouds · Post by **Rain&Clouds** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 12:21 pm

Aha a topic I like!

I always make Amy react on her mood, not on what she should be doing (unless it'd be obvious even to her that she doesn't have a choice). But then again, Amy is also Chaotic, a Lawful character with low wisdom would have different traits.

Pathos Street wrote:Come up with devious plans that are much too complicated to ever work? Low wisdom.

*grins* Exactly! Ask for what you want, not what a normal character would know he or she can get. If it turns out to be unreasonable? You'll find it out the hard way

But it probably won't stop you from making the same mistake again... and again

I also make Amy not always do the most appropriate things, depending on the circumstances. For instance, if she needs to drink water from a river, she'll cup her hands and drink like that; but if she is being followed and only has a few seconds to drink, she might not remember to cup her hands and just drink the hard way

It's not that she doesn't know the best way to get something done (I think that would be Intelligence), it's just thinking at it under pressure that sometimes is a problem. (I know, the water drinking example was terrible!

).

krackq · Post by **krackq** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 1:11 pm

Another low wisdom move would be always attempting to steal fey wine from Thorfinn *coughs* Amy *coughs*

sinn · Post by **sinn** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 3:47 pm

spool32 wrote:I played my low WIS character with these traits:

Didn't understand witty humor
Little common sense
Often didn't learn from experience
Sometimes failed to make obvious connections. i.e. metal rods in fire get hot. even on the not-in-fire end.
Poor tactician.
Poor understanding of human motivations

Eventually, as his WIS has increased to a natural 14, most of those things have faded away...

-spool32

so that was what was wrong with Hert

.. hehe

actually now that I think about it Spool you pulled that off wonderfully..

when Sinn first met Hert an Ellowin, Sinn really thought Hert was a bit of a 'dim-wit' and didnt take much of what he said serious

yet as he aged and in the end Sinn though of Hert a pretty wise character... and took his words more seriously.. even went as far as to recommend people talk to Hert about this or that...

Pathos Street · Post by **Pathos Street** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 4:07 pm

Hert put a few stat points into wisdom once he became a paladin. *snicker*

Adm.Venge · Post by **Adm.Venge** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 4:09 pm

Another reason why WIS and CHA are so difficult to RP is the fact that your character develops over time. As your character moves about Avlis and interacts with people, his/her actions and deeds may increase his/her fame. Thus, even a low CHA character ends up having alot of people look up to them or even find themselves often in situations of "positional leadership". A Low WIS character may find people asking them for advice. The difficult task becomes judging what your character has learned over time and how you should apply it.

loki70 · Post by **loki70** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 7:34 pm

Pathos Street wrote:Hert put a few stat points into wisdom once he became a paladin. *snicker*

Always thought he was just a semi-slow kinda ugly paladin, or a really tall dwarf paladin...either way

AandA · Post by **AandA** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 5:07 am

Thanks all. Tons and tons of great advice and examples! :)

Ellowin · Post by **Ellowin** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 7:33 am

Pathos Street wrote:Hert put a few stat points into wisdom once he became a paladin. *snicker*

Hert Snyder · Post by **Hert Snyder** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 7:36 am

*sob* He's not a paladin! He's a ftr/cleric!

... no, that's not just a poor man's paladin!

*sob sob sob*

Also, whoever mentioned the point about stat boosts was bang-on. Hert started with an 8, has a natural 14, but never falls below a 19 WIS because of his gear. 19 WIS is a pretty worldly guy, which is what Hert is nowadays. He still has terrible grammar, and can't do simple division or count over 15 or so though... 8 INT too.

PS: Thanks Sinn! That was a fantastic compliment, thank you.

Fire Monkey · Post by **Fire Monkey** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 11:41 am

Hert Snyder wrote: Also, whoever mentioned the point about stat boosts was bang-on. Hert started with an 8, has a natural 14, but never falls below a 19 WIS because of his gear. 19 WIS is a pretty worldly guy, which is what Hert is nowadays. He still has terrible grammar, and can't do simple division or count over 15 or so though... 8 INT too.

A few more spells would sort out that bad grammar! I kind of like the idea of a charcaters increasing reliance on spells and items to be able to operate effectively. Del has a natural wisdom of 9. Pretty low for an army commander (someone that constantly makes bad decisions wouldn't exactly inspire confidence in his troops!). Despite this he constantly wears items that boost this to 11 and after every rest casts owls wisdom on himself to boost it higher. Without that he wouldn't be able to operate effectively as a Warmaster. Similarly, before going into any sort of negotiations I would normally have Del cast an empowered Eagles Splendour on himself to enhance his Charisma. Using magic in such every day situations, rather than for just pwning npc's, seems only natural for any spell caster.