Roleplaying an int of 6

[Necropolis]

My halfling wizard/rogue Frin got cut down by a mean gnoll so I decided to make a rather imposing female half-orc fighter/barbarian named Gomeska[melee characters' easier to play], BUT I'm still trying to find her role-play groove. Her int is 6 but it's not always easy always destroying the english language. Do I need to play her like she has down syndrome?? Any input greatly appreciated.

[Xanderleo]

Hey, I met you last night in the Viridale with your group.

Well, a score of 8 means you wont be able to speak properly. 6, I would think are going to be alot of grunts and gestures as opposed to actual speech.

What's her Wisdom and Charisma?

[Machiavelli]

Her int is 6 but it's not always easy always destroying the english language. Do I need to play her like she has down syndrome??

Someone with an Int of 6 is going to have a hard time comprehending pretty much anything and everything, grammar included

[Xanderleo]

Yes, as Machiavelli pointed out, not only communicating, but effectively understanding what others are saying is going to be pretty much Nil.

[Inconsiderable]

Thats going to be tough, because (if i remember right) even trolls and ogres are going to be smarter than your girl.
Low int usually also leads to problems following instructions, if that is any help to you. Kinda reminds of a mountain orc I once played who forgot what he was doing the moment he got hungry.

Edit: just checked, ogres and trolls have 6-7 int, gnolls already 8-9.

[rustediron]

Thats going to be tough, because (if i remember right) even trolls and ogres are going to be smarter than your girl.

Edit: just checked, ogres and trolls have 6-7 int, gnolls already 8-9.

LMFAO!

[lordmaple]

A good guide is that INT is roughly equal to your chracters IQ/10, if you believe in that sort of thing.

So, as a guide, your character has an IQ of about 60. Thats legally retarded. So your character ...uh...you take it from there. She has about the intelligence of a dog. A dumb one.

You could play her as a very, very small Ogre. Your character will definitely not speak in correct grammar, although slurred speech is not necessarily a side effect. I would also avoid any words beyond one syllable, and try to use two syllable words with discretion and avoid anything above three, and avoid any word that could be slightly construed as scientific, technical, or abstract. Your character, for instance, knows what a stag is, but doesn't understand that it is "currency" (abstract).

Oh, one more thing. You should probably not take any ranks in any ability that requires intelligence, not because of the penalty (although that should be obvious), but because your character has such a severe impediment to learning things requiring cognition that in an RP sense, you really wouldn't even start *trying* to learn them unless you *absolutely had to*. Example in which you would absolutely have to: you are a slave, and the task is part of your slave labor. Whips can be pretty convincing. (Although your master would appear to have a shortage of slaves... )

Another thing I forgot to mention: Wisdom and Charisma might offset your ability to understand what other people are saying. If your Wis and Cha are at or above 10, you are "intuitive" enough to understand what people are getting at even if you don't understand exactly what they are saying. It's somewhat similar to only speaking a little bit of a language, but you understand what the person is trying to say generally because of universal human protocol , hand gestures, and facial expressions. Communicating back, however, would be difficult.

Again, if you believe in it, think of Int as your "left brain" score. Wis and Cha are "right brained".

Essentially, you are about as smart as a 4 or 5 year old child. And that is being mean to most four and five year old children

[Necropolis]

Umm...I somewhat disagree with the last post, if I remember from the handbooks from a while ago I recall an int of 2-3 being a dog/cat level intelligence. My problem will be mastering a stupid speech style (which I think I've already gotten the hang of! lozl).

[Dark presence]

Personally I hate how low INT scores are represented so often. Speech is learned from hearing others talk. If someone is surrounded by people who always say, "I'm happy," a retarded person has no linguistic experience whatsoever to draw on in saying the phrase, "Me happy." Retarded people don't just make things up or completely bastardize grammar. They talk the only way they know how, and thats the way other people talk.

Low int, in my view, should talk simply. Short, simple, sentences, to the point, with the smallest words, and weakest vocabulary possible.

[Necropolis]

(sorry had to relaunch nwn2) Gomeska' wisdom is 14, and charisma is 6. I think with a high wisdom she would have acrued allot of survival based knowledge including certain phrases in common. But generally speaking is it ok if I bend the level of speech competency? I feel that some people may not enjoy a stereotypical grunting oaf, but the bending would be around that stereotype, and maybe I should have considered this beforehand I don't know. I remember Gary Cygax saying something about flexibility with roleplay for the enjoyment of all. I think I'll just try to be as creative as possible with the character. I eventually want her to be a frenzied bezerker but ofcourse as a character class designation that is the shallowest level of character detail. I need to work on her a bit more so I can roleplay her with greater ease. I haven't worked on a character history or personality profile yet but I can quickly compile one from how I've been playing her to date.

[lordmaple]

Umm...I somewhat disagree with the last post, if I remember from the handbooks from a while ago I recall an int of 2-3 being a dog/cat level intelligence. My problem will be mastering a stupid speech style (which I think I've already gotten the hang of! lozl).

You've never seen my cat. Watch out.

It wasn't an official rule I gave, it was a general guide. Disagree all you like

Here is something I dug up from 2nd Ed, but 3rd Ed may say "No way! Wrongo!"

0: non-intelligent or not ratable
1: Animal intelligence
2-4: Semi-intelligent
5-7: Low intelligence
8-10: Average (human) intelligence
11-12: very intelligent
13-14: Highly intelligent
15-16: Exceptionally intelligent
17-18: Genius
19-20: Supra-genius
21+: Godlike intelligence

[Jaeram]

Like some of the others my characters have met your Gom, and I have to say the drooling helps role playing that kind of intelligence. On the other hand I spent almost 1/2 an hour trying to dig up an old post that I read the first or second day after I joined Sundren/Forums, from I believe GodBeastX, if these weren't his words I apologize, because I couldn't find the actual post. In the post the person said that they considered the stats system to be more of an OOC system which you don't need to use to determine your IC actions. Hopefully if it was him/ whoever it was, they can chime in and validate the statement for me. I guess if you don't want to role play her as a mental mouse, then don't, just my 2 cents.

[Scourn]

Well with cha of 6 and wis of 14, she might know what kind of talk is human, elf, though not understand it, just knowing it by how sounds are. Like you can tell when someone?s speaking French compared to German. Though 6 cha, she would be incredibly shy, and not now how to act socially. So basically all together, is like she was kept in a box alone somewhere for most of her life, never meeting people besides parents, taught hardly anything besides wear armor, stab things, they die

[Infernal_Havok]

IMO and Experience an int of 6 would need help going to bathroom correctly. And most people would never want to be around someone who can't speak coherently, have no attention span, and can't take orders correctly. Not to mention they have a chr of 6 which is as equally detrimental to ANY SOCIAL INTERACTION.

The way I would look at her would be like a brain dead hobo who hasn't ever taken a shower in 5 years.

So can you see why would your character be involved with any group of players EVER?

If this was RL and you were to go into combat, would you choose someone who is semi or totally retarded with your life? I wouldn't no matter how strong they are, cause they are liable to get themselves and the whole squad killed.

Also keep in mind, DMs HATE MIN/MAX characters and will scrutinize every IC action your PC will make. So if you are prepared to be asked by a DM.

"Why is your character trying to lead the party through the dangerous dungeon? She has an int of 6 WTF?"

So unless you can play the low int, low chr persona really really well (soooo many have not) be cautious and very conscious of your character's RP.

[lordmaple]

Well with cha of 6 and wis of 14, she might know what kind of talk is human, elf, though not understand it, just knowing it by how sounds are. Like you can tell when someone?s speaking French compared to German. Though 6 cha, she would be incredibly shy, and not now how to act socially. So basically all together, is like she was kept in a box alone somewhere for most of her life, never meeting people besides parents, taught hardly anything besides wear armor, stab things, they die

Eh, careful careful.

I don't completely disagree with your general sentiment- at 6 Cha, she would definately be socially awkward.

However, (PULLING OUT THE PEN AND PAPER CARD, RUN MOTHERFETHS!) "Sense Motive" uses Wisdom as a primary skill. She would know the language they are speaking, and probably if they wanted to hurt her. She wouldn't be very good at responding, however.

This is not an official rule, but this is just my experience as a DM: Wisdom effects how you perceive the world around you, and Charisma effects how it perceives you.