Comments on: Playing Really Smart Characters

By: Traps: Challenge the Players and the Characters — Dungeon's Master

Traps: Challenge the Players and the Characters — Dungeon's Master — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 13:32:32 +0000

[...] what they can do from what their character can do. This situation can be troublesome when playing characters with exceptionally high ability scores or playing characters with exceptionally low ability [...]

By: Unusual Character Themes — Dungeon's Master

Unusual Character Themes — Dungeon's Master — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 13:33:21 +0000

[...] Playing Really Smart Characters [...]

By: A Beginner’s Guide to Dungeons & Dragons (Part 2) — Dungeon's Master

A Beginner’s Guide to Dungeons & Dragons (Part 2) — Dungeon's Master — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 14:05:53 +0000

[...] Playing Really Smart Characters [...]

By: Ameron

Ameron — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 21:11:29 +0000

@Helmsman
It’s not my morality that’s stopping me, it’s just that I’m lazy.

By: Helmsman

Helmsman — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 19:57:42 +0000

@Ameron The first season is available on DVD, or if your personal morality doesn’t object it’s easy as pie to pick up as a torrent.

By: Ameron

Ameron — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 19:28:08 +0000

@Helmsman
I’ve heard a lot of great things about Burn Notice. Unfortunately up here in Canada it’s not available on regular TV.

@Svafa
Thanks for visiting Dungeon’s Master. I’m not opposed to meta-gaming in general, but I don’t think it’s fair for a PC to take a high Strength and a low Intelligence (or vice-versa) and not feel any adverse in-game affects.

I really like your suggestion to have the players talk out of game and then let the in game role-playing progress. It’s so simple it just might work.

By: Svafa

Svafa — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 18:05:19 +0000

As a DM, I’m generally fairly lenient on meta-gaming. There’s a number of reasons, including our often slapstick play-style, but part of it is due to the problem of intelligence – on both ends.

Sometimes the smart player behind the dumb character has an idea, but he can’t use it because of his outlet. And sometimes the oblivious player behind the incredibly intelligent character misses details or possibilities. Meta-gaming in moderation can help with this, as one player can suggest things to another and they can then act this out with their own characters. And it helps build a bit of comradery, where the adventuring party is more a joint possession of the group, rather than any one character belonging to any one player.

The downside being that you have to be careful not to stray too far with meta-gaming. And occasionally having to remind the brash Warlock that it wasn’t his idea, but the experienced and charming Warlord’s.

By: Helmsman

Helmsman — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 15:49:32 +0000

There’s a relatively new TV show out now that I think should be required watching for all role-players called Burn Notice. It is entertaining but more than that the internal monologues of the main character are an instruction manual for doing sneaky stuff and solving problems.

By: Ameron

Ameron — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 13:21:10 +0000

@Helmsman
A fellow gamer I know who has made his own RPG system refuses to use a Wisdom attribute for many of the reasons you’ve cited.

You’ve offered some good tips which I will certainly keep in mind when I run into this problem again.

I agree that the role-playing should be the driving force behind problem resolution regardless of how high the PCs intelligence.

@Tom
D&D 3e and 4e have certainly made skill checks a good option for this situation. But I hate to have something like problem solving come down to a roll of the dice. A little role-playing goes a long way. But you’re right; in the end I’ll probably determine success or failure by a die roll.

@satyre
I often forget that many monsters have really high Intelligence or Wisdom scores. I’ve been so focused on how to help the PCs that I often forget to help the monsters. Satyre, I think you just made life-long enemies of my players for bringing this up. Thanks.

By: satyre

satyre — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 18:06:01 +0000

Skill or ability checks is one way, particularly if you’re under stress or feel the players will get in your face about it.

Another is planning to play to your strengths and to diminish weaknesses (low AC monsters using armour in combat (if they can), setting up traps or even getting hired help in (imagine a red dragon guarded by hellhounds for example) to deal with the little inconveniences that come their way. If you’re worried about how to do this, take a look at some smart monsters and see how they’d deal with the problem. Then adapt for your monster.