I've been wondering this for a while, but how does /tg feel about characters with high or low mental stats...

I've been wondering this for a while, but how does /tg feel about characters with high or low mental stats, but dont roleplay like it?
Say, a wizard with extremely high int, who somehow never seem to think things through, or the barbarian who is supposedly dumb as a rock, but seems to have information about everything for no reason?
How about the bard who has sky high cha and has poured all points into diplomacy, but never really interacts with or talks with npc's, and only say ''I roll diplomacy'' without really putting forward any arguments

Share your stories and tell me your opinions /tg

Mental stats were a mistake.

I have always viewed stats as a reflection of how much time the person has been developing that particular attribute.

Theoretically a fighter has greater strength stats because they spend more time doing physical conditioning. A wizard has a higher intelligence because they have been required to read books their entire life.

It makes me sad when I see some classes that should have a mix of high intelligence and things like strength or agility, such as a ninja but only end up having the primary attribute. In real life at least from a movie perspective we expect ninjas and Samurai to have a highly trained mind but this never translates to the games.

I wouldn't mind if we saw and games a fix for this along the lines of a set of Trials. Each class would take for extra points in a base stat based on their physical acumen or back story in training such as a wizard spending time in school. Any player could have them put additional points in any stat based on trials they passed.

So in a Solo campaign a fighter who has four extra points in his strength stat may be able to earn extra points and strength by defeating ever stronger enemies of a type that his strength would benefit him fighting. Or that same fighter could attempt to overcome a set of Mind trials and gain some points in intelligence.

It could then be argued on the character sheet that the stat is deserved because the character has demonstrated an ability to that degree of accomplishment.

From a gameplay perspective a player is going to be more aware of that stat because they had to endure a solo campaign to earn a point. This would make each stat more memorable and the player taking the time to gain it might have more of reflection in your regular campaigns.

I haven't really thought this through Opie just made me think of it . thoughts?

4 extra points. Forgot to check what my phone had written.

In a solo campaign i would personally have no problem with this, as it is just one player with the gm and an entrire world to mess around with and figure out what works, and learn from that.Hell, 1on1 campaign players tend to be the most into roleplaying i know as well, so they tend to pull it off.
But as far as i know, most groups tend to have several players, some who are not into roleplaying as much as others. It kills me on the inside when i see someone who dump points into something just because its class related.

One of the examples i used above is from a game im playing in currently. One of the players there are a bard with incredible cha, but she close to never talks. Not with the npcs, not with us, save for when she must.

We at the table try to include her and nudge her on, trying to give her some obstacles to clear on her own and not to just follow us blindly, but she always resorts to ''Oh. I roll X'' or ''I use X spell'' when we hint at her for the nth time that she is one of the few of us that can heal.

Sorry. Semi-rant.

I mean, just because a player writes down a trait or a statistic on a piece of paper doesn't mean they actually share this ability in real life. I understand attempting to play your role to the best of your ability but writing up a bard doesn't mean you're suddenly a pulchritudinous master of speechcraft.

That is a fair point, thanks

Next time she says "I roll diplomacy" just look at her and tell her no. Ask her directly, "What do you say in character? You have to tell me before you roll."
Make roleplaying mandatory before someone rolls dice. If she won't even attempt to roleplay it out, tell her she doesn't get a chance to roll anything.

I play a barbarian with an intelligence of 10, if I solve a puzzle or whatever and someone tries to say "Hurr but you're just 10 Int!" I remind them that 10 is average, and in real life, I solved the puzzle while being of fairly average intelligence.

Thats my take on it, but the gm pitties her somewhat and goes easy mode on her.

Agreed, 10 is average, but what about a 5 int barbarian who has never seen a battlefield being a full fledged tactical commander ordering everyone around ?

Are there people who actually dump their int down to 5? Their character would be literally be mentally handicapped by human standards.
If I was the GM in that case, in every social situation, the player could roleplay out an intelligent sounding speech, but the NPCs will all hear mispronounced words, incomplete sentences, grunts, and poorly formed thoughts, and treat the PC as such. Any character they try to talk to will treat them like an idiot child, because they purposefully dumped Int and made an idiot child barbarian.

In that example, it would be
>"I call out orders to the other soldiers, telling them to get into X position and do Y"
>"You bellow a roaring, mispronounced order and begin loudly babbling. Pieces of military jargon are slipped into your gibberish as you yell. No soldiers around seem to be following your orders."

If the player isn't as smart as their character, everyone else should help him out a bit. The DM should remind him of things his character should know and the other players should offer ideas he can propose incharacter. Otherwise, the player should play another character or no one should care.

I played with another player who had 3 INT and 18 STR in one campaign. The DM ruled that he could barely function. When we had jump over a ravine, we had to carry him over because the DM ruled he didn't know how to jump. However, the DM did rule that he at least know how to fight (somehow), so he was at least useful for that.

I know that as a player, i tend to do alot of talking. For the current campaign i rolled up int, but asked the gm if it was ok if i deliberately took the lower roll, which was an 8. I did this so my character would be a bit dumber and not all up front, to let others play more.

This is perhaps the most beautiful thing ive read and something i will take with me, cause this good a way to show that the numbers do matter.

What was the pc's reaction?

Good. If I was DM I would make dumping ANY stat hell for the player. If any of your stats are something shit like 5, it's debilitating. Strength of 5, you have a muscular disease. Dex of 5, you have a nervous system malady that slows your reactions. Con of 5 basically means you have fantasy AIDS. Int of 5 is retarded. Wisdom of 5 is insane. Charisma of 5 cannot function socially and can barely relate to another person.

The 3 INT player was having a blast actually. It was his first or second time playing D&D, he didn't know the rules, and he thought that everything that was happening was hilarious. Me and all my friends were pretty much like that our first couple campaigns.

Oh he didn't dump it. We all rolled 3d6 down the line.

Good, having fun is what tabletop is about! I guess ive just seen one too many ''That guy'' threads about people angry about consequences.

Back when I played almost 15 years ago (I know, sad that this is the closest I can get to my old passion anymore), our GM required each of us to do a solo mini-campaign before we could bring the character into a real campaign.

This gave him the chance to coach on things like RP and different ways our character could accomplish things based on our stats/skills. We could then massage the character a little before our main game and dump "wasted" points.

I really miss having that kind of time, but no one really gets into tabletop that much IRL anymore near me.

Thats really nice. I've always had a single session with people by themselves before they play together, to not just drop people randomly into a setting with the awkward ''You all sit in a bar''.

But that is an ingenious way to teach new people the basics

A low or high mental stat can be interpreted as many different things. Let the player decide for himself what the stats tell him. Don't go "no you can't do that because you're stupid lol"