- Hey friends, Ginny Di here.
Every D&D player is intimately familiar
with the six numbers that make up our ability scores:
strength, dexterity, constitution,
intelligence, wisdom, and charisma.
You use these numbers for nearly every dice roll you make.
But while ability scores are obviously relevant
to combat and skill checks,
they're also the basis of who your character is.
The three physical scores,
strength, dexterity and constitution,
describe your character's body;
while the three mental scores,
intelligence, wisdom and charisma
describe your character's mind.
Those mental stats can and should
inform your character's personality.
This means that ability scores
aren't just central to the mechanics of your gameplay,
they're also central to your role play.
Today we explore how you can bring your character's
intelligence, wisdom, and charisma scores
into your role play at the game table,
if you want to, obviously.
I'm not your boss.
Here to help out is my good friend, Books.
- Hi there! - That's right,
I have lots of friends.
and none of them are just me wearing a different shirt.
Books, I know this is pretty basic,
but it feels like a good place to start.
Why don't you tell us a little
about what ability scores mean?
- Certainly! "An Ability Score
is not just a measure of innate capabilities,
but also encompasses a creature's training
and competence in activities related to that ability."
So basically, it's a combination
of your natural talents and your training.
And of course we need to understand the scale.
The Player's Handbook says:
"A score of 10 or 11 is the normal human average,
but adventurers and many monsters
are a cut above average in most abilities.
A score of 18 is the highest that a person usually reaches.
Adventurers can have scores as high as 20."
So for example, my intelligence might be a 17 or 18,
and yours Ginny might be, well,
it might even be in the double digits.
- Hope springs eternal, I guess.
Now that we're clear on what ability scores are,
let's dive into the first one: intelligence.
This is the ability score
that I think there's the least confusion about.
We all pretty much know what it means to be intelligent.
"Intelligence measures mental acuity,
accuracy of recall and the ability to reason.
An intelligence check comes into play
when you need to draw on logic, education,
memory, or deductive reasoning."
It's the kind of skill you really hone
when you read a lot of books, for example.
- People often ask,
how can I role play a character
who's supposed to be smarter than me?
The handbook tells us that adventurers are special
and often have more impressive abilities
than the average person,
but D&D players are average people.
Most of us don't have the equivalent
of an 18 intelligence, present company excluded.
- Thank you.
- And even if some D&D players are actual geniuses,
you shouldn't have to be one to play one in a game.
Thankfully, you have friends in high places
and by that, I mean your DM.
It's a lot easier to look smart
when you can get information
straight from someone who's omnipotent.
Which intelligence based skills are you proficient at?
If the numbers say that your character is a pro at history,
don't be afraid to ask your DM for the information
that will allow you to demonstrate that.
You can ask, would I know any relevant history about this?
Or, have I heard of this place before?
They might call for a history check
or they might just share information
that it would make sense for your character to know.
Once you have the knowledge,
you can use that in your role play,
restating or expanding on it in character
to make it part of your interactions with fellow players.
Just make sure that you're doing this
in collaboration with your DM,
so don't go reading the campaign book
for whatever you're playing
and then defend it by saying,
but my character is really smart!
He'd know all this.
This same concept can apply to problem solving too.
If the party is stuck on
some sort of puzzle or logical conundrum,
you can always ask your DM
if you can roll an intelligence check
to give you a hint or help you put the pieces together.
Then, armed with the right direction,
you can role play your character's stroke of genius.
Also, the book lists accuracy of recall
as a facet of intelligence.
Well, I have good news for you.
Nobody has a better memory than a sheet of paper.
Basically, if you take good notes
it'll be easy to play a character with a good memory.
I have a video all about how
to effectively take player notes
in case that's not one of your real life proficiencies yet.
And remember, we're all here playing a game of make believe.
The DM tells you there's a dragon
and you don't demand that
she produce one in real life,
you use your imagination.
You don't have to be able to do a smart thing
in order to describe your character doing a smart thing.
You can absolutely say,
"My character delivers a lecture
on how conjuration magic and devocation magic differ."
Or, "I recite a classic poem in fluent Celestial."
In fact, speaking the first sentence
or two of a complex conversation,
and then summarizing the rest
is a common shorthand for the kinds of dialogue
that can flavor a game,
but aren't essential to actually experience.
- Exactly. In fact, when I was in university,
training to become a literary master,
my professor always said
that when it comes to rhetoric,
any scholar worth her salt,
and then I go on to detail a complex lesson
on compositional techniques.
- I know it might be tempting to use tropes
and stereotypes as shorthand for intelligence.
But while I think it's okay
to use cliches as a starting point,
you also want your character to be unique
and there's no one way to be smart.
After all, Spock and Hannibal Lecter
are both canonically very intelligent,
but they have very different personalities and diets.
- Aren't you gonna tell them
about low intelligence? Your specialty!
- You know, if you think about it,
it's kind of depressing that I write these lines for you.
But yes, we also need to talk about low intelligence scores.
Theoretically, this should be easier
to role play than the alternative.
But in my experience,
the hardest part about role-playing low intelligence
is doing it in a way that isn't extremely annoying
to your fellow players.
A cartoonishly stupid character
can get old fast if you're not careful.
We've learned that intelligence in D&D
is basically just logic, memory and education.
So it stands to reason
that the lower a character's intelligence score,
the more illogical, forgetful
and uneducated they should be.
When role-playing a character with low intelligence,
you might lean into impulsivity.
Maybe they make illogical leaps between thoughts
or act without thinking.
To indicate poor memory,
they could get people's names wrong
or ask familiar NPCs if they've met before.
You could portray them as uneducated
by having them misunderstand or misinterpret
scholarly or technical language.
Or take specific intelligence-based skills,
like arcana or religion,
and go out of your way to make your character
particularly ill-informed about them.
But just like stereotypes about smart people
can reduce your character to a cliche,
clumsy role play can turn a low intelligence PC
into a caricature.
You can be low intelligence
and still be highly capable
and come across well to others.
So resist the urge to play any character
with an intelligence under 10 like they're Derek Zoolander.
- Next up, wisdom.
- Yeah, but first we gotta gotta do a sponsorship
so I can buy toilet paper.
- Are there any soldiers patrolling the streets?
Yes, two. - I ask their names.
- That would be Snow Atop Mountain,
a white and gray Tabaxi
with a friendly smile on his face,
and Andrina Naidon, a high elf with jet black armor
and the posture of someone who grew up amongst nobility.
- [Internal Thoughts] Thank goodness I have
"Davian's Treatise of Peoples" from Penny Dragon Games.
With 124 NPC archetypes at my fingertips
I look like a genius right now.
- Okay, fine. I look for a bakery.
Do I see one?
- Ah, Pekar's Place.
You see a human man through the window,
flour dusted, looking a bit frazzled.
- [Internal Thoughts] Come on, talk to him.
I backed the Kickstarter in the first 48 hours,
so I got this amazing free adventure
about enchanted sourdough.
- I stopped the first person I see with a horse,
who are they?
- You see a firbolg wearing a homespun green tunic
and a hand carved wooden pendant of a stag.
"Pardon me, miss, I am Ronarias Heatherfield."
- [Internal Thoughts] You're not gonna trip me up.
I've even got the "Monsters of the Metropolis" bonus pack
that all the backers got with even more NPCs.
I can do this all day.
- Okay, fine.
I go into the abandoned shop that was marked on the map.
Okay, well, it's a room
with walls
and um,
a ceiling, of course.
- [Internal Thoughts] Man,
I hope Penny Dragon Game's next Kickstarter
is a book of locations.
- [Voice Over] Pledge on Kickstarter
for "Davian's Treatise of Peoples"
at the link in the description
and never be caught off guard again,
unless they ask about the room.
- "Wisdom reflects how attuned you are
to the world around you
and represents perceptiveness and intuition.
A wisdom check might reflect an effort
to read body language, understand someone's feelings,
notice things about the environment
or care for an injured person."
- Not to insult your precious book,
but that's about as clear as mud.
I made a short a while back
about wisdom being a misunderstood stat,
thinking I was clearing things up
and instead I just started a bunch of fights.
This is, without question,
the most poorly understood ability score
out of the whole set,
and I think it's mostly just because
some of the skills they've grouped under this heading
don't really make sense together.
- It's okay, you can just say medicine.
- It doesn't make any sense!
I'm pretty sure they only stuck medicine under wisdom
because it made for an even number.
People go, "Oh, D&D is a Middle Ages analog.
Medicine was way more about intuition than science."
But just because people believed that
doesn't mean that that's how it worked.
Being observant can be useful in medicine
but it isn't the most important part.
And people say, "Well, healing is magic in this world."
But not with the medicine skill!
You don't need to be a spell caster
in order to use the medicine skill!
- It's okay, let it out.
This is a safe space.
- It's fine, I'm fine.
And it isn't just medicine either.
Plenty of people are excellent
at reading body language, for example,
but can't interpret animal tracks in the woods
because those are completely different kinds of observation.
So while the intelligence and charisma based skills
mostly feel like they compliment each other,
the wisdom based skills are a bit more scattered,
which makes it difficult to describe wisdom
as a single personality trait.
The best I can boil it down,
it's mainly about paying attention and doing vibe checks.
A character with high wisdom trusts their gut
and their gut is usually right.
So, how do you role play that?
Thankfully, paying attention is a real life skill
that we can practice on behalf of our characters.
When your DM describes something,
listen and ask clarifying questions.
She said, there's a thick coat of dust on the floor.
Is it undisturbed?
Are there any tracks in it?
The DM says, the NPC has a dog.
Does the dog look happy or nervous?
Healthy or underfed?
Do the dog and the NPC seem to like each other?
Higher wisdom means higher perception,
which means you tend to notice things.
That's something that you as a player
also have the power to do.
And that applies to people, too.
A wise character is a good reader of people.
So when you interact with NPCs,
take advantage of that.
Even if you, the player,
aren't catching any hints that an NPC is lying
or buttering you up or stalling for time,
your character might be able to.
Plus, not every DM is a convincing actor
or is even trying to be.
So even if the NPC is meant to seem
sad or frustrated or eager,
you might not be able to reliably read that
in your DM's performance,
even if your character would be able
to identify those emotions.
Don't be afraid to ask your DM
if you notice anything out of the ordinary,
or to ask questions like, "Do I believe him?"
Or, "How does her mood seem?"
They might have you roll insight
or just tell you something
that your character would've picked up on.
Honestly, I know many people have a tendency
to treat an insight check like a lie detector test,
but it can be so much more than that.
There's even a specific note in the handbook,
read it off, Books.
- "The DM might call for a wisdom check
when you try to accomplish tasks like the following:
get a gut feeling about what course of action to follow."
- Being observant and having good intuition
can apply to practically any situation.
Ask, does one of the two paths feel safer?
Ask, does anything seem off about this room?
If your DM is willing to play ball,
you can invoke the skill anytime
to create a scenario where your character
gets to trust their instincts.
If high wisdom is about good judgment and keen perception,
then low wisdom means you might be
a little too trusting or oblivious.
You're the type of character who walks into a room
and doesn't notice the blood stain on the floor,
because you're distracted by the cool chandelier.
Or maybe you trust the NPC when she swears up and down
that she has no idea how her wealthy noble husband
ended up dead of poisoning.
A low wisdom score doesn't make you stupid,
but it could definitely make you naive.
A character like that might take things at face value,
miss social cues, or default to trusting what they're told,
even when you, the player,
know that they should probably be questioning it.
- Which brings us to the last one: charisma.
"Charisma measures your ability
to interact effectively with others.
It includes such factors as confidence and eloquence
and it can represent a charming or commanding personality."
- Charisma can be a bit of a wild card,
because while it's easy to read charisma simply as charm,
deception and intimidation are also charisma-based skills.
It's more accurate to call it "force of personality,"
and that force can be positive or negative.
Remember, a Beholder has 17 charisma
and somehow I doubt that you'd find one very charming
if you came face-to-face with it, or, face-to-eye.
That means that role-playing high charisma
isn't one size fits all.
If you're aiming to create
a character who exudes charm,
the key is in positive social interactions.
Compliment NPCs and other party members,
find humor in the jokes they tell
and agree with the things they say.
Make sure to ask them questions about themselves.
If they believe you're genuinely
interested in what they have to say,
then they're more likely to reciprocate that interest
and warm up to your character.
On the flip side,
if you wanna role play a character
who is intimidating or commanding,
you'll probably want an entirely different demeanor.
Instead of agreeing readily,
you might challenge the opinions of others
with rhetorical questions.
Put them on the defensive with questions like,
"Do you really think that's the best course of action?"
Or, "What gave you that idea?"
You might avoid smiling or laughing,
as those things make someone seem approachable.
I've even read that simply maintaining eye contact
and staying silent when others stop speaking
is one of the most intimidating things you can do.
Don't look at me like that, I'm not done.
A high charisma can look like a million different things
as long as they have the same result.
Basically, social control.
You can make people feel
the way you want them to feel.
When you're persuasive, they see your side.
When you're intimidating, they fear you.
When you're performing, they're entertained.
When you're deceptive, they trust you.
And that, once again, means collaborating with your DM.
Ultimately, charisma is as much about
how you're being perceived as it is about how you act.
If a high charisma character winks at a stranger,
that stranger might blush and smile.
If a low charisma character does the same thing,
the result will probably be different.
The key is to connect with your DM
about what kind of charisma your character has
so they can make sure that the world reacts in kind.
That said, just because your DM
can facilitate high charisma with NPC responses,
doesn't mean that sitting back
and expecting everyone to like you, is good role playing.
Make sure you're giving your DM
something to work with here.
If you're trying to intimidate
a noble into lending you money,
don't just say, I intimidate them.
Give them a reason.
Are you threatening them with violence?
"You could lend us the money and get it back later,
or you could spend that same money on healers
after I cut you open for refusing us
and something tells me that you won't get that money back."
Or maybe you intimidate them with blackmail.
"It would be a shame if you didn't lend us the money
and I had to tell your Lord
about the private conversations you've been having
with his enemies to the east."
Even if you, as a player, don't sound very intimidating,
coming up with something makes it easier
for everyone at the table to imagine that you do.
Just be creative and try to bridge that gap a little.
- And what about low charisma?
- Ah, yes, your specialty.
- Hey! - Calm down.
This isn't necessarily about being unlikeable,
it's more about lacking social finesse.
You might have low confidence, be a bad liar
or just have a tendency to put your foot in your mouth.
To most of us, role-playing low charisma
comes a lot more easily than role-playing high charisma.
I don't know about you guys,
but being awkward, self-conscious or accidentally rude
is not something I usually have to work at.
But much more than with intelligence or wisdom,
you need your DM's buy-in
to effectively role play charisma,
because your DM is fully
in control of how NPCs react to you.
As long as you and your DM are on the same page,
your interactions can be as smooth
or as rocky as your charisma score enables.
One last thing about charisma that has to be said:
There's a pretty pervasive idea
that high charisma means someone is physically attractive
and low charisma means that they're ugly.
This isn't entirely unfounded,
because in First Edition D&D,
there was an ability score called "comeliness,"
which was adjusted by the character's charisma score.
But this score was dropped,
for what I think should be pretty obvious reasons,
and hasn't been a game mechanic for several editions.
It is absolutely possible to be extremely charismatic
while not being physically attractive,
and just as possible to be very physically attractive,
but have a repulsive personality.
I would encourage you to separate your concept
of a character's looks from their charisma.
You can, of course, be both attractive and high charisma,
but those things are not equivalent.
- Well, that's it for the mental scores.
Anything else before we wrap up for the day
and you put me back in the basement
with the rest of the clones?
- Yeah, actually, I think it's worth mentioning
that these ability scores are simplified versions
of real human traits, used to gamify personality.
In the real world, people are multidimensional.
There's no one way to be intelligent or wise or charismatic.
So if you want your character to feel realistic,
I would encourage you to use
these guidelines as a starting point,
but get creative about how these traits
come to life in your unique character.
Being smart or intuitive or charming
isn't itself a personality,
although it can inform one.
If you wanna dig deeper than ability scores
and truly develop a complex personality for your character,
then make sure to check out this video next.
It'll give you some ideas
on how to create characters
who feel like different people,
even if they have similar character builds
or ability scores.