Where on the Intelligence Spectrum do you like to play?

[LeapingLemur]

I'm very curious about this because I noticed a trend in my characters. Very few, if any, of my RP characters are particularly smart. I have two that are pretty average and one I haven't played much that is average, but absolutely NONE of them are geniuses or even very smart. 

 

Most of them are dumb as dirt or at least completely oblivious to things. I always liken the Leaping Lemur to Pinky from Pinky and the Brain who only heard "Blah blah blah, Pinky, big word, blah blah blah, really big word, blah blah." in his head when someone smart is talking. My zombie only says "grrr", "arrg" and "Brains!". And the Ferocious Foosa doesn't really understand much, unless you're talking about food. 

Maybe it's because I enjoy humorous aspects more than serious, but I honestly prefer to play the dumb characters. How about you?

[MetaVileTerror]

Ah, see . . . when I saw the title of your thread with the capitalized I in Intelligence, I assumed you were referring to Covert/Military Intelligence.  Stuff like the Rikti being humans from another dimension, or Lord Nemesis' birth name.  Many of my characters are aware of these terribly-kept secrets since I figure the internet in-game is probably just as informative as the internet is in real life.  Granted, that also means misinformation gets spread.

 

As for the intellect of my various characters . . . I think they tend to lean toward the smarter end of things, though I have a few exceptions.  Some are animals, and some even have alien intellects, so occasionally I roleplay as a character who just doesn't think on the same wavelengths as human beings.  It can be fun and challenging to get in to such heads.  The joys of roleplay!

[LeapingLemur]

Oh! Yes, sorry for the confusion. No, I didn't mean "intelligence" as in covert operations and gathering data. I meant how smart they are. 

[Coyotedancer]

Most of my gang are pretty average... Ashton, Karnaim, Semnai and Khalil are all reasonably astute individuals, but they're not exceptional intellectually. Shonokin is clever and just a little bit more devious than average, but that's as much a product of his background as anything.

 

The exceptions are my magi... Artemian is probably the most "average" of the trio, and even after being badly shaken by a run-in with Mot, he's still a very bright, very perceptive guy. Tavaris has fifteen thousand years of experience as a Death Mage behind his opinions and insights, as well as a fairly amazing memory for obscure details... and Kai? Kai is sharp. She's a fast learner, and has a bit of a flair for arcane invention and improvisation that frankly boggles most of the other Temple magi. They have *no idea* how she does some of the things she does. If you asked her, though? She'd say that she was average at best, and would mean that honestly. She just doesn't see herself as anything special, even when she's weaving together three different kinds of magic on the fly or designing and splintering off tiny, self-sustaining pocket dimensions.

 

All three of them are a heck of a lot smarter than I am. XD

 

Edited August 28, 2019 by Coyotedancer

[Ikmachek]

I tend to play pretty bright characters. Kymeria's probably my best example. An avid reader and socially bright. Kinda sad he wastes that potential being a supervillain. Heat Screech has a university Education. Hollenhund almost had one before he dropped out, still quick to learn and retain information.

 

Gallop however has to be my dimmest character. Dumb in that hasn't-grown-up Gen-Z kind of way.

[Truepenny]

The majority of my characters are above average intelligence. I have one that's a super-genius that's harder for me to play, largely because I'm not, and a couple who are on the average to below-average scale. Of course, I feel awful playing them, because reasons.

[mousestalker]

As a former Drow goddess Eilie is pretty bright but really spacy. Human Resources is lawful evil and smart. Saganaki knows a lot about cows. My others aren't dummies but they probably aren't rocket scientists either.

[Hyperstrike]

All over the place.

Most of my characters could be summed up as "Fairly intelligent, with a dash of Beavis & Butthead".
Mostly because I've found B&B absolutely hilarious ever since I first watched them.
#FrogBaseballEmotePlease!

Some of my toons are just flat out nutjobs (The Mighty Pi)
And some are intentionally jokey (Stabbitha, a magical princess type who accidentally got shipped off to a school for assassins, Polly Armory, What The Hell?, Dishabille)

[Zolgar]

Across the board on both intelligence and wisdom.

[Tony Amore]

I'm dumb as a bag of hammers IRL, and since I play my primary toon as a thinly veiled version of me, by default my toon has the brain capacity of a turnip.

[Astropuyo]

I tend to make Android type characters so it's more or less down to what they would be coded for.

One of my characters is coded for battle but has zero chill in the ability to function beyond a battle doll type of thing.

Another is a support role character who is coded poorly for battle.

It sort of alleviates the static paradigm of what intellect is.

Don't know how to bake a pizza? Patch it in and remove the program that lets you fire homing missiles for a few weeks.

[WumpusRat]

My characters will vary based on the concept I have for them.

 

My mages, for instance, are obviously going to be fairly smart. Same with anyone who uses tech they invented themselves. The elementals on the other hand aren't all that bright. Some are moderately wily, but most are pretty average to not-quite-all-there. Then there's my titan weapon brute, who used intelligence as her dump stat... :)

[Zodai]

My characters are usually all fairly intelligent/wise.  Being able to think through your goals and how to accomplish them is incredibly valuable for someone to move forward within the world of RP.  Even the one who's a late-teen, though he lacks what most would call a high-level education, is relatively good at grasping fundamental concepts quickly.

[MyriVerse]

Pretty much a bell curve. Most are average. Some are really dim-witted, have childlike naivete, etc. And a few are scholars and doctors. Even some of the scholars aren't brainiac highbrows.

[merrypessimist]

Slightly above average is about the lowest I play consistently.  Being very intelligent myself, I have great difficulty understanding or portraying people significantly below average believably.  As a result most of my alts are varying degrees of clever buggers, even if lacking in formalized education.

[Hyperstrike]

4 hours ago, merrypessimist said:

Slightly above average is about the lowest I play consistently.  Being very intelligent myself, I have great difficulty understanding or portraying people significantly below average believably.  As a result most of my alts are varying degrees of clever buggers, even if lacking in formalized education.

Watch some Beavis & Butthead.
Or Idiocracy (also by Mike Judge).

The man has basically laid out a full primer for abject idiocy, and it is both scary and funny as hell!

[merrypessimist]

7 hours ago, Hyperstrike said:

Watch some Beavis & Butthead.
Or Idiocracy (also by Mike Judge).

The man has basically laid out a full primer for abject idiocy, and it is both scary and funny as hell!

I have seen both, found them more terrifying than amusing. 😛  My first reaction to Idicoracy was "This isn't going to take that many years to come to pass."

[Hyperstrike]

16 hours ago, merrypessimist said:

I have seen both, found them more terrifying than amusing. 😛  My first reaction to Idicoracy was "This isn't going to take that many years to come to pass."

Some would argue that we're already there...credibly...

[Malclave]

3 hours ago, Hyperstrike said:

Some would argue that we're already there...credibly...

/e craves electrolytes

 

On topic, I'll play dumb characters sometimes in fantasy games, but in games like CoH I'll stay at average of better intelligence, usually slightly above average unless the character calls for something more.

 

That's not to say a given character won't be foolish, naive, or ignorant of various aspects (at least to start), just not dumb.

[Saeletra]

My main, Midnight Thorn, is an Evil Genius. Everybody else is pretty average, save for bits of esoteric knowledge to keep things interesting. And hey, it's really fun when you run into another character who knows the exact dispersal rate of glitter in a windstorm, or how William the Englishman and William of Sens are related.