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ZorbaTHut  1yr ago (text post)   Edited 1yr ago   38284 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of September 12, 2022

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How does your 100IQ player or GM portray an INT 25 Psychic super genius?

Hah. That's easy. You cheat (within the rules of the game). The DM might not be able to predict the actions the players are going to take... But the genius villain would have, so the DM makes up some bullshit and throws in an extra trap or minions or defensive spell or escape route or whatever.

That can come across a little cheaply however. If the players come up with a clever tactic should the villain have precited it by virtue of being so much smarter? So now you have to gauge how smart is that 25 INT wizard compared to the players. Which then brings us back to the first issue with trying to emulate how a super genius would think in the first place.

I do feel like "being on another plane of existence" is the number one advantage for players or writers who are trying to design the actions of characters smarter than they are. Take advantage of what extra time you have that they don't; do research that they can't, and that can help you with their snap decisions-

-More considered actions, though, probably remain tricky.

Absolutely, if I am deciding the BBEG's lair I might have a few weeks to think about what counter-measures he would take to ward off wandering bands of murder-hobos. On the other hand in universe he might well have had years or centuries. Eventually you just have to shrug and say good enough. or take advantage of knowing what the players or planning to ward against it, but do that too often and it starts to discourage players from planning. if it always fails might as well just kick down the front door and murder your way in room by room.

You can also change reality (with agreement), which makes it easier to fake genius.

There's also the option to go, "yes, I obviously noticed the conclusion of this intricate riddle/web of deceit, but couldn't be bothered to care because I assumed everyone else did as well, and was busy focused on 'insert esoteric topic/grand unifying theory here'.

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