Intelligence and Wisdom - which would you rather have more of?

[sean miguel]

The two may seem to go hand in hand or be subsets of each other, but I always thought of intelligence as innate as opposed to wisdom which is something you gain (or would hope to) over time. Intelligence would be figuring out how to do something and wisdom would be whether you should. I think of the nazi scientists who were probably brilliant but made a grave error in judgment and yes, morality in the cause they chose to serve. On the other end I think of someone like ... Yoda who seems really wise but can't form proper sentence structure.

Those probably aren't the best examples but I'm not the smartest person. But if I had to choose I'd rather be wiser than smarter.

(And the title should be Intelligence *or* Wisdom, not "and") see what I mean?

Simplified for us rubes:

Intelligence = smarts
Wisdom = common sense

 

[Jagger69]

Intelligence. Wisdom can only be acquired through life experience....it's simply the art of making the correct choices. If you are ignorant, your chances of ever gaining wisdom are diminished accordingly. If you are intelligent, they are likewise enhanced.

 

[Vanilla Bear]

Money.

 

[sean miguel]

Money.

Win thread, you have.

 

[RASQ]

what about knowledge?

 

[lurkingdirk]

Intelligence plus morality.

Wisdom follows.

 

[HappyHapyJoyJoy]

Depends... Cleric or Mage?

 

[sean miguel]

Depends... Cleric or Mage?

:1orglaugh I remember asking the same question when I was 12 creating my first D&D character. "Intelligence is good for spells, Wisdom is good for saving throws and healing and stuff." "Oh, ok."

 

[sean miguel]

Though you can be both, I think you can be either.

A brilliant fool or a wise simpleton?

 

[bobjustbob]

I'll pick common sense over book smarts. I know too many people with vast knowledge that can't get through everyday life. I don't want to give examples since you all know who they are.

I'd rather be lucky than good.

 

[Philbert]

I'll pick common sense over book smarts. I know too many people with vast knowledge that can't get through everyday life. I don't want to give examples since you all know who they are.

I'd rather be lucky than good.

Simply brilliant...
Okay, maybe just pretty good...nail hit right on head.

 

[Rane1071]

Intelligence.

I'll leave the wisdom to the Commander Potatoes out there..


Besides, being smart as an Einstein means I'll get all the babes. Right?

 

[FreeOnes_Adam]

Its fair to say that my character could use a little more int.

 

[MarinaMarley]

Money.

Haha

I would rather have wisdom and life experience, unless that choice would mean below average intelligence. Then I don't know

 

[Philbert]

Haha

I would rather have wisdom and life experience, unless that choice would mean below average intelligence. Then I don't know

Then, I'm sure, you would have the wisdom to know you were dumb as dirt, and be happy!:cow:

But I don't think that's a choice...the choices are just what kinda smart you'd prefer to be.

 

[larss]

The most intelligent person I know has no common sense whatsoever. His IQ has been measured at around 165 and yet has spent most of his life as a alcoholic drug addict.

 

[Philbert]

View attachment 353216

Its fair to say that my character could use a little more int.

But then he'd be smart enough to know better than to get sliced and diced for someone else's problems...which usually entail getting more loot and power.

Just sayin"...

 

[sean miguel]

View attachment 353216

Its fair to say that my character could use a little more int.

Damn, it's been ages. I remember when we played we were allowed to subtract points from one attribute to add to another on some kind of sliding scale. I'd always be the fighter type so would sacrifice intelligence, to the point where I was forced to ditch any eloquent name I had in mind and pick something like Rognar and could only communicate in grunts or one syllable words. But hey, the 18 Strength and that two-handed sword were worth it. :banger:

 

[Rey C.]

I'll pick common sense over book smarts. I know too many people with vast knowledge that can't get through everyday life. I don't want to give examples since you all know who they are.

I'd rather be lucky than good.

Same here. What's the old saying? "I don't know why they call it 'common sense' when it really ain't all that common."

If I had to choose, I think I'd go with wisdom. First, it's very, VERY hard to identify (true) wisdom. Depending on what you mean, you can identify intelligence through a standardized test or something like that. And if you have wisdom/street smarts, you can always hire smart people to work for you - your common sense/wisdom will tell you when and how to do that. But someone with just book smarts may not know when or how to hire wise people to guide them... assuming they can even be identified.

When I went off to school, a friend of my dad's warned me not to come back as an educated idiot. Neither he nor my dad even graduated from high school. But both died very successful men. I admire the path that my dad followed and still try (struggle) to emulate him.

 

[HappyHapyJoyJoy]

View attachment 353216

Its fair to say that my character could use a little more int.

You don't need to worry about int. You work at FreeOnes, that makes it a dump stat for you by default.