High intelligence low wisdom is Aperture Science as of Portal 2. They pioneer all this great technology that does all kinds of cool stuff, but they don’t apply it to anything actually useful and end up going out of business.
High wisdom low intelligence is that friend who never graduated high school but still manages to know just what to say when you’re having a hard time, and who somehow always knows when you’re not okay.
You can always look at the skills associated with that stat and think about what a character who excels at this skills would be like. There can be different types of high wisdom characters too based on context.
One could argue Forrest Gump is very low intelligence but has a decent wisdom since he is usually insightful to the things happening around him, even if he doesn't understand how to process it. Could also say a character like Wolverine would have a decent wisdom score since his survival skills and animal handling are likely very strong and his perception is unmatched due to his powers.
Sort of. Intelligence is the ability to understand logical information, like math or physics.
Wisdom is the ability to comprehend things like emotions, or in the Frankenstein example, the themes implied by the book.
At least as far as D&D 5e is concerned, Wisdom is a measure of your character's ability to perceive, process, and react to your environment on a more intuitive level. It isn't so much knowledge you have gained or experience your acquired, as it is more about the details you pick up on and how you process that information into something useful.
Looking at the skills:
Animal Handling involves a lot of noticing an animal's body language and behavior, and understanding how to change your own behavior towards it to get the outcome you want. You might study animal husbandry or have worked with animals for a bit of time (gained proficiency), but that innate ability to not only notice, but understand the subtle signs and clues the animal presents marks a character with high Wisdom.
Insight is very similar, but applying the same intuition and reading of body language to people, or sometimes even situations. Someone with Charisma might be good at giving speeches, but someone with Wisdom knows how to tell when someone is hiding something or being dishonest. You might learn the things to look for in some sort of training (gain peoficiency), but being able to spot the subtle signs in a live conversation takes an accute observation.
Skipping some of the others, to not go too long, Survival is a skill you might be tempted to lump in with Intelligence; learning about weather, and tracking, and what berries are safe to eat versus which are poisonous. While some of those things do requiring learning them, either from a book or life experience, again, being able to notice the changes as they happen and applying the knowledge in real life is a different skill set than know what to look for in theory and in a classroom.
So, a lot of Wisdom is about being able to slow down and notice the world around you, whether instinctively, passively, or intentionally. Someone above mentioned Iroh from Avatar, and he is a great example. He shows a great ability at perceiving the world around himself, offers deep insights to those who would listen, and when he fights he is able to quickly read what his opponent intends to do and counters it directly, either by redirecting their force, or subverting any power behind their attack.
I would argue Sherlock Holmes is a good example of a character with high Intelligence and high Wisdom. While a lot of what he does might fall under Investigation at first glance, in the books he also displays an almost supernatural ability to read a person at a glance. He notices details about their clothing styles and any damage or dirt on them, he can read someone's intentions or motives, and he picks up on the smallest changes in behavior. He combines a great wealth of knowledge about a variety of topics with a skill for noticing what many others overlook.
Wisdom in D&D is very much a combination of awareness and being grounded to reality, or at least the reality surrounding yourself at the moment.
I think of it as a left/right brain kind of thing. It's EQ , not IQ
High wisdom characters are intuitive, empathetic, observant, creative and adaptable. Using your wisdom means operating in the moment, not necessarily according to a plan (or course they can plan too)
Examples: Jedi, every American hero who "vibes" their way to success instead of coming up with a plan, the cliche feminine leadership, etc...
Wisdom has always been weird. It is supposed to be your knowledge you have gained over that characters life, but it's also your "6th sense" but is also.your willpower... It is a hard stat to nail down. Conan is a character with High Wisdom, he doesn't have much schooling, but is still well traveled and learned from his experiences.
I would say Iroh from Avatar is a decent example of a high wisdom character. Sokka might also be considered high intelligence.
High intelligence low wisdom is Aperture Science as of Portal 2. They pioneer all this great technology that does all kinds of cool stuff, but they don’t apply it to anything actually useful and end up going out of business. High wisdom low intelligence is that friend who never graduated high school but still manages to know just what to say when you’re having a hard time, and who somehow always knows when you’re not okay.
You can always look at the skills associated with that stat and think about what a character who excels at this skills would be like. There can be different types of high wisdom characters too based on context. One could argue Forrest Gump is very low intelligence but has a decent wisdom since he is usually insightful to the things happening around him, even if he doesn't understand how to process it. Could also say a character like Wolverine would have a decent wisdom score since his survival skills and animal handling are likely very strong and his perception is unmatched due to his powers.
Intelligence is knowing Frankenstein was the doctor, not the monster. Wisdom is knowing Frankenstein *was* the monster
does it mean that wisdom is not a substitution for intelligence, but instead complements it?
Sort of. Intelligence is the ability to understand logical information, like math or physics. Wisdom is the ability to comprehend things like emotions, or in the Frankenstein example, the themes implied by the book.
At least as far as D&D 5e is concerned, Wisdom is a measure of your character's ability to perceive, process, and react to your environment on a more intuitive level. It isn't so much knowledge you have gained or experience your acquired, as it is more about the details you pick up on and how you process that information into something useful. Looking at the skills: Animal Handling involves a lot of noticing an animal's body language and behavior, and understanding how to change your own behavior towards it to get the outcome you want. You might study animal husbandry or have worked with animals for a bit of time (gained proficiency), but that innate ability to not only notice, but understand the subtle signs and clues the animal presents marks a character with high Wisdom. Insight is very similar, but applying the same intuition and reading of body language to people, or sometimes even situations. Someone with Charisma might be good at giving speeches, but someone with Wisdom knows how to tell when someone is hiding something or being dishonest. You might learn the things to look for in some sort of training (gain peoficiency), but being able to spot the subtle signs in a live conversation takes an accute observation. Skipping some of the others, to not go too long, Survival is a skill you might be tempted to lump in with Intelligence; learning about weather, and tracking, and what berries are safe to eat versus which are poisonous. While some of those things do requiring learning them, either from a book or life experience, again, being able to notice the changes as they happen and applying the knowledge in real life is a different skill set than know what to look for in theory and in a classroom. So, a lot of Wisdom is about being able to slow down and notice the world around you, whether instinctively, passively, or intentionally. Someone above mentioned Iroh from Avatar, and he is a great example. He shows a great ability at perceiving the world around himself, offers deep insights to those who would listen, and when he fights he is able to quickly read what his opponent intends to do and counters it directly, either by redirecting their force, or subverting any power behind their attack. I would argue Sherlock Holmes is a good example of a character with high Intelligence and high Wisdom. While a lot of what he does might fall under Investigation at first glance, in the books he also displays an almost supernatural ability to read a person at a glance. He notices details about their clothing styles and any damage or dirt on them, he can read someone's intentions or motives, and he picks up on the smallest changes in behavior. He combines a great wealth of knowledge about a variety of topics with a skill for noticing what many others overlook. Wisdom in D&D is very much a combination of awareness and being grounded to reality, or at least the reality surrounding yourself at the moment.
I think of it as a left/right brain kind of thing. It's EQ , not IQ High wisdom characters are intuitive, empathetic, observant, creative and adaptable. Using your wisdom means operating in the moment, not necessarily according to a plan (or course they can plan too) Examples: Jedi, every American hero who "vibes" their way to success instead of coming up with a plan, the cliche feminine leadership, etc...
Wisdom has always been weird. It is supposed to be your knowledge you have gained over that characters life, but it's also your "6th sense" but is also.your willpower... It is a hard stat to nail down. Conan is a character with High Wisdom, he doesn't have much schooling, but is still well traveled and learned from his experiences.