Are beholders actually that smart in universe?

There int is only 17, that’s literally equivalent to the stat for a level 1 wizard.

>>96167217 (OP)
>"Hey guys, a thing in D&D is retarded!"
Yes, we know. Have you tried not playing D&D?

>The average beholder is only as intelligent as the most intelligent possible character that you can make at character creation, that's not that smart!

>>96167846
In D&D, it's pretty common for monsters to have stats way way above the maximums for player characters, because the game is designed like absolute dogshit and the creators can't do balance in a fun or organic way that doesn't involve number inflation.

Pretty sure there are races of Dragons in D&D that have like 34+ Charisma, even though 20 is supposed to make you the most persuasive, attractive, interesting, and inspiring thing to exist ever. D&D being shit is nothing new though, anyone still playing this game after 2016 deserves to have to deal with all its bullshit.

also, remember, in classic DnD lore, the beholders, the eye tyrants are actually the retarded, mutant, degenerated offspring of the true beholders.
from back in the wars of the creator races era.

the race that proceeded elves, the race that proceeded all lizard-peoples, the dragons, the multiversal empire of the illithid, the multiversal empire of the true eye tyrants. all warring with each other until they damn near wiped out the planets they fought over on the prime materiel.

them wiping each other mostly out and their descendants becoming far weaker, more primitive retarded versions, is what allowed humans etc.

>>96167217 (OP)
They dedicate 100% of their brainpower to nefarious plans, because it's the only thing they think about other than hatred and paranoia (and those are accounted for in their nefarious plans) so they're effectively more smart in the areas that are dangerous in relation to them being enemies you fight. Maybe the level 1 wizard can beat it at Scrabble, but it has perfectly memorized 10000 contingency plans for killing a party of adventurers, one for every approach they might make against it.

>>96167217 (OP)
>Are beholders actually that smart in universe?
To actually answer the question without 'tisming about the abstraction, no. Beholders aren't portrayed as some superintelligent masterminds playing 4d chess at all times, in fact they are portrayed as pretty short-sighted and even impulsive at times.

>>96168960
INT is just about how much you can memorize. WIS is the real intelligence stat.
An impulsive retarded idiot can easily have 30 INT, the biggest retards in d&d are wizards.

>>96168296
Do you have a source for this? NOT calling you out, just genuinely curious and want to read more

>>96169541
yea. look at the OLD DnD books and adventures and shit. places like neverwinter have been settled forever because they're one of the places of power. like illefarn, netheril, myth drannor etc.

honestly, faerun was a far more interesting setting BEFORE the successive rounds of nigh-apocalypses

its also in the OLD lore of planes, old lore for githyanki and githzerai.

I am pretty sure crap like 5e, 4e etc retconned and Political corrected it out of existence, since it involved a whole bunch of racial supremacists wiping each other out.

>>96167217 (OP)
10.5 Int theoretically is equivalent to 100iq, so 17 is roughly 97%. PCs are exceptional.

>>96169898
8 everything is human average for a level 0 commoner/merchant/lord etc.

>>96169183
Inaccurate. Int is about being able to learn and understand information, which isn't necessarily the same as memorizing it. Wisdom is about being able to make practical use of information and understanding that you have. Let's sing all hold hands and sing the song to find out more!

Strength is how many tomatoes you can carry.
Dexterity is how accurately you can throw a tomato.
Constitution is whether you get sick eating a bad tomato.
Intelligence is understanding a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is knowing not to put them in a fruit salad.
Charisma is making a fruit salad out of them anyway and branding it salsa.

>>96167217 (OP)
>There int is only 17, that’s literally equivalent to the stat for a level 1 wizard.
Wasn't INT 17 equivalent of 170 IQ in AD&D?

>>96170174
8 is average IQ, so 17 is more than double that. that would be like IQ 170-200

>>96167217 (OP)
Try to think about it as if you arnt a powergaming twat. The stat shown is the average for beholders, with some above and below the 17, just like how most humans have around a 10 for int with a few being above and below it. So, if you have a super intelligent human (int 17), a similarly exceptional Beholder would have an int in the 20s to 30s. Do you get it now, or do I need to draw a picture?

>>96170281
Assuming that it's a linear relationship is wrong. Mortals being able to achieve an Int in the 20 - 30 range in later editions definitely means that it's not directly mappable to the IQ curve / distribution in a linear manner. Otherwise, that would mean that a level 18 character with a headband and some wishes would have a superintelligence so alien and removed from human experience that you couldn't meaningfully tell stories about them. Which is nonsense since it's not even epic levels at that point.

And the way monster saves scale directly requires bonuses of +15 at bare minimum in order to even have a chance of affecting them with spells. So, no, there is a diminishing return on Int related to actual intelligence.

>>96167217 (OP)
17 is pretty high. Remember, adventurers with stats high enough to kick it with real monsters are not the norm. "My stat-aligned level 1 wizard could have INT that high" is being disingenuous by focusing on the "level 1" part rather than understanding that 17 is a considerable amount of INT in this setting.

>>96168563
But has it considered that we're trapped in an elaborate death trap and the only way to escape is to defeat my level 1 wizard in a game of Scrabble?

>>96167217 (OP)
The stat line of the beholder is the base of the race. It’s the equivalent of a 10/10/10/10/10/10 human. They can be mages on top of that, having a much higher INT.

>>96170042
A tomato based fruit salad is just salsa

>>96170281
>8 is average
the average of 3d6 is 10.5

>>96170433
actually, could you draw me a picture?

>>96172624
8 is the modal average of the statistics human population of faerun, 10.5 is the mean average of the potential numerical outcomes of rolling three dice
i hope this helps you

>>96172125

Perceive an average Mexican's INT

>>96167217 (OP)
Leagues smarter than your average player, then.

>>96171258
It probably has, but it's too proud and schizoid to realize it could actually lose a game of Scrabble and that will be its downfall

>>96170042
>Int is about being able to learn and understand information, which isn't necessarily the same as memorizing it.
yeah yeah that's just reciting the theory without noticing that it never applies to actual design of characters, including NPCs

>Wisdom is about being able to make practical use of information and understanding that you have
so, actual intelligence, because the INT massive idiotic faggot's "understanding" never translates to practice, while WIS chad's practice obviously included understanding the information.

>tomato
yes, the INT retard heard that tomatoes are fruit and memorized it, WIS dude is actually smart and wouldn't ruin his salad nor provide useless memorized facts like the INT faggot.

>>96167217 (OP)
Have you tried not playing D&D?

>>96167846
Humans are stupid as fuck. Any monster who's entire things is they're smart should be smarter then the smartest humans

>>96179012
except they're also demented. like, literally clinically insane. paranoiacs, schizophrenics. xenophobic xeno supremacists. and they also hate and totally distrust each other.

>>96167217 (OP)
You are asking about this 3rd time this month.
Seek professional help

>>96172125
Low int poster detected