..but I'm not THAT dumb!

[KorvinStarmast]

I'm having trouble roleplaying a character with below average INT (8) in what has become an intrigue-heavy campaign. I can be rude, impolite, rush and thick-headed like the dumb fighter I'm supposed to be, but I find really difficult to not contribute on investigations, puzzles, riddles, and diplomatic situations. Actually, everytime I try to say something above basic affirmations like "I'm hungry/tired/pissed", NPCs react like I'm babbling something incomprehensibile. I know, I'm doing wrong by trying to "act smart", because it's patently off-character... but If I stay by my side, and let the supposedly "smart PCs" do the deed, I feel like a castaway from most of the RPG pillar. Any advice? It's right to step back to the bookworms, and keep my (off character) deductions for myself ?

D&D 5e isn't a digital computer game. The mental stats are squishier than the physical stats, and for a good reason.

We Are Playing A Game using our imaginations, which is an exercise of our mind.

I strongly suggest that you assess the numerical scores as "informing" how you'll role play rather than "dictating" how you role play.

In my first RL career, a few of the "not so bright" folks who worked for me still had good suggestions and ideas sometimes. This lower than average INT is not an on/off switch. It means that flashes of brilliance come less often, not never.

Conversely, some of the sharpest minds I have ever run into have now and again made dumb mistakes. If their INT was the equivalent of 16, so what? They don't never make a dumb mistake, just rarely.

Then again, you can ignore my advice and keep making yourself miserable.

I've run into this before at more than one table. I have to remind players that the line between the character and the player is blurry, not hard and concrete, and that anyone can come up with a bright idea now and again.

The Game and its mechanics is to serve us as we have fun. We are not to serve the game's mechanics.

Your choice: are you going to let a number on a piece of paper make you sad?
Yes or no.

PS: what Sporeegg said here. +1.