# Smartest creatures ranked by INT



## Jeremy

What are some really hyper intelligent creatures? I know great wyrm golds are INT 32, but who are the other ultra smart creatures? I can find creatures with 39 STR but I need an inhuman schemer who has always been a super genius (read, didn't gain 30 levels, read a book, and put on circlet).


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## mikebr99

Jeremy said:
			
		

> What are some really hyper intelligent creatures? I know great wyrm golds are INT 32, but who are the other ultra smart creatures? I can find creatures with 39 STR but I need an inhuman schemer who has always been a super genius (read, didn't gain 30 levels, read a book, and put on circlet).



Hey Jeremy.

Page 9 of the phb has a little bit of a list...


Mike


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## Jeremy

Yup.  And they are all 1-19 range for the most part.  It's also core only.  

Surely there are some 28 INT creatures, some 36 INT creatures, or some 42 INT creatures.  Gotta find something with labyrinthine plots and plans.


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## shilsen

Jeremy said:
			
		

> Surely there are some 28 INT creatures, some 36 INT creatures, or some 42 INT creatures.  Gotta find something with labyrinthine plots and plans.




The DM


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## NexH

The black ethergaunts (Fiend Folio) have 31 int, and even those of the lowest caste of ethergaunts have 23 int.


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## kenobi65

Jeremy said:
			
		

> I can find creatures with 39 STR but I need an inhuman schemer who has always been a super genius (read, didn't gain 30 levels, read a book, and put on circlet).




How about an awakened advanced super-genius coyote?

(Then again, his WIS score is probably 4.  )


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## Kae'Yoss

Do deities count?


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## Corsair

Illithid have to be up there.


Edit:  And remember, those are the "average" for their race.  The equivalent of a 10 int human.  if you want them to be smarter than the average monster, just tack on +8 int.


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## gabrion

THe black ethergaunt is prolly your best choice.  I've looked for this same thing severl times (for Polymorph and Object) and they are the best I've found as a base.  As saide before, they are average for their race, so you can still get their INT way higher (like in the fifties). 

I'll be watching to see if you find something better...


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## Jeremy

gabrion said:
			
		

> THe black ethergaunt is prolly your best choice. I've looked for this same thing severl times (for Polymorph and Object) and they are the best I've found as a base.




You can Polymorph Any Object into a black ethergaunt?


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## Jeremy

Corsair said:
			
		

> Illithid have to be up there.
> 
> 
> Edit: And remember, those are the "average" for their race. The equivalent of a 10 int human. if you want them to be smarter than the average monster, just tack on +8 int.




Quite disappointingly, they aren't.  The average illithid is no more intelligent then the average 8th level wizard in my games.  There don't seem to be very many exceptionally smart creatures.  Strong, yes.  Fast, yes.  Tough, yes.  Wise, yes.  Charismatic, yes.  But except for the excellent suggestion of the ethergaunts, there doesn't seem to be a smart race of creatures.

And while you can take any group and Secret-of-Nimh them, hopefully someone out there has noticed a group that is already on average very smart even if they are frail or lacking in some other area.

And no, to answer the above question, deities don't count.


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## gabrion

Jeremy said:
			
		

> You can Polymorph Any Object into a black ethergaunt?




I don't think so.  I should have said that before.  I was just pointing out how I found them in the first place-I was looking for PaO forms with high INT (since you get the new INT score).  Unfortunately, PaO is mostly the same as polymorph, and I'm pretty sure you can only assume a form with up to 15 HD.  The black ethergaunts have 16.  Makes me sad...

The consolation prize is the white ethergaunt.  I think they have like 12 HD, and only 27 INT (can't remember for sure).  

BTW, these guys are nasty BBEGs.  Considering the fact that you can give them items and they already have effective wizard levels, adding a few more levels of wizard can really put up a huge challenge.  Oh ya, did I forget to metion that spells up to a certain level just odn't affect them?  Ya, crazy.


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## MoonZar

Jeremy said:
			
		

> What are some really hyper intelligent creatures? I know great wyrm golds are INT 32, but who are the other ultra smart creatures? I can find creatures with 39 STR but I need an inhuman schemer who has always been a super genius (read, didn't gain 30 levels, read a book, and put on circlet).




hehehe the demilich is scary with 39 of int


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## moritheil

Beholders should be in the mid to high 20s.


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## Stalker0

Damn, all that puts those "genius" mindflayers with their 18-20 ints to shame


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## Targos

The big outsiders only have mid 20s for intelligence, but its not to say an advanced one couldn't have 30+. (A 26 translates into 10 base + 16 racial modifier. Give one a base of 18 just like a PC that rolled it.  That can be done with most any monster.)


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## gtJormungand

Ignoring the dragons from the Epic Level Handbook, there are the following:
Gibbering Orb, 40
Demilich, 39
Ha-Naga, 35
Elder Titan, 33
Leshaym, 33
Uvuudaum, 32
Atropal, 28
Three-Headed Sirrus, 26
Gloom, 26
Thorciasid, 25
Phane, 24

Not so epic creatures:
Pit Fiend, 26
Balor, 24

This was found using Andargor's SRD Databases( http://www.andargor.com/ ) using the query: 
	
	




		Code:
	

SELECT name, CAST(SUBSTRING_INDEX(SUBSTRING_INDEX(SUBSTRING_INDEX(SUBSTRING(abilities, LOCATE("int", abilities)), ',',1), ' ', 2),' ',-1) AS UNSIGNED) AS intelligence
FROM `monster` ORDER BY intelligence DESC;


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## Goolpsy

If you want an extremly smart monter to make dark plans... just take some cool high Int Demon and give them an Epic +10 Int item.. could make a great adventure, and the options are much more open this way..

btw, you do know that 31 Int etc, is a brilliant genious.. Einstein probably had 14 if he's lucky.. just to put things in perspective..

(Sorry for the swearing, wont happen again)


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## Goolpsy

Another quick idea is making a Paragon Great wyrm primatic dragon (just for fun)
paragon = +15 great wyrm prismatic dragon Int 64.. = 79

with a challenge rating on 81 (i think) so you could give him a +15 Int item..
79+15 = 94 Intelligence... Well Need anything smarter? just make the item +20 instead and he will have 99 ^^


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## Ferret

I think it's expected that anything with intelligence higher then 35 = can't be played properly, and should always win.

Player: I.....

DM: No, It thought of that.

Player: But.....

DM: And that. Your dead.

Which sucks.


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## Philip

Ferret said:
			
		

> I think it's expected that anything with intelligence higher then 35 = can't be played properly, and should always win.
> 
> Player: I.....
> 
> DM: No, It thought of that.
> 
> Player: But.....
> 
> DM: And that. Your dead.
> 
> Which sucks.




On the contrary, it might not realize how/when to apply his brilliant insights. Int 35 and Wis 5 might make for an opponent who's is constantly thinking of yet another winning stratagem but never executing.

An Int 35 Cha 5 opponent might know exactly what to do, but when someone tells him his idea is stupid he lacks confidence to disagree and follow through.


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## moritheil

Goolpsy said:
			
		

> btw, you do know that 31 Int etc, is a pretty god damn genious.. Einstein probably had 14 if he's lucky.. just to put things in perspective..




Swearing on the boards aside, Einstein is usually pegged at around 18.  Why would you suggest he's around 14 at most?


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## moritheil

Ferret said:
			
		

> I think it's expected that anything with intelligence higher then 35 = can't be played properly, and should always win.
> 
> Player: I.....
> 
> DM: No, It thought of that.
> 
> Player: But.....
> 
> DM: And that. Your dead.
> 
> Which sucks.




I generally make anything with that much intelligence disgustingly arrogant, and it will prefer to control and manipulate creatures rather than destroying them - even when it is much harder to do so.  After all, it relishes the challenge.


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## Al

Why do you need to be that intelligent? Unless you've achieved Nobel Prizes in every discipline available whilst becoming world chess champion and learning every language in the world, I am sure that an Int 31 ethergaunt is more than capable of cooking up plans in his coffee break that you could scarcely dream of.  Frankly, anything about Int 30 is all pretty blurred - the difference between supra-supra-genius and supra-supra-supra-genius is fairly negligible as far as we mere mortals are concerned


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## nothing to see here

Al said:
			
		

> Why do you need to be that intelligent? Unless you've achieved Nobel Prizes in every discipline available whilst becoming world chess champion and learning every language in the world, I am sure that an Int 31 ethergaunt is more than capable of cooking up plans in his coffee break that you could scarcely dream of.  Frankly, anything about Int 30 is all pretty blurred - the difference between supra-supra-genius and supra-supra-supra-genius is fairly negligible as far as we mere mortals are concerned





That's the problem with the mental stats -- lacking any physical manifestation of high-range scores, they lose relevance.  It's easy to compare a dumb person to a smart one...however the comparison of a super-genius to a mega-genius...breaks down as we have no point of reference to compare the gap.  Conversely -- with physical scores...players can always envision the difference.  STR means you can lift more...DEX means you can move faster etc...

It requires some really good DM'ing to make these super INT's hit home...as for players with really high INT's...I wouldn't know where to begin.

I once started working on some simple little charts for super high INT BBEG...basically, as circumstances changed during an encounter or adventure, I made secret INT checks with increasingly difficult DC's...if the BBEG made the check, I would adjust the presumptions of the adventure to the BBEG's favour -- though never so much as to completely frustrate the players mind you(i.e. the secret map the characters discovered becomes an intentionally planted counterfeit...the ally working with the characters I suddenly switch to an evil imposter...etc etc.) ...

I only tried the system once, for a high level Illiithid...and despite the free will of the players it helped capture the "damn...he thought of everything, he's still one step ahead" kind of feel that super INT creatures should  engender.

Being the oxymorinic type, I called it open-ended railroading.


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