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Any technical/book smarts person? Not at all an issue. You most likely have google on your laptop or smartphone within easy access. Any person who wishes to be a doctor or a mathematician can easily get away with it. Things, such as the mathematician even more so because of the fact that a lot of old mathematic principles are named after real people so you can toss any lore friendly name you want and call it things such as Jainquernardian theorem.
Now, being a witty character...I think that's a LOT harder to do so in a satisfactory manner, especially because we are RPers and not a writer of our own story. That is because wit involves an observational, linguistic and emotional intelligence that allows them to pick apart another person for that satisfying retort.
As a writer, not only do you know what every character's hopes and dreams and motivations are (or I hope you do) you can easily construct the encounter where someone of great wit can pick up on their counterpart's words or just be sassy. Not only that, but you have chances of rewrites, drafts and due to the static medium of writing, you can take weeks trying to find that perfect line.
Now as an RP'er? Now your inability (for a lack of a better word) begins to show. Not only do you not know everything about who you are RP'ing with, they are not following a script either that you have set up. Unless they are kind enough to give visual ticks and other queues of weakness for a witty character to pursue, everyone can appear like a stone wall giving nothing for the witty character to easily pull upon.Â
Because, to be frank, I find that the witty/genius people we love to think about such as Sherlock, Dr. Cox, Dr. House, Light and Lelouche, Winston Churchill (really, look at the quotes he is famous for, you need an entire burn ward dedicated to him) Â are not solely fun because of their machinations in the overall plot but for their person to person interactions. To get that perfect, scathing, intelligent tirade that Dr. Cox can pull off takes talent.
This is especially true because the aspect I am talking about tends to be antagonistic in nature and thus a form of power and as RPC has shown, power without due justification causes a tizzy. You cannot type "Says a series of biting remarks that sends you into tears" because you cannot control the emotional reaction of your rp partner.Â
It is much akin to the other forum post about too many "Fearless" characters, becoming someone who can instill fear with their presence requires playing the part convincingly. Just look at the "Describe a person's character with a gif" thread, people like Berrod can get the gifs of Armstrong from Fullmetal Alchemist because he plays the character properly and convincingly. Whether or not its the sort of character he set out to make when he made Berrod doesn't matter, his reputation is now perceived as that.Â
Likewise, being perceived as witty, a genius requires the proper attitude to be done correctly and I feel that in this particular case, to be witty as a character requires wit of the player especially given the comparatively fast-paced nature of RP in comparison to script and novels.
TL;DR: Book smarts? EASILY faked due to it being grounded in facts. Wit is subjective and fluid and thus harder to concretely identify. This makes it even more difficult to play without possessing the wit to do so.
Now, being a witty character...I think that's a LOT harder to do so in a satisfactory manner, especially because we are RPers and not a writer of our own story. That is because wit involves an observational, linguistic and emotional intelligence that allows them to pick apart another person for that satisfying retort.
As a writer, not only do you know what every character's hopes and dreams and motivations are (or I hope you do) you can easily construct the encounter where someone of great wit can pick up on their counterpart's words or just be sassy. Not only that, but you have chances of rewrites, drafts and due to the static medium of writing, you can take weeks trying to find that perfect line.
Now as an RP'er? Now your inability (for a lack of a better word) begins to show. Not only do you not know everything about who you are RP'ing with, they are not following a script either that you have set up. Unless they are kind enough to give visual ticks and other queues of weakness for a witty character to pursue, everyone can appear like a stone wall giving nothing for the witty character to easily pull upon.Â
Because, to be frank, I find that the witty/genius people we love to think about such as Sherlock, Dr. Cox, Dr. House, Light and Lelouche, Winston Churchill (really, look at the quotes he is famous for, you need an entire burn ward dedicated to him) Â are not solely fun because of their machinations in the overall plot but for their person to person interactions. To get that perfect, scathing, intelligent tirade that Dr. Cox can pull off takes talent.
This is especially true because the aspect I am talking about tends to be antagonistic in nature and thus a form of power and as RPC has shown, power without due justification causes a tizzy. You cannot type "Says a series of biting remarks that sends you into tears" because you cannot control the emotional reaction of your rp partner.Â
It is much akin to the other forum post about too many "Fearless" characters, becoming someone who can instill fear with their presence requires playing the part convincingly. Just look at the "Describe a person's character with a gif" thread, people like Berrod can get the gifs of Armstrong from Fullmetal Alchemist because he plays the character properly and convincingly. Whether or not its the sort of character he set out to make when he made Berrod doesn't matter, his reputation is now perceived as that.Â
Likewise, being perceived as witty, a genius requires the proper attitude to be done correctly and I feel that in this particular case, to be witty as a character requires wit of the player especially given the comparatively fast-paced nature of RP in comparison to script and novels.
TL;DR: Book smarts? EASILY faked due to it being grounded in facts. Wit is subjective and fluid and thus harder to concretely identify. This makes it even more difficult to play without possessing the wit to do so.