Idiot Savant: What's it really good for?

[Raycheetah]

"Idiot Savant" (French, meaning, roughly, "Wise Idiot; pronounced, approximately, Eedeeyoh Savawn).

 

This perk would appear to be intended to ameliorate the XP loss for playing a low Intelligence character. However, aside from roleplaying such a character (impossible with the voiced protagonist and dialog options provided), what good reason is there to give up all the important Intelligence perks?

 

The chance for this perk to proc on an XP gain depends on the character's Intelligence; the higher the Intelligence, the lower the chance for it to proc. However, calculations have shown that, even with a high Intelligence character, Idiot Savant can proc often enough, especially when taken early, to pay for itself in extra XP, and continue to provide very occasional, but highly profitable bursts of extra XP as you level.

 

Assuming that one is willing to invest in enough Luck early on, it is possible for a lucky proc on a quest reward to generate one or more levels worth of XP. With all the XP generating occurrences in the game (kills, lockpicking/hacking, finding new locations, speech checks...) even at a mere 1% chance to proc (at the highest levels of Intelligence), Idiot Savant is bound to continue to pay off over time.

 

There are some informative videos on this topic on YouTube, and the actual calculations may surprise you. If you wish to level as quickly as possible, especially if you're not maxing out your Intelligence, Idiot Savant may be well worth looking at.

 

And, if you're a roleplayer who can't get past the silly giggle when the perk procs on your high Intelligence character, just remind yourself that genius is akin to madness, and that we're all a little goofy, sometimes. =^[.]^=

[Boombro]

The perk is legit even with 15 INT. It rare, but you get even a bigger boost that makes leveling so dame easy when it happens. It if you have to dump a perk and have no other perk to pick, this is the one.

 

It RP breaking when it happens since your pc will make a sound of joy of a idiot. It doesn't to appeal to every one:

 

 

 

But it on point if you were in a middle of battle with a heavy swarm of enemies, used an aoe attack and it just happens for one great level up.

 

It good to note there are mods to remove the sound.