What does intellect and mind represent anyway?

[Townowi]

Since intellect and mind translate poorly to characterization (that's the reason I discounted intellect as a stat when I GMed tabletop RPGs: it was very difficult for players to accurately portray their characters if their intellectual capabilities exceeded the players') I may be wondering what does intellect and mind represent, because I didn't feel the WoL/D becoming smarter, or at least not at the speed gearing a caster/healer would suggest.

There has to be some alternate mental attribute that could more accurately represent what an increase in intellect/mind is supposed to provide. If so, what would these stats actually represent?

[Shurrikhan]

Previously, they used to refer to force of will (represented by potency adjustment and resistance modifiers, or ability to overwhelm enemy resistance modifiers) and your deftness in manipulating aether (represented by crit rate and a general damage/effect modifiers, iirc).

That was too nuanced, apparently, as it required that casters sub into Mind and healers optionally sub into Intelligence, so they squashed that and now they're flavor text for Healing Magic Power and Offensive Magic Power respectively.

Aside from removing primary stats entirely in favor of straight up Strength-based Attack Power, Finesse-based Attack Power, Healing Magic Power, and Offensive Magic Power, you're not likely to get any more "fitting" of attribute names.

[SilverArrow20XX]

Mind, is analogous to Spirit in other FF games, with what it does, so I assume it means basically the same thing.
Mental fortitude, or faith. General strength of mind to not be mentally overwhelmed.

Intelligence I attribute to raw processing power.
How quickly one can solve equations, and the complexity of puzzles one is able to solve.
This is different from wisdom or ingenuity, so you can roleplay it more easily.
Your character can do number crunching you wouldn't be able to, but won't necessarily be able to think of solutions to abstract problems that the player is supposed to navigate any better.

[Cilia]

The important thing to remember about INT / WIS in TTRPGs is that INT is a measure of how knowledgeable you are - in other words, how book smart you are - while WIS is a measure of how perceptive and intuitive you can be. A high INT / low WIS character is really smart, but lacks tact; a low INT / high WIS character is perceptive and empathetic, but might not even know the alphabet.

INT could be taken to mean the same thing here, while Mind could be a measure of one's cognitive speed. Even if you're learned, might still take a second to recall something!

[Iscah]

The important thing to remember about INT / WIS in TTRPGs is that INT is a measure of how knowledgeable you are - in other words, how book smart you are - while WIS is a measure of how perceptive and intuitive you can be. A high INT / low WIS character is really smart, but lacks tact; a low INT / high WIS character is perceptive and empathetic, but might not even know the alphabet.

INT could be taken to mean the same thing here, while Mind could be a measure of one's cognitive speed. Even if you're learned, might still take a second to recall something!

It could be about the application of it, too.

Intelligence is attack magic - a calculated approach to attacking the enemy's weak points.

Mind is healing magic, driven by your empathy to others.

[Vyrerus]

Originally INT was for attack magic, and MND was for healing magic. We had the Cleric Stance button on healers so they could swap their MND to become INT, so that they could cast potent attacks.

So basically INT is a stat that represents the ability to aetherically tear down, destroy, dissolve, dissipate, or disassemble another being. MND is the stat the focuses on building up, reinforcing, healing, mending, or otherwise reversing or preventing harm.

Nowdays there's no difference gameplay wise. They might as well trim out both stats and replace them with MP - Magical Potency.

[Townowi]

The TTRPGs I GMed usually had knowledge as feats that carry situational statistical buffs, and INT was more of a character's ability to reason, solve problems and so on, so forth (there was no WIS).

For some reason, I associated cognitive speed with spell speed in a FF14 context.

Nowdays there's no difference gameplay wise. They might as well trim out both stats and replace them with MP - Magical Potency.

And then you would have one set of gear for both healing and caster DPS, rather than two.

[LineageRazor]

And then you would have one set of gear for both healing and caster DPS, rather than two.

Not necessarily. DRG and MNK fill basically the same role and use the same stats, but they have seperate gear. Basically just for flavor reasons, at this point.

DRG gear USED to be a kind of tanky DPS; their armor was actually armor in truth, not just for show. (It's why a lot of low level gear is equpable by tanks and also by LNC/DRG.) PHYSICALLY tanky, though, and with a notable weakness to magic damage that became very problematic at times. SE fixed it, and in the process made DRG gear basically the same of that of other DPS.

Even if INT and MND were condensed into magic potency (and hey, why stop there? Why not condense ALL stats into "potency" and call it a day!), we'd probably still have two sets of mage gear, so that healers can look more light and healery, and caster dps can look more dark and wizardy. (Probably still just be palatte swaps, though. :P)

[TheMightyMollusk]

Intelligence is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.

Mind is knowing not to put a tomato in a fruit salad.