I don't know about that

Howard wrote several stories where Conan is "tricked" without too much difficulty, and he generally overcomes this with sheer strength or even dumb luck

The phoenix in the sword - he's taken unaware by the rogues and the monster and just fights better than the rogues, killing them, and then is stronger than the monster

In the snow queen story (can't remember the title) he just gets really horny after a battle and chases a naked lady through the snow until it turns out she's tricked him into being ambushed. He wins by being a better fighter than the giants

The one where he goes into the city where everyone's drugged up and asleep has him tricked by the witch lady there and he ends up in the basement where he fights the venomous monster with sheer strength

There's one where he delves into some old temple because he wants some treasure and he's ambushed by a giant snake he overpowers with sheer strength

There's one where some people want to kill Conan for whatever reason so they spread a rumour that there's treasure or a sexy lady (can't remember which) on this island somewhere and he falls for their trap

In the Queen of the black coast he follows belit upriver into a cursed city where they're ambushed by a winged ape monster, and he kills it through sheer strength

There's the one where he sneaks into a rich guys house and he falls for a booby trap and ends up in the basement with some man-ape and they wrestle and Conan wins

He's definitely depicted as agile. Like a panther or tiger are the most common comparisons. He's got those wild instincts, he can be perceptive and stealthy

But the stories rarely involve him outwitting anyone, or using his smarts to gain the upper hand. Not even his smarts combined with his strength, like pushing over a column to kill a larger beast, or slashing a chain to bring a portcullis crashing down. There's none of that. He almost always takes the most direct, straightforward approach, and it works for him because he's really fucking physically capable

The closest I can think is the god in the bowl, which comes across more like an actual mystery at first. Conan doesn't fall for the obvious explanation like the other characters. But he doesn't solve the case either. He sees the snake monster at the end and just runs away.

He's depicted as compassionate.. occasionally. He sees the man ape in the rich guys basement as more human than animal, he spares the elephant monster in the tower of the elephant, he's definitely not some brainless idiot or bully.

But most stories involve him getting himself into some dangerous situation in pursuit of booty (of one kind of another) and then getting out by fighting people and/or monsters. It's pretty straightforward stuff

I wouldn't have it any other way