D&D 5E 5th Edition Intelligence

[Ovinomancer]

I was watching this week's Fargo tonight (how did people live before DVR?), and it occurred to me that Peggy and Ed are about 8s on the Int scale. Dull normals.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

So correct me if I'm wrong here, but the only uses I can find for intelligence are wizard spell saves, knowledge checks, and avoiding death by illithid. That seems pretty limited to me when compared to other stats. I've noticed that the players at my group all tend to completely tank their int scores because there's just no point in having any.

Do you guys think intelligence is okay as is, with so few uses? Has Wizards said anything about what their design goals were for intelligence?

I use a variant of Speed Factor/AD&D initiative, where the (N)PCs declare their actions in order of Intelligence, lowest first. The players really, really like knowing what the monsters are planning on doing this turn, so much so that the Shadow Monk/Druid, for instance has spent one and a half ASIs boosting his Int from 9 to 12 in spite of there being no strictly mechanical advantage at all. (I think there are other reasons they boost Int too, such as not wanting to feel stupid--but I asked around and being able to know what is happening in combat is a major factor.)

 

[Yardiff]

I don't think you should have to roleplay your stats. I think stats should reveal themselves through gameplay mechanics such that they're very evident. There's no reason to enforce roleplaying of intelligence, wisdom, or charisma unless you can think of similar ways to enforce the physical statistics. But those are entirely done by skill checks! So I see no reason to expect anything different from the mental statistics. Would it be weird to go around acting intelligent if you aren't? Sure, but there should be skill checks to show off just how not intelligent you are, just like if an 8 strength character was acting strong, they'd just fail repeatedly.

See I disagree, your characters stats ARE who your character is otherwise your just playing yourself.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

On an unrelated note, to everyone here, think about the real world. Where is intelligence applied? The only things that come to mind are teaching and inventing.

Lower intelligence correlates with financial difficulties.

Additionally, IQ has a measurable positive effect on competency (as judged by peers) in every profession (that I have heard of being measured), from carpentry to law. If you really wanted to model that in 5E you could give a 10% to 20% XP bonus for high Int.

 

[dmnqwk]

I like the suggestion that Intelligence plays a part in Initiative.

One consideration would be to change initiative rolls from being 1d20+dex as exact numbers, but rounding them off into brackets of 1-5, 6-10, 11-15 etc. Then use the intelligence modifier to determine the order within the brackets (to assert the notion that while being able to physically react has a large bearing on initiative, it's not such a static moment and intelligence plays a large part in determining how you counter your opponents blows to manage to land one of your own)

 

[Sacrosanct]

Again, when you say things like "previously", you need to be specific. There are 6 editions of D&D (more if you count the Basic line). The game has been around for a long time, and therefore you can't really use what happened for a few years over the 40 year history as a baseline.

 

[iserith]

My opinion, and I'm not trying to be mean, but taking an stat like Int and saying 'my characters low Int score is only because he has a poor memory and in all other ways he's average' is just finding an excuse not RP a low mental stat.

Isn't such a person doing exactly what you're advocating - roleplaying in a way that recognizes the low Intelligence score as the reason for the character's poor memory?

 

[Phantarch]

Would it be weird to go around acting intelligent if you aren't? Sure.

And yet SO many people in life do...

 

[Yardiff]

Isn't such a person doing exactly what you're advocating - roleplaying in a way that recognizes the low Intelligence score as the reason for the character's poor memory?

Ability scores cover all aspects of said ability equally. Take Int, its covers mental acuity, accuracy of recall, and ability to reason. A low ability scores means your equally low in all aspects of that ability.

 

[pedro2112]

Ability scores cover all aspects of said ability equally. Take Int, its covers mental acuity, accuracy of recall, and ability to reason. A low ability scores means your equally low in all aspects of that ability.

Wrong. A high Charisma doesn't necessarily correlate to good looks. In fact, there are many people who are incredibly attractive that cannot talk their way out of a paper bag. Likewise, some of the most charismatic people in history (Hitler, Napoleon) are so ugly that they could knock a dog off a meat truck. Why does intelligence have to cover every aspect of what we know intelligence to be, but clearly charisma doesn't. Sorry, but if you are average in all aspects of intelligence, but have a serious case of CRS syndrome (Can't Remember ), then an 8 in intelligence sounds appropriate.