D&D 5E Making Intelligence Less of a Dump Stat

[FrogReaver]

There is no fix without buffing wizards even more.

 

[TwoSix]

Add more classes and subclasses which get hefty bonuses from Intelligence. You don't hear complaints about people dumping Charisma in this edition precisely because Paladins, Sorcerers, Warlocks, and Bards all use it and they multiclass together so smoothly.

Imagine if Expertise added your Intelligence bonus to skills instead of double proficiency bonus. Or you could Action Surge Int modifier times per long rest. Or Warlocks were based on Int instead of Charisma. There would be no dump Intelligence issue then!

 

[CleverNickName]

Thanks for the ideas, everyone...keep 'em coming! I've updated the cover page with a couple of them, but there is plenty of room for more. I am kicking off a new campaign sometime after St. Patrick's Day, so I'm going to need to make a decision soon. You guys have been a huge help.

 

[MoominT]

One thing that changed my mind about Int being a dump stat was a post somewhere. This chap said Int 8 is not low intellegence.
Mages Pub Quiz Hard DC (15) A Mage being proficient and high int has +8 to his rolls, the 8 int Fighter has -1. So if the Mage rolls 3 times below 7 and the fighter rolls 3 16+ in a best of 5 quiz. The fighter wins. Odds are stacked in the mages favour of course but its not ridiculous that the fighter could win.

So I now take the view that 8 int is not dumb or stupid or slow. That does lessen the argh effect of every with low int.

 

[Einlanzer0]

Add more classes and subclasses which get hefty bonuses from Intelligence. You don't hear complaints about people dumping Charisma in this edition precisely because Paladins, Sorcerers, Warlocks, and Bards all use it and they multiclass together so smoothly.

Imagine if Expertise added your Intelligence bonus to skills instead of double proficiency bonus. Or you could Action Surge Int modifier times per long rest. Or Warlocks were based on Int instead of Charisma. There would be no dump Intelligence issue then!

My idea was for Expertise to add a static +3, but that taking it required a minimum Int (was probably going to go with either 13 or 14). I would then open this up as a default part of the skill system for all classes. I really, really hate how half proficiency and expertise are class features rather than a default part of the skill system. It's probably my biggest complaint about 5e.

 

[ro]

I'd like to make Intelligence less of a dump-stat in 5th Edition, and I'm stuck. I'd like to solicit some fresh ideas and feedback from you all. For whatever reason, this stat seems to get tanked 9 times out of 10 and there isn't much consequence for dropping it as far as possible. I'd like to change that with a house rule, so that tanking Intelligence is at least as unpleasant as tanking Dex or Wis. Here are the ideas I've come up with so far.

Idea 0: Don't Worry About It
Yes, I suppose "do nothing" is always a valid approach. If everyone in the party would like to tank their Intelligence in order to get an extra point in whatever, who am I to argue? As a DM, I can always get creative and inject consequences into the story--the party ends up getting cheated more often, they keep finding stuff that they can't make sense of, or NPCs take advantage of their gullibility, that sort of thing. (And I can invent new monsters and new spells and such to exploit/punish them directly for tanking Intelligence, too, but that feels like a dick move since the players aren't breaking any rules. There's nothing wrong with having a dump stat, I just wish Intelligence wasn't such a consequence-free, obvious choice.) It disadvantages low-Int characters in subtle ways that they might not even be aware of--kind of like me in real life.

Idea 1: Bonus Proficiencies
The character gains a bonus language or tool proficiency for each point of Intelligence bonus...so a character with a 15 Intelligence would get two tool proficiencies, or two languages, or one of each. The idea here is that higher intelligence makes it easier to learn languages and master different skills, very reminiscent of earlier versions of the game. I suppose I could open it up to weapon or skill proficiencies; but that seems like a fast track to cherry-picking and other exploitation...I'd rather not. This rewards characters for not tanking Intelligence rather than penalizing those who do, and it's my favorite option so far.

Idea 1 is ok, but languages and tools tend to be less used. But this is a good solution if you are ready to use them. Plus, make more Intelligence checks.

Idea 2: Magic Item Attunement
Intelligence determines how many magic items may be attuned to the character at one time. The number of magic items a character may have attuned might be equal to 3 + their Intelligence modifier (minimum 1). Or maybe characters with Int 13+ can attune 4 magic items, while those with Int 9 or less can only attune 2. The math will need to be polished, of course, but the idea here is that higher intelligence makes it easier to understand and manipulate arcane forces. Wizards will be able to attune to more magic items than other characters on the whole, which kinda makes sense to me. I like this idea, but tampering with magic item attunement makes my Spidey Sense tingle.

Idea 3: Intelligent Initiative
(Hat tip: @Phineas Q. Conundrum, @Spohedus, others)
Initiative is based on Intelligence, not Dexterity. Low-intelligence characters will be slower to "put two and two together," and are therefore slower to recognize danger, which means they have lower Initiative. A less-severe way to handle this is to have Initiative be based off of Dexterity or Intelligence, whichever is lower. This is a great idea for a number of reasons, but especially for its simplicity. Players hate going last in initiative, for some reason. Never understood that.

These are both great. Attunement = Int mod and Initiative is Int. This is very easy to implement and brings a nice balance. I would add a minimum of 1 for Attunement.

Idea 4: Reduced Learning Time
(Hat tip: @iserith, others)
Intelligence is a measure of a character's learning capacity, so it makes sense that highly-intelligent characters would learn things more quickly than others. And it would explain why it took me so long to earn my engineering degree. The amount of downtime that characters need to learn new languages or tools is dependent upon their Intelligence modifier...something like +/- 10 days per point of Intelligence modifier. (I know that there are new rules for downtime in Xanathar's Guide to Everything, but I'm hesitant to allow stuff from non-PHB sources--because as soon as I do, I open the floodgates and my players assume Xanathar's Everything is Allowed now.)

This is ok, but sounds complicated to implement.

Thoughts? Criticism? Mockery?

1/10/18: Thanks for the new ideas, everyone. Keep 'em coming! My next campaign is kicking off after St. Patrick's Day, and I'm gonna need to make a decision soon.

What you want is changes that are very simple and easy to implement and remember. I'd take 2 and 3, and add in Warlocks using Intelligence:

Attunement. A creature can be attuned to a number of magic items at a time equal to its Intelligence modifier, minimum 1.

Initiative. At the beginning of every combat, you roll initiative by making an Intelligence check.

Warlock Intelligence. Warlocks use Intelligence rather than Charisma as their spellcasting ability, and any warlock class feature or eldritch invocation that references Charisma uses Intelligence instead.

Expertise. You add your Intelligence modifier (minimum 1) + your proficiency bonus to any ability check you make with which you have Expertise, rather than adding double your proficiency bonus.

[Edit: Added Expertise from @TwoSix: Great idea!]

 

[Sleepy Walker]

In my campaign I am adding formations.

Every intelligence score of 13, 15, and 17 lets the character learn a language or formation. Infantry backgrounds may learn phalanx, shield wall, or square formation upon creation. Knight background may learn wedge or hedgehog formation upon creation.

Formations include phalanx, testudo, wedge, shield wall, square, hedgehog


Formations should work quite nicely, since I am developing some rather nice advantages in martial combat to off-set the magical shortfalls (fireball, fear, etc). This gives incentive for combat characters to invest in intelligence, the formations feat, or learning formations as a downtime activity. The minimum number of people to make a formation is about the same as an adventuring party, so I'm going to include NPC underlings to anybody who is a knight or mercenary captain, as well as the occasional band of mercs which the players can hire.

my campaign starts at level 10 and is going to be rather volatile with regards to challenge level, depending on PC actions. Formations might be tricky if you are lower level and trying to keep the challenge tightly regulated. Formations could also be a problem if some characters learn formations, but never find enough will participants to make a formation.

I have also changed around a fair amount of rules to make a large number of things I want to include work, so I am uncertain if this is a solution to a relatively RAW game of 5e.

*edit*

Oh, I forgot. Initiative is going to be determined by Initiative = DexterityModifier + (Intelligence Modifier + Wisdom Modifier)/2 .... or maybe Initiative = (Dexterity Modifier + Intelligence Modifier + Wisdom Modifier)/2

I have not decided, but that will also improve the desire to take intelligence

 

[GMMichael]

- intelligent enemies will use grapple and similar tactics, especially against anyone they might perceive to be physically weak

- I never use Passive Perception in terms of locating secret doors or traps, unless the trap is something large and crude, you will need to declare specifically where you are searching, sometimes how you are searching and what you are looking for - and that requires Investigation

- intelligent enemies are unlikely to leave loot out in the open, the best stuff WILL often be hidden, and you may need to work hard to find it

- As per the PHB, I do use other stats for skills if applicable, such as Strength for Intimidation as an example.

My group never found a lovely cache of Dwarven armour and weapons because they didn't bother to examine a pair of statues closely...

XP for letting players know what to expect.

A lovely arms cache that goes unfound is, unfortunately, a waste of precious GM time. At least have an NPC tell the players about it, or let them see it but keep it out of reach. Then you can cackle with glee when they can't get their hands on it.

Back to OP:

Unfortunately for intelligence challenges, one PC with high enough intelligence can share the fruits of his checks with everyone else. So having a non-dump intelligence score isn't very important as long as you have a single wizard in the party. That's sort of the point of having a party, really.

If your intent is to make players rue having a low intelligence score, you'll either have to make some decisions for them, or lure them into bad decisions. That first option isn't going to be very popular, but you can probably get away with it occasionally on the grounds that if you dictate how well a character's muscles work with STR, you can also dictate how well their brains work.

This technique is less obvious if you lure dumb characters into bad decisions, because the player is still making the decision. It's the outcome that reveals his dump stat. For example, a party goes weapon shopping (bear with me, this is D&D). The merchant offers the fighter a variety of swords, but the fighter notices a particularly devilish sword, and the merchant tells him that the weapon is half price, because it's not selling well. The DM tells the player that the sword uses a higher die for damage than a normal sword, and that the fighter sees nothing wrong with it. The wizard could tell the fighter what the problem is, but "he'd better shut his trap, because the fighter is the expert on weapons, here."

When the blade breaks in half during its first fight, you can casually mention that serrated edges probably added odd stress points to the blade, or having four fullers doesn't result in four-times the bleeding, or a devil's-head pommel got caught on his sleeve, preventing a timely weapon-pivot...

 

[77IM]

I think it's weirder that Strength is now a dump stat (it's at least as dumpable as Int for many characters) but Charisma is no longer considered a dump stat. Once, Charisma was THE dump stat. The term min-maxing was often a reference to D&D players minimizing Cha in order to maximize Strength, and it was seen as a powerful trade-off because Str was so much more useful than Cha (a sort of "ability score arbitrage").

 

[Rossbert]

Now I am biased because I love Int, Dex and Cha. Every character I make is high(ish) in usually two sometimes all three.

Disclaimer out of the way I miss when Int gave languages and skills. I tend to think 5e does not give enough of either to encourage playing against type much.