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Making Intelligence Less of a Dump Stat
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<blockquote data-quote="DEFCON 1" data-source="post: 7316726" data-attributes="member: 7006"><p>Rather than dump Investigation as a skill... give it a subset of what they currently use Perception for:</p><p></p><p><em>Perception</em> is to find hidden creatures... things that move around and leave tracks / scent / movement.</p><p><em>Investigation</em> is to find hidden inanimate objects... things like secret doors and traps.</p><p></p><p>You do that and immediately you nerf Perception like it really needs to be, and Intelligence now jumps up for those PCs that are going to be searching for stuff. If you are a Rogue you absolutely can't dump Intelligence, not if you want to search for traps.</p><p></p><p>Option 2: Use the Variant Rule that does not assign specific ability scores to specific skills. When a check needs to be made, you decide which ability score applies and then the player can offer up a proficiency they might have that could possibly apply. So you thus can end up with things like INT (Perception) or INT (Survival) or INT (Persuasion) etc.</p><p></p><p>This also thus can be used to simulate other kinds of "skills" without needing to add them to the skill list. Combat Tactics? That's an INT (Insight) check as the PC tries to glean what they can from what they know of the opposing side's thought processes and then develop strategies to counter them. Engineering questions? That's INT (Tinkering Tools) or INT (Thieve's Tools) depending on the kind of engineering problems you come across. Like you've found the trap... but how does it work so that you can disarm it? INT (Thieve's Tools). Then you follow it up with a DEX (Thieve's Tools) check to disarm it, with bonuses or penalties depending on the INT check.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Finnaly, the Extreme option: Make all ability checks using 2d10 rather than 1d20. That brings the average rolls back down to the middle of the pack (8s to 12s mainly) and thus ability modifiers and proficiency bonus have a much greater impact on all your checks. If you have a -1 INT mod... you are <em>much</em> less likely to hit DC 15 skill checks when you are rolling 2d10 - 1, rather than 1d20 - 1.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="DEFCON 1, post: 7316726, member: 7006"] Rather than dump Investigation as a skill... give it a subset of what they currently use Perception for: [I]Perception[/I] is to find hidden creatures... things that move around and leave tracks / scent / movement. [I]Investigation[/I] is to find hidden inanimate objects... things like secret doors and traps. You do that and immediately you nerf Perception like it really needs to be, and Intelligence now jumps up for those PCs that are going to be searching for stuff. If you are a Rogue you absolutely can't dump Intelligence, not if you want to search for traps. Option 2: Use the Variant Rule that does not assign specific ability scores to specific skills. When a check needs to be made, you decide which ability score applies and then the player can offer up a proficiency they might have that could possibly apply. So you thus can end up with things like INT (Perception) or INT (Survival) or INT (Persuasion) etc. This also thus can be used to simulate other kinds of "skills" without needing to add them to the skill list. Combat Tactics? That's an INT (Insight) check as the PC tries to glean what they can from what they know of the opposing side's thought processes and then develop strategies to counter them. Engineering questions? That's INT (Tinkering Tools) or INT (Thieve's Tools) depending on the kind of engineering problems you come across. Like you've found the trap... but how does it work so that you can disarm it? INT (Thieve's Tools). Then you follow it up with a DEX (Thieve's Tools) check to disarm it, with bonuses or penalties depending on the INT check. Finnaly, the Extreme option: Make all ability checks using 2d10 rather than 1d20. That brings the average rolls back down to the middle of the pack (8s to 12s mainly) and thus ability modifiers and proficiency bonus have a much greater impact on all your checks. If you have a -1 INT mod... you are [I]much[/I] less likely to hit DC 15 skill checks when you are rolling 2d10 - 1, rather than 1d20 - 1. [/QUOTE]
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