D&D 5E (Houserule) Add +1 to Int Mod Skill

[Cap'n Kobold]

I would give language AND a tool per point of bonus. Because between language, tool and skill, 9 out of 10 the skill wins.

Remember its Int skills only. A character with a decent, but not really high Int score may well value the tool proficiency or language more.

 

[Blue]

Hmm, thinking about killing two birds with one stone here.

I dislike that I can be proficient in a skill, yet if I have a poor ability mod then untrained people with good ability scores will be better for all of the levels we normally play.

How about that for trained skills only, you can use the higher of your INT mod or the normal ability? So you can puzzle through using medicine, plan a deception, work out what someone wants and offer it for persuasion, know how to lift safely for athletics, etc.

Trained skills only doesn't interact weirdly with jack of all trades. It keeps the same range for DCs, bounded accuracy for skills. But it allows you to substitute your INT for a different score which is lower.

 

[FrogReaver]

i think the goal is to benefit characters for increasing int as their offstat and not to just buff the wizard. As such I'm going to recommend:

At int 11 gain an extra language. At int 12.gain a tool proficiency. At int 13gain a skill proficiency.

Higher int does nothing more

 

[ro]

Interesting thoughts.

Class Skills: You gain one fewer skill proficiencies from your class than specified in the class description.
Background Skills: You gain only one skill proficiency from your background rather than two.

Skills: Your total number of skill proficiencies equals your Race Skills + Class Skills + Background Skills + Intelligence Modifier - 2, minimum 0. If your Intelligence modifier decreases during your adventure, you do not lose skill proficiencies. Your skill proficiencies must be chosen from your race, background, and class lists.

 

[jaelis]

What I've done: For each point of Int bonus, you get a bonus language, tool, or Int skill proficiency of your choice.

I like that take.

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

Interesting thoughts.

Class Skills: You gain one fewer skill proficiencies from your class than specified in the class description.
Background Skills: You gain only one skill proficiency from your background rather than two.

Skills: Your total number of skill proficiencies equals your Race Skills + Class Skills + Background Skills + Intelligence Modifier - 2, minimum 0. If your Intelligence modifier decreases during your adventure, you do not lose skill proficiencies. Your skill proficiencies must be chosen from your race, background, and class lists.

I think that this suggestion runs counter to the intention of the OP. I believe that we're looking for reasons to not dump intelligence, rather than specifically rewarding wizards for maxing it out.

Your suggestion would reduce the range of skills a character has unless they roll up ability scores, get lucky, and put their highest score into intelligence. There is no reward for having anything less than a 16 in Int, and even with that the character would be losing versatility compared to the usual way of character generation.

I think that we're after reasons to put a 12, 13, or 14 in Int rather than dumping it. The general consensus seems to be that Wizards are the only people likely to be maxing it out, and that they don't need much extra power.

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

I dislike that I can be proficient in a skill, yet if I have a poor ability mod then untrained people with good ability scores will be better for all of the levels we normally play.

Bear in mind that as long as you didn't dump the relevant ability score, being proficient allows you to keep up with people much more naturally gifted than you are. Outside the adventuring community, people with unusually high ability scores tend to be rare in most games.

How about that for trained skills only, you can use the higher of your INT mod or the normal ability? So you can puzzle through using medicine, plan a deception, work out what someone wants and offer it for persuasion, know how to lift safely for athletics, etc.

Trained skills only doesn't interact weirdly with jack of all trades. It keeps the same range for DCs, bounded accuracy for skills. But it allows you to substitute your INT for a different score which is lower.

Not a fan. Your intellect may give you the technique that allows you to keep up with someone untrained but much more naturally gifted than you. But its not going to win you that race against someone with reasonable technique who is also much more naturally athletic than you are. No matter how bright you are, if you have the muscle tone of a soufflé and get winded climbing into bed, you're not going to win athletic competitions.

 

[ro]

I think that this suggestion runs counter to the intention of the OP. I believe that we're looking for reasons to not dump intelligence, rather than specifically rewarding wizards for maxing it out.

Your suggestion would reduce the range of skills a character has unless they roll up ability scores, get lucky, and put their highest score into intelligence. There is no reward for having anything less than a 16 in Int, and even with that the character would be losing versatility compared to the usual way of character generation.

I think that we're after reasons to put a 12, 13, or 14 in Int rather than dumping it. The general consensus seems to be that Wizards are the only people likely to be maxing it out, and that they don't need much extra power.

We could simply take out the -2 skills to start, and say that a -1 Int loses one skill, but +X Int gains X skills.

Skills. Your total number of skill proficiencies equals your Race Skills + Class Skills + Background Skills + Intelligence Modifier. If your Intelligence modifier decreases during your adventure, you do not lose skill proficiencies. Your skill proficiencies must be chosen from your race, background, and class lists.​

A player will only not dump a stat if that stat is necessary to a decent build. You have to penalize negative Int like you do negative Dex or anything else. Because Int is used for fewer checks, attacks, saves, damage, etc, it is easily dumped. Fixing this requires making Int valuable. Linking Int to skill-learning ability would meet this goal.

My proposed change takes equally from all classes, but it would give Wizards a bonus because they use Int naturally. But Wizards already suffer from dumping other stats.

Granting language and tool proficiencies will not be effective in curbing Int dumps. Languages are already readily available, and in many games they aren't very necessary. Likewise, almost all tools are usually of limited use. If Xanathar's makes tools more useful, that would be great, but in the meantime, they are ribbon features, and a ribbon does little to discourage stat dumping.

What really needs to happen is for spells to be re-written to give many more Int and Cha saves.

 

[GlassJaw]

What I've done: For each point of Int bonus, you get a bonus language, tool, or Int skill proficiency of your choice.

I like this, although I would probably require that each can be selected only once and only applies at 1st level.

I've feel that languages are fairly difficult to learn in 5E. I've actually wanted my players to have more. It opens up more role-playing opportunities and can give players a chance to role-playing that don't normally do so if they have a language no one else in the group has.

Also, 3ed gave characters an additional language for each point of Int mod at 1st level.

 

[pukunui]

Also, 3ed gave characters an additional language for each point of Int mod at 1st level.

It also gave spellcasters bonus spell slots.

I wanted to give people a choice, rather than just automatically make it languages. I don't think any of my players have chosen tool proficiencies, but they haven't always chosen the Int skills. A few of them have chosen extra languages. So it's working as intended, as far as I'm concerned.