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

[Stalker0]

Is it also important to give wizards and rogues extra incentive to not dump strength?

I find pits and ropes do the job nicely for that.

 

[CM]

Echoing other comments here, I try to use it frequently, especially for remembering NPC names, overheard conversations, memorized maps, and the like. Much sweating of bullets ensues, especially when a character's under cover or infiltrating somewhere.

That said, I plan on granting a bonus language or tool proficiency for each Int bonus beyond +1.

 

[Sadras]

If 8 str allows you to carry 120 pounds without problems and lift or drag 240 pounds.
So with same efficiency, 8 int should allow you to complete a university degree without problem!
Stop saying 8 int is a dump stat. 8 int is quite smart.

without problems, only if you decide to play on easy mode and not use the variant encumbrance rule.

 

[CubicsRube]

I'm tempted to provide advantage in social situations to characters that speak the language of the target. And give bonus languages based on int mod.

If you speak anothers language, you're surely better at deceiving, persuading and intimidating them!

You could also go full medievil and make charazcters pay a language proficiency to be able to read in the language they can speak.

So maybe you can all speak common, but its only smarty wizz wizz who can read that note...

 

[CubicsRube]

without problems, only if you decide to play on easy mode and not use the variant encumbrance rule.

Going to make a simple encumbrance for next campaign.

You can carry/wear a number of objects equal to your strength score. Clothes count for one item. Food and water another. Magic focus/component bags another item. Bedroll another.

Starts adding up.

 

[Sadras]

I'm tempted to provide advantage in social situations to characters that speak the language of the target. And give bonus languages based on int mod.

We have incorporated such a house rule:
You gain Lesser Advantage (+2) on the social interactions when you are proficient in and speak the home language of the target.

Going to make a simple encumbrance for next campaign.

Our table finds encumbrance simple enough. A rough test was done, all the characters tested positively for being encumbered which determined their group travel speed. At the beginning of an encounter, the characters have the option to drop their backbacks as part of their interaction with the environment/object which allows them to be unencumbered for the combat.
We do a quick test for encumbrance once every 3-4 sessions to make sure all is the same - it usually is.

 

[CleverNickName]

Is it also important to give wizards and rogues extra incentive to not dump strength?

Not for my gaming group, we usually have a variety of Strength scores all across the party. Unlike Intelligence in my gaming group, where literally every character in the party had an 8. Every single time.

I wish I was exaggerating.

I don't blame them, the rules are surprisingly lax when it comes to Intelligence...if you have a terrible stat that you need to dump somewhere, Intelligence is really the only low-impact choice. That's why I set out to change it with a house rule--I wanted Intelligence to be more important, that's all.

 

[Sadras]

Not for my gaming group, we usually have a variety of Strength scores all across the party. Unlike Intelligence in my gaming group, where literally every character in the party had an 8. Every single time.

I had the exact same problem. Personally I also had an issue with odd numbers meaning nothing so I changed that up for the ability scores. The great thing is, I just ported in something (like you did) rather than amend the entire table with their +/- which is pretty easy to do. Now every point in an ability score means something.

 

[iserith]

Our table finds encumbrance simple enough. A rough test was done, all the characters tested positively for being encumbered which determined their group travel speed. At the beginning of an encounter, the characters have the option to drop their backbacks as part of their interaction with the environment/object which allows them to be unencumbered for the combat.
We do a quick test for encumbrance once every 3-4 sessions to make sure all is the same - it usually is.

I do the encumbrance rule when we're doing dungeon crawls since I find part of the dungeon crawl experience is managing limited resources and trying to choose between equipment and treasure you want to haul out. It works out well and is easy to track with a digital character sheet. I have dropping backpacks be an action though on par with doffing a shield.

My experience has been that players are very wary about that -10 ft. speed penalty for being encumbered even though it doesn't matter all that much in a dungeon environment. But at the same time, when paring down their equipment, they agonize over not having this or that item even if they've never actually used it in play. It's pretty interesting.

 

[schnee]

We have incorporated such a house rule:
You gain Lesser Advantage (+2) on the social interactions when you are proficient in and speak the home language of the target.

I remember 3rd edition too. All those +2s everywhere.

Our table finds encumbrance simple enough. A rough test was done, all the characters tested positively for being encumbered which determined their group travel speed. At the beginning of an encounter, the characters have the option to drop their backbacks as part of their interaction with the environment/object which allows them to be unencumbered for the combat.
We do a quick test for encumbrance once every 3-4 sessions to make sure all is the same - it usually is.

Yeah, that's what happens with the variable rule. But our table didn't want the game to become 'keep a spare backpack with the same stuff back at camp to replace the ones you dropped when you fled the TPK' which has the knock-on effect of forcing them to spend more, keep more detailed lists of stuff, buy horses to carry that stuff, and then hire retainers to guard the horses and the extra stuff.

We did that in AD&D. It was a much more logistical game. It was fun for us, at the time, but not for most now. Times have changed.