Big problem with intelligence enhancing items?

[Quasimodo]

Yes, but all the bonuses you mention, Str for hit and damage, hp from con ect are only temporary - as long as you have the item on and it's still functioning (anti magic, sunder, disjunction all stop those bonuses in thier tracks)
While the skill points you seem to want as a permanent boost to your pc - just seems to much like powergaming to me.
If you want higher skills so bad place a higher stat in your base int at charcter creation and drop one of the other stats - hey! you can get an item to boost that stat instead and take the temp boost of a str or con item.

 

[Scion]

::shrugs:: apparently you are not joking.

The fact that it is somewhat permanent is simply an artifact of the system.

If you gained, say, 10 hp from a con item and were knocked unconscious but survive, then forever more there was a permanent effect from that con boosting item: you didnt die.

Still, if you wanted any other stat higher you could have simply put more points into it. So I suppose we should get rid of all stat boosting items.

Remember, a character cant even afford an int boosting item for several levels, by that time there is only a limited effect it can have overall, but it is nice to have.

You still havent produced a reason why it shouldnt be allowed though, except that a character doing something that will make him better at what he wants to do is 'powergaming'. Planning ahead to try to be better at something is again 'powergaming'. With that sort of definition then anything and everything in the game becomes 'powergaming'.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

Does anyone have any reasons why int shouldnt grant the skill boost? It cant be from worry about when to apply the change, because the system still has to worry about that from other sources anyway. So there is no difference there.

So really, what possible reason is there to disallow the skill points?

Because it is mindnumbingly difficult to check if you have the right number of skillpoints unless you maintain level by level tallies.

 

[Scion]

Because it is mindnumbingly difficult to check if you have the right number of skillpoints unless you maintain level by level tallies.

And this is different than how any other int changes work in the game how....?

 

[Gort]

IMC I houseruled it that you use your current (magically modified or not) intelligence bonus to decide your number of skill points, and that it works retroactively as well.

It's a pain in the neck otherwise, and a few extra skill points is not going to unbalance a game.

 

[billd91]

The fact that it is somewhat permanent is simply an artifact of the system.

If you gained, say, 10 hp from a con item and were knocked unconscious but survive, then forever more there was a permanent effect from that con boosting item: you didnt die.

<snip>

You still havent produced a reason why it shouldnt be allowed though, except that a character doing something that will make him better at what he wants to do is 'powergaming'. Planning ahead to try to be better at something is again 'powergaming'. With that sort of definition then anything and everything in the game becomes 'powergaming'.

Permanency isn't really an artifact of the system. There are, arguably, plenty of permanent effects that can be achieved with any stat increasing item. If you make an escape artist check thanks to the bonus from a pair of Gloves of Dexterity, you can't 'unmake' that skill check retroactively once you take the gloves off.
But skill points gained from an Intelligence boost are a bit different in that they are permanent additions to the character sheet, the character's permanent assets, and can't be removed once the item is gone. If the Int boosting item did give out such a thing, that would be good argument to INCREASE the cost of the item substantially.

 

[Scion]

If the Int boosting item did give out such a thing, that would be good argument to INCREASE the cost of the item substantially.

Which means that you feel int is more important than any other stat.

 

[billd91]

Which means that you feel int is more important than any other stat.

Well, Intelligence is one stat that can significantly enhance all character classes by giving more skill points. But the main reason I'd say it would need a major price increase if it added to skill points would be because of the permanency of the enhancement. All other stat modifiers give temporary enhancements that go away when the item is gone/non-functioning.

 

[Scion]

Like I said, that is just an artifact inherant in the system.

If you know of a better way to work overall skill points then put it up for all to see.

Otherwise, the same problem occurs from a number of sources. So, changing this one issue, which didnt need to be changed, helps not at all.

Characters spend their 'funds' to gain certain benefits. Taking away entirely one of the benefits, for no other reason than 'because we felt like it' just doesnt fly well with me.

A character who needs more hp can get a con item. A person who needs more skill points does what? Nothing? Bad solution.

If you have a problem with the system artifact then fix that problem, making useless patches (and they are useless, because the problem still exists in other places) just isnt helpful. Treating a symptom, not the cause, bad medicine.

 

[billd91]

Like I said, that is just an artifact inherant in the system.

If you know of a better way to work overall skill points then put it up for all to see.

Otherwise, the same problem occurs from a number of sources. So, changing this one issue, which didnt need to be changed, helps not at all.

Characters spend their 'funds' to gain certain benefits. Taking away entirely one of the benefits, for no other reason than 'because we felt like it' just doesnt fly well with me.

A character who needs more hp can get a con item. A person who needs more skill points does what? Nothing? Bad solution.

If you have a problem with the system artifact then fix that problem, making useless patches (and they are useless, because the problem still exists in other places) just isnt helpful. Treating a symptom, not the cause, bad medicine.

I don't think there's any problem with the skill point system. And I don't think this is a case of taking something away because "we felt like it". I think removing a permanent benefit from a temporary magic item is a reasonable balance decision to make even if that is something that the stat boost normally provides. It's not a useless patch in any way shape or form.

If a character wants more skill points - multiclass for a level into a class that provides them like rogue or ask the DM to allow you to pick up a level as an NPC class Expert. That's a permanent investment appropriate to picking up a permanent benefit.