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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Li Shenron" data-source="post: 1675712" data-attributes="member: 1465">This has been a problem I have experienced since the very beginning of RPGing... I was playing a low-Int warrior in OD&D and the DM kept making notes that I was RPGing very badly because I was acting much more smart than my PC was supposed to be. I was being morally forced to make occasional tactic mistakes  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" /> I think the DM ruled very badly himself, because as a matter of fact I wasn't playing very smart at all, just normally... but in his opinion an Int 6 had to be played sub-normal (which I think it's very untrue).However this was not a real problem after all, and I accepted to play as the DM wanted and the other players felt too that it was my duty. The real problem came when everyone realized that another player in the group was playing a high-Int wizard and was barely able to get how the rules worked... While it was possible to play a character dumber than you, it was impossible to play a character smarter than you, what a surprise...  <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/paranoid.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":uhoh:" title="Paranoid    :uhoh:" data-shortname=":uhoh:" /> In 3rd edition there are many places where your PC's Int score matters, for example all those skills, and if you want to make it matter more often you can more often call for simple Int checks (or untrained knowledge checks for example!).I have used this occasionally, and it rewards the player who put a high score in Int or Wis (depending on the circumstances).Two simple examples that occurred to me:- A riddle on a door, which was supposed to be solved by the players. However, it turned out that after almost an hour (basically we took a break for food and drink) of OOC discussion, they hadn't find the solution, but they wanted to go on with the game - unfortunately there wasn't much else to do to get past that door. So I had their PC make an Int check, and gave the solution out*. The cost for the players is that they didn't get the XP reward planned for that riddle.*actually they didn't succeed at first try, so they camped outside the entrance, and I let the PCs roll again after a few hours of study of the riddle- A sealed letter found in someone's pocket. The letter was an important clue for the story, but no one got the bit which was the real hint to the writer. I didn't exactly tell that directly, but I granted them a couple of Int and Wis checks (basically they could have been Craft(Calligraphy) and Profession(Scribe) checks if they had those skills trained) to get clues about the paper, the seal or the handwriting to identify the writer from the tools he used instead from the content of the letter.One important thing I want to suggest is NOT to give these checks immediately! Only grant them if the players don't come up themselves with the solution, and even in that case grant them only occasionally. Often there should be a few other ways to solve a problem, and if they don't get one they'll get another, without real help needed.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> By the way, I think in your case if you grant a Spellcraft check that is enough, but if you want you can also let them roll a Wis check to sense that something's up... But in general I don't see such a need for tactical decisions. And if the foe killed him in one round, perhaps it would have killed him anyway!</blockquote>

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