Cheiromancer
Adventurer
This is a proposal to drop Intelligence as a stat. The other mental stats (Wisdom and Charisma) would pick up its functions as follows:
Wizard bonus spells and spell DCs: Charisma. Charisma will be the "arcane stat."
Extra Skill points: Charisma. The word "charisma" means gifts or favors from the gods, and one way to show that a person is "gifted" or "favored" by the gods is to give them extra skill points. Note that wizards will still have oodles of skill points.
Knowledge skills: Wisdom. Wisdom governs memory, intuition and making connections. Temples and monasteries would be repositories of knowledge.
Craft skills: Charisma. Creative genius and inventiveness is the hallmark of Charisma. Artists and inventors may not devote any points to social skills, but people will still find them fascinating.
Roleplaying: The players decide how smart to roleplay their character, just as they currently decide how physically attractive their character is. If they absolutely need something "objective" to determine how smart the character is, they can use Wisdom, Charisma and knowledge skills stand in as a marker of intelligence, just as Charisma currently can be used a stand in for physical attractiveness. Similar remarks hold for DMs playing NPCs.
Other functions: if it is creative, active and/or dynamic, substitute Charisma for Intelligence. If it is synthetic, passive and/or reactive, substitute Wisdom for Intelligence. Think what classes are supposed to benefit, and what ability scores they would typically have. If this is not obvious, see if it is similar to something already based on wisdom or charisma, and decide if it should stack or not. If it stacks, it should be a different ability.
For example: If a wizard oriented feat allows the intelligence bonus to give bonus hit points, make it charisma. Wizards will have high charisma in this proposed revision. If an ability allows intelligence bonuses to add to AC, decide if Monks would benefit. If they do, then make it charisma. If not, make it Wisdom. (Monks already add their wisdom bonus to AC).
Point buy: use a point buy 3 or 4 points lower. If 28 is your standard, use 25. If 32 is your standard, use 28.
Game Balance: Paladins would have more skill points, as would sorcerers and bards. Is this enough to break these classes? I doubt it.
Comments?
Wizard bonus spells and spell DCs: Charisma. Charisma will be the "arcane stat."
Extra Skill points: Charisma. The word "charisma" means gifts or favors from the gods, and one way to show that a person is "gifted" or "favored" by the gods is to give them extra skill points. Note that wizards will still have oodles of skill points.
Knowledge skills: Wisdom. Wisdom governs memory, intuition and making connections. Temples and monasteries would be repositories of knowledge.
Craft skills: Charisma. Creative genius and inventiveness is the hallmark of Charisma. Artists and inventors may not devote any points to social skills, but people will still find them fascinating.
Roleplaying: The players decide how smart to roleplay their character, just as they currently decide how physically attractive their character is. If they absolutely need something "objective" to determine how smart the character is, they can use Wisdom, Charisma and knowledge skills stand in as a marker of intelligence, just as Charisma currently can be used a stand in for physical attractiveness. Similar remarks hold for DMs playing NPCs.
Other functions: if it is creative, active and/or dynamic, substitute Charisma for Intelligence. If it is synthetic, passive and/or reactive, substitute Wisdom for Intelligence. Think what classes are supposed to benefit, and what ability scores they would typically have. If this is not obvious, see if it is similar to something already based on wisdom or charisma, and decide if it should stack or not. If it stacks, it should be a different ability.
For example: If a wizard oriented feat allows the intelligence bonus to give bonus hit points, make it charisma. Wizards will have high charisma in this proposed revision. If an ability allows intelligence bonuses to add to AC, decide if Monks would benefit. If they do, then make it charisma. If not, make it Wisdom. (Monks already add their wisdom bonus to AC).
Point buy: use a point buy 3 or 4 points lower. If 28 is your standard, use 25. If 32 is your standard, use 28.
Game Balance: Paladins would have more skill points, as would sorcerers and bards. Is this enough to break these classes? I doubt it.
Comments?
