INT bonus, skills and stat increases

[Corwin]

So we (my gaming group) were discussing stat increases and their effects on a character. One of the things that has been bugging us is that, of all the abilities, intelligence is the only one that is a pain in the butt to deal with.

The "no retroactivity" of it, mainly as it applies to skill points, can really be annoying to deal with, let alone unfair.

So here is my proposition:

Allow Int mods to retroactively give you skill points. But to prevent the willy-nilly application of this increase in brain power, the "bonus" points gained from previous levels must be added to skills in which you already have ranks. So no "Hey, I just realized I know how to swim!".

This better reflects the fact that, as you get smarted, you are better able to grasp the concepts within a given field you are familiar with (aka, skill). So you are slightly better at it. I realize brain power isn't always a measure of skill adeptness. That's what the base ability modifier is for (a la Strength for swimming). But heck, even your "physical" skills are affected by your intelligence simply because that is the score that determines the number of points you get in the first place, right?

What say you fine folk?

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

The no retroactivity for skill points from intelligence part is annoying when creating characters at greater than first level but is actually easier when creating characters at first level and levelling them up after that. It means that you just worry about how many points you get this level and not how many you would have gotten last level if you had the int you have this level. A minor detail, but no more minor than the unpleasantness of figuring out how many skillpoints a 9th level wizard has when his int has increased by six points (2 from levels, 4 from a headband) since 1st level).

The other significant part of the "no retroactivity" rule is that it means you don't need to go back and figure out which skill points you lose when you get slapped with a bestow curse (-6 int) or a feeblemind spell.

Making it retroactive probably won't hurt your game noticably, but there are good reasons to leave it alone. . . .

 

[thalmin]

Adding bonus points to skills known only works if the skills aren't maxed out to begin with.

 

[Lily Inverse]

Unless the extra points can be "held." Personally, I would let them spend the points on a new skill as long as they spend points from training on the skill at the same time. ("Wow, this is so much more simple than I thought it'd be.")