Int Gain

[Raspen]

Does Int Gain effect Skill points gained every lvl?

example: if a 12th lvl halfling rogue gets a headband of Int + 6 does he get 45 skill points to spend right away?

what if someone gets an ability incress from lvl gain do they get the back ranks as well or just any new ones from now on?

 

[hong]

No on the headband. Yes on the increase from levelling up, but only from that level on, not previous levels.

 

[robberbaron]

The 'Inherent' bonus from reading a Tome of Clear Thought would give more skill points at later levels but 'non-permanent' increases from items would not.

 

[Maldor]

No on the headband. Yes on the increase from levelling up, but only from that level on, not previous levels.

while i know this is raw i think it is silly and recomend that you make it retroactive like con is for HP

 

[cwhs01]

while i know this is raw i think it is silly and recomend that you make it retroactive like con is for HP

While magic (Spells or items) may increase your ability and capacity for learning, it doesn't give you any additional knowledge. The increased abilityscore bonus to skillchecks represents the increased int, but ranks are meant to reflect actual learning and doen't increase (until level up). Headbands of intelect don't actually teach you anything.
imo it would be wrong to add ranks retroactively.

 

[Brazeku]

I actually think it would be cleaner to give a retroactive boost just like constitution for game purposes, as it makes the math consistent. Do it at level up if necessary. I know when I'm building an NPC I calculate skill ranks based upon their final intelligence, and I'm pretty sure most monsters and NPCs are built the same way.

 

[Geoff Watson]

The problem with retroactively adding skill ranks based on Int increase is that you can put the skill points into various skills (unlike Con changes where you've only got one set of hit points).

You could take off and put on a Headband of Intellect to rearrange your skill points so you've got whatever skill you need; which is a bit too powerful.

Geoff.

 

[The Blow Leprechaun]

while i know this is raw i think it is silly and recomend that you make it retroactive like con is for HP

No way. Think it out logically:

Constitution represents how hardy you are. When you become "hardier" this is not something that only matters going forward - it's something that you now are.

Intelligence (as far as skill points are concerned) represents an ability to process and retain new information. A person who becomes smarter does not suddenly become better at things they learned in the past (at least not without relearning them), therefore intelligence bonuses represent gains only going forward.

This is like today, if I took a Calculus class I'd probably retain the information much better than I did when I was a freshman in high school, but that doesn't make me any better at Calculus now.

It's the same thing with not getting another bonus language when your intelligence modifier increases. You don't suddenly speak another language because you're smarter, you'd still have to spend the time learning one (by spending skill points in this case).

 

[Deset Gled]

Intelligence (as far as skill points are concerned) represents an ability to process and retain new information. A person who becomes smarter does not suddenly become better at things they learned in the past (at least not without relearning them), therefore intelligence bonuses represent gains only going forward.

This is like today, if I took a Calculus class I'd probably retain the information much better than I did when I was a freshman in high school, but that doesn't make me any better at Calculus now.

I tend to disagree to a certain extent. Per the SRD, "Intelligence determines how well your character learns and reasons". A person that becomes smarter may suddenly become better at things they learned in the past, because they now understand the information better.

Note that Knowledge is an Int skill. Your Knowlege (Calculus) skill does receive an additional +1 bonus simply by raising your Int from 13 to 14, whether you take another class (rank) in it or not.

I can certainly understand your viewpoint, and actually agree with it from a logical standpoint, but you would have to change the mechanics of the mental abilities to have it modeled accurately. Of course, most of the Psych majors I know would probably say you need at least 7 different abilities to model the human mind correctly.

Also, awarding ranks retroactively just makes things much easier when it comes to the paperwork. And that alone is enough for me.

 

[The Blow Leprechaun]

I tend to disagree to a certain extent. Per the SRD, "Intelligence determines how well your character learns and reasons".

I would attribute the "reasoning" part of that to the innate +1 you'll get to Int based skills. If you want to restrict it to only putting additional ranks into skills you already know, then maybe you can argue reasoning benefits them - otherwise we're back to my argument about processing and retaining new knowledge.