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<blockquote data-quote="GMMichael" data-source="post: 7317974" data-attributes="member: 6685730">XP for letting players know what to expect.A lovely arms cache that goes unfound is, unfortunately, a waste of precious GM time.&nbsp; At least have an NPC tell the players about it, or let them see it but keep it out of reach.&nbsp; Then you can cackle with glee when they can't get their hands on it.Back to OP:Unfortunately for intelligence challenges, one PC with high enough intelligence can share the fruits of his checks with everyone else.&nbsp; So having a non-dump intelligence score isn't very important as long as you have a single wizard in the party.&nbsp; That's sort of the point of having a party, really.If your intent is to make players rue having a low intelligence score, you'll either have to make some decisions for them, or lure them into bad decisions.&nbsp; That first option isn't going to be very popular, but you can probably get away with it occasionally on the grounds that if you dictate how well a character's muscles work with STR, you can also dictate how well their brains work.This technique is less obvious if you lure dumb characters into bad decisions, because the player is still making the decision.&nbsp; It's the outcome that reveals his dump stat.&nbsp; For example, a party goes weapon shopping (bear with me, this is D&amp;D).&nbsp; The merchant offers the fighter a variety of swords, but the fighter notices a particularly devilish sword, and the merchant tells him that the weapon is half price, because it's not selling well.&nbsp; The DM tells the player that the sword uses a higher die for damage than a normal sword, and that the fighter sees nothing wrong with it.&nbsp; The wizard could tell the fighter what the problem is, but &quot;he'd better shut his trap, because the fighter is the expert on weapons, here.&quot;When the blade breaks in half during its first fight, you can casually mention that serrated edges probably added odd stress points to the blade, or having four fullers doesn't result in four-times the bleeding, or a devil's-head pommel got caught on his sleeve, preventing a timely weapon-pivot...</blockquote>

[QUOTE="GMMichael, post: 7317974, member: 6685730"] XP for letting players know what to expect. A lovely arms cache that goes unfound is, unfortunately, a waste of precious GM time. At least have an NPC tell the players about it, or let them see it but keep it out of reach. Then you can cackle with glee when they can't get their hands on it. Back to OP: Unfortunately for intelligence challenges, one PC with high enough intelligence can share the fruits of his checks with everyone else. So having a non-dump intelligence score isn't very important as long as you have a single wizard in the party. That's sort of the point of having a party, really. If your intent is to make players rue having a low intelligence score, you'll either have to make some decisions for them, or lure them into bad decisions. That first option isn't going to be very popular, but you can probably get away with it occasionally on the grounds that if you dictate how well a character's muscles work with STR, you can also dictate how well their brains work. This technique is less obvious if you lure dumb characters into bad decisions, because the player is still making the decision. It's the outcome that reveals his dump stat. For example, a party goes weapon shopping (bear with me, this is D&D). The merchant offers the fighter a variety of swords, but the fighter notices a particularly devilish sword, and the merchant tells him that the weapon is half price, because it's not selling well. The DM tells the player that the sword uses a higher die for damage than a normal sword, and that the fighter sees nothing wrong with it. The wizard could tell the fighter what the problem is, but "he'd better shut his trap, because the fighter is the expert on weapons, here." When the blade breaks in half during its first fight, you can casually mention that serrated edges probably added odd stress points to the blade, or having four fullers doesn't result in four-times the bleeding, or a devil's-head pommel got caught on his sleeve, preventing a timely weapon-pivot... [/QUOTE]

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