MM Errata: Beast Intelligence

[dcollins]

The Monster Manual Web Errata inserted a new rule that Beasts were limited to Intelligence of 1-2 (errata for page 5). This was done even though the majority of Beasts listed in the book (8 of 13) originally had Intelligence of 3+. The errata managed to specify the necessary changes to 5 Beasts, but missed 3 others (the Gray Render, Griffon, and Sea Lion).

Does anyone know why they made this change? (Maybe there's a discussion in some supplemental book or magazine from WOTC?)

 

[Kae'Yoss]

I think that an animal or beast with Int 3 or more automatically becomes a magical beast.
It's because animals and beasts are pracitacally the same, only that animals are creatures that actually can be found on earth in real life, but beasts are either extinct or have never existed on our planet (but it would be possible.
They have both an reasonably normal anatomy. Animals, as a rule, depend on their instincts. They are not really intelligent, and they lack a consciousness (and, therefore, an alignment, for they dont take a moral or ethic view). Therefore they can have no more than Int 2 (that was calles demi-intelligent or beast intelligence in former Editions of D&D)

As for the beasts that still have int 3+:I think that they just forgot about the those, and they should have Int 2

 

[dcollins]

Um, thanks, but that doesn't explain why the designers changed that rule from when the game was originally designed.

- October 2000, majority of MM Beasts have Int 3+.

- Later time period, Skip Williams in his article "How To Create A Monster" writes, "Though beasts can be smarter than animals, they can have animal Intelligence (Intelligence score of 1 or 2) as well" -- noting that it's an exception for Beasts to have less than Int 3.

So why'd that change just now?

 

[Crothian]

I've found that designers for the most part will not explain their resons for changeing things to anybody. So, we just have to guess at why they made the change because we will never get an answer from them.

More then likely it was because they felt that beasts in general should be dumb.

 

[Magus_Jerel]

I think that an animal or beast with Int 3 or more automatically becomes a magical beast. It's because animals and beasts are pracitacally the same, only that animals are creatures that actually can be found on earth in real life, but beasts are either extinct or have never existed on our planet (but it would be possible.

as far as reaosn, this is very close. See the descriptors of the various "monster categories". A beast need merely be based off of a single animal - either extinct or existing.

 

[dcollins]

Two other things that have occurred to me about this change:

- It makes a number of standard D&D monsters (Hippogriff, Hydra, Owlbear, Griffon) noticably dumber than they've ever been before -- ever since OD&D, these creatures have Intelligence above Animal, in the 3-6 range.

- The change to skill points for Beasts does bring the book more in line with the skills listed for the changed creatures (they sort-of gave them Animal skills in the first printing).