Would you care to elaborate on any instance in which your group actually used the Intelligence attribute for well... literally anything...
That wasn't inconsequential... oh, and wasn't a situation in which it wasn't perfectly fine if only one party member made the check and everyone had the chance...
Arcana checks (You see a magical symbol, what does it do?)
Investigation Checks (Is the Door trapped?)
Religion or Nature or History checks (How do you not offend the powerful entity standing in front of you)
Ah, but you may say that if only one person passes it is fine. Which isn’t really always the case. You check the door for traps, fail, you don’t think the door is trapped…. So why would Jim, Bob, Steve, Gary and Amanda all check for traps as well, there are no traps.
Sure, only one person needs to pass the nature check to understand how to not offend the powerful wolf spirit…. But all that means is that one guy might not offend him, the rest of you did, which may cause problems.
And there are spells and monsters that require Intelligence saves, they aren’t common but they exist and if a group showed up to my table, bragging about how they don’t need Intelligence scores and had scores under 10 across the board… Well, I’d finally get a chance to run that Intellect Devourer cave encounter I’ve been toying with… and that is probably all bad for that party.
Yes, DPR is part of the game-- hint, your character doesn't survive long nor does the party if you decide to ignore it. Ignoring it IS the niche-- YOU are the niche, not I.
It is very simple. The higher chance a character has of succeeding on each roll during the course of the game directly equates to just how viable the character is for play. An unviable character will not only leave you feeling you are contributing nothing by your presence, but will actually reduce the chance of success at everyone else at the table. Sure-- you can forgo dungeon crawling and battles all together and ignore skill rolls and just you know... crumple up the first page of your character sheet where all the numbers are located and just free form the whole thing. Don't even need a PHB or MM for that! By all means, you are welcome to do that.
But THAT is the niche play style. Looking at the actual effectiveness of a character in and out of combat and formulating their general chances of successfully passing the challenges necessary to complete the adventure-- that is the mainstream style of play.
I think you are being highly dismissive of political intrigue campaigns. A good plan and a few social rolls can finish a mission quicker than pulling out sword and spells to torch a thing.
Also, have you heard of Treamont’s God Wizard, highly respected wizard build. Does zero damage. So… ignores DPR and focuses on Intelligence.
Skipping the rest of your post because it is late and jumping down to
It is well known that regardless of your personal perception of how they are different, even in the printed modules, and much more so at your average game, any time Investigation could be used, the DMs call for Perception checks instead-- or at least allow Perception to substitute in. Moreover, Perception allows you to identify immediate risks which Investigation does not-- it is a flat out worse and more limited skill.
Every time I have seen any skill from the Intelligence pool called for in a game, it has always been the case that it is fine if only a single PC passes the test as that one PC can then relate the information along to everyone else in the party. As opposed to failing a Dexterity test in which you actually lose hit points or a Perception test in which you take an entire round of damage before you can even act or a Strength check which might deny you an entire round of action as you are forced to simply take damage...
Even when used as a save, the cost of failing Intelligence checks tends to be far less costly than nearly any other attribute. So I would like to know how any individual in a group could possibly be suffering from a low Intelligence Attribute and wouldn't be suffering a whole lot more if any other attribute were the deficiency.
I do not call for Perception when a player needs to use Investigation. I may sometimes allow them to substitute, but if I say Investigation, I mean Investigation.
In case you can’t tell, I’m the DM, and sure, anecdotes are nearly worthless, but from the way you are going about this rhetoric it sounds like you are focusing almost entirely on combat and hp damage… that isn’t the entirety of the game and plenty of tables play differently.
Plus, having a 16 in a primary stat isn’t worthless. It is decent. So Hobgoblins aren’t terrible at everything, they make very decent builds. Int and Con make for a great wizard, Arcane Trickster, or Eldritch Knight, all of whom can use the Int and the con not only helps with frontlining but helps keep concentration.
As for my player, it is a slight homebrew situation. I am running a steampunk game with Gunslingers and Gun makers.
He wants to make things with his Tinker’s Tools, but those are normally Intelligence Proficiency Checks, and he has a +0 Int, meaning that he often struggles to beat the DC required to make the complex items he requests. He also tried to show off his ingenuity to a Cloud Giant, and rolled poorly on Int meaning that the plans he presented were of average quality, not as great as he had claimed.
Also, my players just entered a heavily trapped filled dungeon. Only one of them has a high Intelligence, so the Investigation checks are hurting some of them. Lucky for them at least 2 of my 3 rogues took expertise in Investigation so they are getting by, but it makes it hard for the group at times when the person trying to check for traps isn’t as good at it.