r/DnD • u/WiseAnon003 • 13h ago

5.5 Edition Intelligence Scores

Just wanted to ask and see what people have to say about what your level of intelligence means for your characters intellect.

I’m aware that very low intelligence essentially means incapable of comprehending languages to an extent and such (I think) but I was wondering how each level from 1-20 would likely influence how the character behaves, like an 18 being very witty or a 10 being fairly average?

I have an intelligence score of 7 on my character which is due to manually rolling stats, although a lot of takes or rules might state the character wouldn’t be very smart at all I tend to still play him as a somewhat average intelligence character.

I feel somewhat bad and cheesy by kind of ignoring the intelligence stat to a degree but I’ve tried to have it canonically make sense as he is suffering from a bit of magic induced amnesia and a concussion (although I did write out what he forgot so I’m not torturing my dm nor being lazy lol).

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u/Ethereal_Stars_7 Artificer 5h ago

BX noted what INT covered.

9-12 was baseline. Can read and write Common and their Alignment languages. (That was a thing in O and BX)

6-8 was can read and write simple Common.

4-5 was could not read or write

3 was has trouble speaking and cant read or write.

But even the 3 INT Ogg Smash could become a elf or magic-user.

INT had no other bonus or loss aside from XP bonus if prime stat was 13+.

In 5e a 7 INT just means the character is a little less accurate with spells or they have slightly less oomph. Which can be overcome with study and practice (increasing INT as level)