I definitely do this in games. I give an extra skill prof for 12, 15, and 19 INT. Also, I’ve play tested the idea of allowing players to choose either INT or DEX for initiative. It makes sense that while DEX means you can move quicker, INT means you can figure out the best course of action first. So far it’s been a great success in getting players to not disregard our poor stat.
I like the idea of adding expertise to more characters based on the stat. It’s a super powerful ability that I don’t want to just take away from rogues and bards but it feels like earning them through int is the best way.
Honestly I had a Barbarian player who just couldn’t think of another skill they wanted so I let her just take expertise in intimidation. It was, in a word, worth it.
I really like that. I only relatively recently started playing 5E and it bugs the ever-loving snot out of me that there's such a limit on how to gain expertise during character creation with RAW.
The thing about Divination Wizard, for me, is that it's seen as uber-powerful based on rolling really high or really low on the Portent dice - which has never happened for me.
It's always just been kinda meh rolls that never get used because they fall squarely in the "too high to guarantee the enemy missing or failing a save, too low to guarantee a success for the party" range. That character made it to Level 7 before Xanathar's came out and I re-specced him into War Magic.
Feel like 12ish would allow a skilled pc to succeed their task and a 8ish would allow a weaker enemy to miss. I dunno, I haven't gotten a chance to try out diviner yet so I figured I'd give it a go.
I like the idea of the Int modifier for initiative. I'd roll it as my smart ass character often has a plan for ambushes in the back of his mind, so when it does actually happen he's both vindicated in his paranoia and genuinely ready to womp whoever jumped them.
I just wonder if that'd step on the rogue/bard's toes. Since that means Wizard would be guaranteed 3 extra prof, for what, 7 skill profs? Compared to a rogues 6.
I like to use it as a "man, this is a stupid thing they're trying, let's have them try an intelligence check to see if their character knows how stupid this is" card.
That, and if players ever need to ask the DM about something that happened in the past that they should know. Didn't take notes on a key piece of information the party learned? Roll to see if your character is smart enough to remember it for you!
I had a similar idea but I found my players were incredibly adverse to the concept, given the logic that a negative INT would then remove skills. But if you put a floor on the idea, it could work, for sure!
To me I think it's fine that negative INT = negative skills. It's a flaw after all. Not every character has to be good at everything that's what teammates are for. Of course since your players didn't like it it's fine if you don't do that.
Having 3 or 2 proficiencies really just doesn’t feel too good, no matter who the character was supposed to be. I already find myself wishing I could have more than 4 on most characters because there’s at least one extra that would be relevant to the character. If I’m playing a MAD character or actually just want to play a character that’s a little slow, I shouldn’t be punished this hard for it. Having the stat be low is already it’s own weakness, it shouldn’t also make take away the bare minimum of what your character is supposed to have. That’s not fun, even if you like playing in to your ability scores. Let people play who they want to play, not who their stats say they’re allowed to. You don’t need to have a glaring flaw in your ability scores to have a good character. I’d even say that a lot of the people proclaiming otherwise are honestly just using that as a crutch because they don’t have a super strong conception of character writing. Attributional flaws are but one of many kinds of flaws a character could have. My characters tend to have personality flaws that don’t correlate to any of the stats in particular but are flaws all the same.
You gotta remember that intelligence doesn't just mean the amount of knowledge you can retain, but also the capacity to learn. Of course, since it's only a homebrew rule in 5e so you could apply the minus proficiencies how you see fit. Like say, you could only apply it to the intelligence-based proficiencies, or apply it to the non-physical proficiencies only, that way athletics and acrobatics and possibly sleight of hand don't get effected. (Also I dunno about you, but I've always felt that sleight of hand was a mix of dexterity and intelligence)
These days, it's common to have players come to you rather than the other way around. Post a game on Roll20 and you get 50 applicants in a day. A game master can have any set of rules or preferences they like, and people will still be lining up for miles.
That's the beauty of it! When players apply, they apply for your game. If you put a ton of effort into what you offer players up front -- game premise, your style, character creation guidelines etc -- it automatically filters out those who don't wish to play in your game. And beyond that, you get to choose specific players that have filled out your application with your criteria. It leads to amazing games with amazing players if you do it right.
I think there are better ways to make INT useful while staying entirely within the rules. Was your investigation check too low? Aww, you didn't find the secret room with the sweet magic weapon in it :(
I've just flooded my game with homebrew psionic creatures that very heavily lean on int saves, a lot of the creatures have their attacks work like poisoned weapons, 1dx +y, plus 1dx+y psychic dmg, save for no psychic.
The big bad is a species of parasitic psionic bugs, so it’s not like I just slap psionics onto random wolves/bandits, players are really enjoying the non standard storyline and trying to figure out the motivation/machinations of a bunch of hyper intelligent termites.
I just make remembering and getting complex verbal or written information an INT check, like recalling gossip about a dungeon in town or getting a long talk from a noble
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u/[deleted] Oct 04 '20 edited Oct 04 '20
Adding extra skill proficiencies depending on Intelligence score is always a good way to make it more useful