Intelligence and time?

[TheElf]

In many cases your characters have to solve problems in certain amount of time. They have to think hard. Do you roll intelligence test? That would take away most of the fun. Do let the players think freely? The value of tre intelligence score dorps quickly. Is there a way to eminate both problems quickly? Yes. Adjusting time limits for intelligence. Every point of bonus you receive from intelligence can provide 10% extra time. For negative bonuses for low score, the time available for the problem solving should shrink. When the time is elapsed for one task the players should roll an intelligence test (agains the base DC) to have one extra minute. They can repeat this as long as each and every test is successfull.

After the first failed test, they would have to wait patiently. How can you use this time inteligently? By giving them some extra tasks., such as copying maps, checking some handouts for additional information. This later is an usefull way to learn more about the world, and these handouts shouldn't be related to the adventure. Captured letters, books, and similar items can be found in most adventures, and they are ideal for using this time. And yes, they are ideal for the dictionary based encryption as well, if you use cryptography and crypted messages.

[UncleDave]

This sounded to me like a good idea at first but on reflection I can see problems...

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that i think Intelligence and Knowledge are two very different things. A player in modern times has some intelligence, and plenty of knowledge. A character from the middle ages may have the same amount of intelligence, but his knowledge would likely be considerably less. And what knowledge he DID have, would be about different things.

So, a character can have intelligence even if his player does not. Then, giving the player extra time won't help: it doesnt make his player any smarter. And what of the really smart player whose character has INT 7? He could come up with good plans at the drop of a hat, even though his character has such poor INT that he only gets ten seconds to do so.

The issue of INT in rpgs is always a thorny one. I dont think this is the way to solve it, though, i'm afraid. It may work in your games, and if it does then fine, but its not for me. I prefer players to exercise some common sense and if they play a char with an INT far different from their own intellect, then roleplay it properly.

Cheers!

[TheElf]

As I see it for good plas, and hard riddles you often need time to think, and more intelligence you have you solve these puzzles in less time, of course if you cannot solve them at all, you don't have much benefit from the extra time.

[nobara]

Inelligence is a character ability, it can not reflect or could be expected to reflect the actuall intelligence of a player, that could be something like saying, that a character can have Strengt 18 + if he can´t lift 200+ pounds for some minutes and stay perfectly calm.

The player should play his character intellingence trait at the best he can, but that doesn´t mean that he need the actually intelligence to do it, if he can´t think of a solution, he should expect aid from his DM to reflect what his intelligence trait can.

When you create challenges like puzzles, this should be based on your party as players and not based on the stat of players.

[TheElf]

The actual help can be extra time, which can reflext the ability scores perfectly This is why I give the extra time

[nobara]

Extra time is a good way, but usually not enough sometimes that puzzle is simply a bit hard, if you create this based on your party as players, they should be aible to solve it, if you create it based on party as characters, then the intelligence roll should give good hints.

[UncleDave]

Imagine you have a character with INT 18 at the start of the game. he progresses a bunch of levels and gains a few more points of INT along the way. You have an INT 20 character. That character then, is quite literally a GENIUS. We are talking Albert Einstein material.

Any player could get such a character, but virtually no player would be able to come up with any ideas that such a super-intelligent character would, no matter how much time you give them.

That is an extreme example, but it illustrates why i dont like the idea.

Cheers!

[TheElf]

Originally Posted by nobara

Extra time is a good way, but usually not enough sometimes that puzzle is simply a bit hard, if you create this based on your party as players, they should be aible to solve it, if you create it based on party as characters, then the intelligence roll should give good hints.

If they spend time they can give and take advice, and suggest things, etc. so they have better chances with time. But most puzzles I design have a chance to be solved by checking all possible answers, and for intelligence of 20... they have plenty of extra time.

[zergnase]

int is to see the point and the solution of a problem

knowledge = information your PC got over the time and which he can use



if the pronlem is how to build a bridge and the PC got lots of ranks in knowledge architecture / enginiering but all ppl on the table have only the most basic knowledge about this ( DC10 infos) it would be good to make a check to cut the time

if u are in a dungeon and there is a riddle

let the players speak / think about it for an ammount of time... bonus time doesn´t sound bad,... if they are in a rush, if they have "all the time of the world" the bonus time and now i need an anwser way just does not work
if the players slove the riddle give em full XP + a bit more for the fun
if they slove it nearly but the PC(s) have a good int or even better a a bunch of ranks in a fitting knowledge skill, le em roll a check, give em 70-100% of the XP, if the players have nooooo clue and they roll a good enough int / knowledge check give em 50% ofthe XP to overcome the challenge

u can argue that they legaly overcome the challange with the skills of their PC just answer yes u got the full XP for the riddle, but non bonus XP for the riddle

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[TheElf]

Since I award xp based on what usefull things they learned from experience and for roleplaying rolling int won't give them much xp...