Hacking 2e: Intelligence

 

I’m not a fan of this table, as it provides only two things: wizard limits and languages. For an ability that claims to represent “a character’s memory, reasoning, and learning ability,” it has a very narrow mechanical scope. It’s no wonder that it ended up being the easy dump stat for everyone except wizards and polyglots.

This section is also an example of how no one at TSR ever figured out the line between Intelligence and Wisdom. The text indicates that a semi-intelligent character (Int 3 or 4) is “apt to react instinctively or impulsively.” Wouldn’t that be a function of Wisdom, which dictates “judgement [and] common sense?” I’m not suggesting that this line is clear (it’s anything but), yet I’m hoping we can do a better job.

This ability is one of the few to get examples for the scores, which is found in the Monstrous Manual:

0	Nonintelligent or not ratable
1	Animal intelligence
2-4	Semi-intelligent
5-7	Low intelligence
8-10	Average (human) intelligence
11-12	Very intelligent
13-14	High intelligence
15-16	Exceptional intelligence
17-18	Genius
19-20	Supra-genius
21+	Godlike intelligence

 

Alright, let’s get into it.

Column 1. Number of Languages

In 2e, this number pulls double duty. If you’re not using the nonweapon proficiency system, it’s literally the number of languages the character can speak beyond their native language. If you are using nonweapon proficiencies, this number is added to the total slots you have available to purchase skills, wherein you can buy your extra languages amongst other options.

The ability related to learning is the obvious choice when determining bonuses to any skill system, and here it’s a clever use of an otherwise one-trick stat. But for languages, this table drives me up the wall. First, it’s changed slightly from 1e, by raising Int 9’s count from 1 to 2, and giving every score from 1–7 a boost from 0 to 1. This is fine for padding skills, but it makes the table confusing when it comes to languages, since 2e states that this number is for additional languages beyond the native ones. In other words, 2e makes every character bilingual at a minimum, including those with scores considered ‘semi-intelligent.’

This is silly. If we’re going to offer an ‘additional’ language at all, it should at most start at Int 9 with only one additional language, then go up slowly from there. Basic makes a good pass at this, though I think it moves in the other direction by being a bit stingy. I do like how it resolves the odd situation created by nonweapon proficiency’s Reading/Writing skill, which implies that some very intelligent characters may be illiterate simply because they really wanted to spend their slots on ‘useful’ skills. Let’s steal that. 

I’ve cut off the bit about Alignment languages, because of
all the things I’m not using, I’m not using that the most.

This column could just represent the ‘maximum’ number of languages a character is ever allowed to learn, and we leave the question of how many languages a character speaks at level 1 to a conversation between the player and the DM, based on that specific PC’s history and background. We could also have a long argument about how the ability to speak multiple languages has nothing to do with one’s intelligence, but rather their upbringing, location, and need, and so toss this entirely in favor of the aforementioned conversation between the player and DM. All of this is digression; I’ll recommend this Grognardia post and this Delta post for more. Regardless, that’s information for a sidebar.

I can see where it’s worthwhile to have some ruling for how many languages a character can speak, especially if that skill can be used to the advantage of the player. Having it continue to hoist up the skills system, however, is unnecessary. That hack was only done to ensure they wouldn’t need to add an additional table (not that this has stopped them before) and has no use if we’re rebuilding Intelligence.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, it’s all wizard restrictions from here on.

2. Spell Level

This isn’t bad. AD&D caps the highest level spells you can know based on Intelligence, and I think it’s a clever way to ensure Intelligence matters. It works even better when you allow ASI. That being said, it’s a restriction in the same manner as Maximum Number of Spells per Level; that rule was made completely optional and I’d argue that this one should be, as well.

Whether it’s optional or not, it doesn’t need to be on the table. The listed values are just half the PC’s Intelligence score rounded down, so we can toss this column and make it a description in a sidebar.

The magic system in D&D is, much like skills, worthy of its own dissection. I’ve never liked that the spell levels rise at half values to character levels; a level 5 wizard should know level 5 spells, not level 3. I’m not sure what magic will look like when I’m done beating it with a baseball bat, but I suspect I won’t kill this particular idiosyncrasy, if only to maintain compatibility. Therefore, I’ll use the same levels as the book.

 

3. Chance to Learn Spell

This one is going in the trash. Not the rule, that’s great, but there’s no point in having this be an extra column when I can use an ability check in its place.

The values listed are mostly 10% below where they need to be to directly map to an Int check, with the only outliers being 18 and 19, where the numbers begin to jump. That’s close enough for me, and I’m all for offering wizards a boost in order to eliminate the column. It’ll also mean that a PC with Int 20 or above no longer needs to roll for failure, which seems right.

Strike another column. 

Doofus wizard deserves an extra 10% chance to
learn his spells. Look at how hard he's studying!

 

4. Maximum Number of Spells per Level

AD&D 2e drops the ‘minimum number of spells per level’ found in 1e, which removes a very fiddly rule that’s both cumbersome and hard to parse in its original Gygaxian language. 2e keeps the maximum value from 1e, but as mentioned above, it makes the rule entirely optional, which I’d also say is a good call. If online discussion is any indication, these limitations were soundly ignored by most players. I think we can leave the optional rule in place, but rid ourselves of the column by just making the max number equal to the Intelligence score and pairing that in a sidebar with the rule for max spell level.

That’s three columns gone. We’re on a roll, here.

 

5. Illusion Immunity

Our second-to-last Deities & Demigods addition, this grants auto-saves against illusions at the stated levels. I’m not a fan of the automatic success, but I’d like to save the column. This seems like a great place to add a saving throw bonus. Of course, much like Dexterity’s saving throw to dodging adjustment when there’s no ‘dodge’ save, here we’re offering saves against ‘illusions’ when there is no such category. I’m inclined to make this a bonus to saving throws vs spells, but I’ll leave it as ‘illusions’ for now, since I’m not completely retooling the saving throw system in this particular post. Let’s model it off of the rearranged poison save bonus.

 

Final Table

Intelligence	Skills	Language	Illusion (or Spell) Save	Bonus Wizard Spells
1	-7	No Spoken Language	-4	–
2	-6	Simple Speech	-4	–
3	-5	Simple Speech	-3	–
4	-4	Cannot Read/Write	-3	–
5	-3	Cannot Read/Write	-2	–
6	-2	Native Only	-2	–
7	-1	Native Only	-1	–
8	-1	Native Only	–	–
9-12	–	Native +1	–	–
13	+1	Native +2	–	1st
14	+1	Native +2	–	1st
15	+2	Native +2	+1	2nd
16	+3	Native +3	+1	2nd
17	+4	Native +3	+2	3rd
18	+5	Native +4	+2	4th
19	+6	Native +4	+2	1st, 3rd
20	+7	Native +5	+3	2nd, 4th
21	+8	Native +6	+3	3rd, 5th
22	+9	Native +7	+3	4th, 6th
23	+10	Native +8	+4	5th, 7th
24	+11	Native +9	+4	6th, 8th
25	+12	Native +10	+5	7th, 9th

 

Where did that last column come from? I’ve been reading through Hyperborea 3e, wherein Talanian bring the bonus spells from Wisdom into the Intelligence ability. It’s an obvious addition and I’m stealing it. I’ve modified the column a bit, as wizard spells go up to 9th rather than topping off at 7th.

The skills column is a placeholder until I’ve got an idea of how to modify the nonweapon proficiency system, though the progression is probably close to where I’ll land. The language column is now more explicit as to how it affects spoken and written language, and a small sidebar noting that language ability also denotes literacy in that language will make it crystal clear. I’m sure there’s someone out there who likes the idea of illiterate adventurers, but I’m not one of them – perhaps this can be noted as optional. Separating the languages and skill bonuses is the best part of all this; anything that makes Intelligence a worthwhile ability for classes beyond the wizard is a win.

The illusion adjustment underpowers this column as compared to the original, but it’s also usable at sub-epic scores, so I’ll take the trade-off.

As with other removals, the three excised columns will need a sidebar in the Intelligence section to explain how to use the score itself.

Let’s keep this train running on time and move on to Wisdom.