Intelligence Score (Part 5): Wisdom gives players an Intuition bonus.

Though this post is about wisdom, not intelligence, it forms part of my greater reflections on making intelligence score mechanically useful in game, and that means differentiating it mechanically from wisdom.

Intuition: the gut feeling, or the divine guidance to know the right action. When faced with a choice or moral dilemma a player must first declare what he/she thinks is the right action and then may discover the character’s intuition as to the right course of action. In secret the DM rolls an Intuition check. A roll of 1 on a d6 (modified by a players positive wisdom bonus) indicates the character has a correct intuition as to which is the best action to take. Intuition as we all know is a fickle beast and can lead one astray. On a roll of 6 on a d6 (modified by a players negative wisdom bonus, such that for example, -1 wisdom modifies the roll to 5-6, -2 wisdom to 4-6 and -3 wisdom to 3-6) indicates that the characters intuition is wrong. If neither a positive or a negative intuition is rolled, but a number in between, the DM should reinforce whatever the player declared they felt was true. That way Intuition can’t be relied upon, but offers some benefit to the very wise.

This is best explained with an example:

A party of two, Wise Bob with Wisdom 17 (+2bonus) and his companion Silly Willy with Wisdom 7 (-1bonus) are interrogating a suspect to a murder, who happens to be innocent. The player of Wise Bob first declares he thinks the suspect is innocent but wonders what his character, with 17 wisdom, intuits. Remember the player is unlikely to have a wisdom of 17, in the same way he is unlikely to have a strength of 18. Since we don't ask the player to bash open doors we should allow a roll to use a characters wisdom. The DM rolls a d6 in secret. On a 1-3 (1 +2 for wisdom bonus) the DM confirms the player’s intuition, which in this case happens to be correct. This confirmation need not necessarily be a black and white answer, innocent or guilty. “His story feels true to you,” could be what is relayed to the player. If it happened that the player of Wise Bob felt the suspect was guilty, and a 1-3 is rolled, the DM needs to correct the player’s intuition perhaps by saying, “Wise Bob believes the story.” If a 4-5 were rolled the DM would merely confirm the player’s intuition regardless of the truth. However if a 6 is rolled Wise Bob’s intuition is different to the player’s. The DM should contradict the player’s intuition, perhaps saying, “He looks nervous, like he is hiding something.” The player of Silly Willy meanwhile thinks the suspect is guilty: on a 1 his intuition will tell him the opposite (ie the truth), on a 2-4 AND on a 5-6 (6 -1 wisdom penalty), it will be confirmed.

Or to explain this another way:

  Wise Bob, Wisdom 17 (+2)

		Truth
		Guilty	Not Guilty
Player Declaration	Guilty	1-3 Confirm players intuition 4-5 Confirm players intuition 6 Dissuade players intuition	1-3 Dissuade players intuition 4-5 Confirm players intuition 6 Confirm players intuition
	Not Guilty	1-3 Dissuade players intuition 4-5 Confirm players intuition 6 Confirm players intuition	1-3 Confirm players intuition 4-5 Confirm players intuition 6 Dissuade players intuition

  Silly Willy, Wisdom 7 (-1)

		Truth
		Guilty	Not Guilty
Player Declaration	Guilty	1 Confirm players intuition 2-4 Confirm players intuition 5-6 Dissuade players intuition	1 Dissuade players intuition 2-4 Confirm players intuition 5-6 Confirm players intuition
	Not Guilty	1 Dissuade players intuition 2-4 Confirm players intuition 5-6 Confirm players intuition	1 Confirm players intuition 2-4 Confirm players intuition 5-6 Dissuade players intuition

Wise players will learn, like in real life, that intuitions are helpful but must always be tested against facts.

Likewise over time wise characters will make more right choices and foolish characters more unwise choices – real life really.

Unlike Inspiration rolls Intuition rolls are not group rolls but made for individual characters. If one player rolls for intuition all players should roll (that is the DM rolls individually for everyone). Since it is likely players’ intuitions will be different this can only enhance role play.

Another use of the Intuition roll can be for players and characters seeking divine guidance. For example a Cleric Templar is seeking an evil minion of Chaos. Should he travel to the city or venture into the wilds. He prays for guidance, mechanically applied in game with an Intuition roll.

Whilst these two proposals (Inspiration and Intuition) are useable, and offer in game mechanics to the abstract nature of intelligence and wisdom; some readers will no doubt hate them as being an unnecessary complication to a smooth running campaign.

Even I am not totally enamoured, and feel they are new rules, which I will use occasionally only.  Like when the characters stumble on some ancient dwarven engineering marvel for which they have no idea of its purpose, an Inspiration role might be useful. Or the characters pray for divine guidance – an Intuition roll is made.

Back to the start of this post:

My philosophy on ability scores: I want EVERY ability score to be important for EVERY character. Every player should rue a low score and be pleased with a high score. There should be no dump stats.

Finally I reach the central idea for this post.

Intelligence Score (Part 6): You catch on quick: Only Intelligence gives XP bonus