Complete Guide to the Intimidation Skill in D&D 5e
Perhaps the most straightforward of the social skills, Intimidation is nonetheless a tricky skill to get the most out of. This is because resorting to intimidation is generally a pretty drastic measure. Displaying this skill won’t always lead to combat, but it probably has a better chance to than Persuasion or Deception. Then again, a successful Intimidation check can also prevent some combats entirely, but it’s safe to say that there are some creatures who this just won’t work on. Intimidation is also one of those skilled that comes up exactly as often as you want it to. It’s quite easy to play a character who never rolls a single Intimidation check for an entire campaign. You could also use this skill constantly, however there are some issues with that playstyle. Let’s get into some of the problems with depending on this as your primary form of social interaction.
First off, there are many creatures who simply won’t respond to Intimidation, no matter how high you roll. Mindless creatures like oozes are an obvious example, though this also applies to the other social skills. The bigger problem is when we are faced with creatures who have no reason to fear a group of adventurers, and creatures with massive egos. Dragons immediately come to mind, as it would take far more than just a few scary words to make a dragon think twice about trying to bite your head off. That’s not to say it’s impossible to intimidate these creatures, you’ll just need to get very creative. For example, you need to do something to make that creature afraid of you. Let’s take our dragon example a step further. A simple speech may not be enough to inspire fear, but the treat of a greater foe, perhaps another, stronger dragon, could be enough. Essentially, you’re likely to have to work harder to get Intimidation to provide the same result as the other social skills can provide.
Additionally, failing an Intimidation check can be catastrophic. Most Intimidation checks are predicated on the threat of violence, and threatening to hurt someone normally makes them want to hurt you first. Reckless use of this skill could lead to unplanned combats, including fights against people you didn’t want to fight. As an example, attempting to persuade a king to provide funds for your next adventure at worst would result in a simple “no”. Intimidating a king for the same thing could get you thrown into the dungeon. This makes Intimidation a good skill for the starting tavern when someone wants to cause trouble, but a poor choice in the discussions that actually matter.
Lastly, Intimidation is frequently not good on the character concepts you would want it to be good on. When you think of someone who is intimidating in D&D, you probably think of a bare-chested Goliath Barbarian with muscles that would make a bodybuilder blush. The problem is, Intimidation is a Charisma skill, and that Barbarian likely dumped Charisma. This makes the 3ft tall Gnome Bard better at Intimidation than that Barbarian, and that just makes the Barbarian player feel useless. It’s for this reason that I’d like to promote a little-known rule found right in the PHB.
Any skill can be used with any ability. The example I want to showcase today is allowing a player to roll an Intimidation check using their Strength instead of Charisma. This allows that Barbarian player to fulfill their character fantasy of being the biggest and toughest guy in the room who no one wants to mess with. All of this is completely rules as written, and DMs should use this more often. For other examples, maybe a player has bluffed that they are a fantastic horse tamer, so you have them make a Animal Handling check using Charisma instead of Wisdom, as they are attempting to mask their ineptitude with their charismatic attitude. Maybe a Cleric wants to make a distraction in a crowd by giving a fiery sermon. Have them make a Performance check using Wisdom instead of Charisma. This rewards that player for playing into their character, giving them a better chance to succeed at the thing that they want their character to be good at.
So in summary, Intimidation is likely the worst of the three social skills, and I really don’t recommend having it be your only option if you are trying to be the face of the party. That being said, there are still some uses for it, so it definitely has its place on many character sheets.
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