Hallo. I was wondering how viable it would be to train Intimidate on my Half-Orc Monk. I thought because he got a bonus to it, that it would work well. How can I use intimidate in combat? And.. is it even worth it?
...and the Shatter Defences feat makes the intimidated foes flat-footed.
...and the Medusa's Wrath feat allows you to make two more flurry attacks on a flat-footed foe.
It's an interesting build, keeping in mind that Intimidate is limited by its effectiveness on monsters (mind-affecting, and some are particularly resistant or even immune).
If you build your character as a one-trick pony, you'll suffer when the trick won't work.
...and the Shatter Defences feat makes the intimidated foes flat-footed.
...and the Medusa's Wrath feat allows you to make two more flurry attacks on a flat-footed foe.It's an interesting build, keeping in mind that Intimidate is limited by its effectiveness on monsters (mind-affecting, and some are particularly resistant or even immune).
If you build your character as a one-trick pony, you'll suffer when the trick won't work.
I was only asking if it was an option in combat. I certainly don't plan on building my character around it.
I'm simply asking.. What does the skill, Intimidate do? I know I can roll a d20 in combat, to see if I scare my enemies.. or something like that.
Isn't there a debuff that goes along with that if they fail a check?
I'm simply asking.. What does the skill, Intimidate do? I know I can roll a d20 in combat, to see if I scare my enemies.. or something like that.
Isn't there a debuff that goes along with that if they fail a check?
...OK
Basically, the Demoralize option of the Intimidate skill is used to make your foes "shaken", which means they are a little afraid of you. They take -2 to practically every d20 roll (attack, skills, saves).
This applies to one foe at a time, unless you use the Dazzling Display feat.
Your foe doesn't roll a dice. You roll and try to reach a DC (10 + the target's level + his Wisdom modifier).
Using Demoralize is a standard action, unless you use those feats allowing you to intimidate as a free action.
This opens other possibilities when feats or abilities allow you to consider "shaken" foes as flat-footed, for instance.
Fear effects stack. Demoralizing a shaken foe makes them frightened (they flee), etc.
I think it's an interesting combination, but it is feat-hungry and doesn't work every time.
Out of combat, Intimidate is also used to obtain services from people. Much like Diplomacy, but your target won't remember you fondly ;-)
Sources :
- the Intimidate skill description
- the description of Fear effects
- At the end of the Glossary, read the effect of the fear-related conditions
My group uses intimidate a lot. Our bard specializes in it. It is highly effective for many characters. The -2 to the opponents attack saved the paladin's life multiple times. The -2 to saves has made the wizard's job much easier. We have even bennefitted from the -2 to skill checks with someone's perception check. As others have posted, there are good ways to build arround it, and in this case it would be 3 feats for a very nice synergy.
Normally, intimidate is not that worthwhile compared to a full attack. It can be a good alternative to a single attack, even if you do not specialize in it. Getting ways to do it as cheaper actions is very nice, especially if you want to build off of it.
I agree that Intimidate can be somewhat useful in combat, but that's not it's main purpose. It really rocks in the non-combat situations. I played a monk that used intimidate heavily in a 3.5 campaign a few years ago. Of course it was helped by the fact that he was a member of an order that was well-known to function as the secret police of a state devoted to a very strict LN deity, so he entered most encounters with people already scared of him. Usually all it took was something like: "You know who I am and who I represent. Do you really want to tick me off?" to make a lot of NPCs pretty cooperative. To take advantage of that I did put some points in Intimidate, and it was effective.
I loved that character. His tag line on entering most combat situations was: "I see sinners in need of correction."