It comes up often enough that Intelligence boosting items appear in modules in the hands of defeated NPCs. Rarely however to their descriptions detail which skills they enhance as a part of increasing a character's Intelligence. Certainly not every headband of vast intelligence is created the same since their creators have differing goals. And yet, some things are likely common to the majority of these items' creators. Their most likely creators are wizards since they stand to benefit the most from such items. Being wizards, they've certainly an interest in magic-related skills. And yet, having studied wizardry so as to eventually create magic items, they likely already have full ranks in Knowledge (Arcana) & Spellcraft and so wouldn't benefit from placing those skills in the headbands they create.
So my question is: what are the three skills, in order of priority, that are likely to have been incorporated into a Headband of Vast Intelligence during its creation by an unspecified creator?
I think it depends on the NPC in question. I am sure anything he wants, but does not need will be there.
If the GM just wants to help the PC's out then he would go by what the party needs.
The easiest way to handle this is to have the character pick the skill when he uses the Headband. Thereafter, ANY TIME he uses a similar headband, he gets the same skill.
This stops ridiculousness like owning 5 headbands to swap in and out for, say, Crafting or Knowledge skills for down time, and Perception in combat.
==Aelryinth
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It depends on who the headband was made for. The skill would need to be something that the person would not already have many ranks in, yet still be interested in for whatever reason.
Some common ones for arcane spell casters would be (in alphabetical order): acrobatics, escape artist, any knowledge (other than arcana because they already have arcana), perception, sense motive, and/or stealth
Clearly the choice is dependent on the proclivities of the NPC creator. What I'm wondering is, all things being equal, which skills are the likeliest for wizard creators to have placed into most Intelligence boosting items?
As a default, I'd conjecture that the skills aren't likely to be amongst those that are wizard class skills. Class skills are those that wizard characters are likely to study on their own and so have no need to increase artificially. It's the skills that are useful, yet not wizard class skills, which I contend are the likeliest choices. Perception would seem to top the list in my mind.
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This stops ridiculousness like owning 5 headbands to swap in and out for, say, Crafting or Knowledge skills for down time, and Perception in combat.
A character has to wear a headband for a certain amount of time before benefiting from the skill. I think it is 24 hours. Therefore, if the character is swapping headbands, he is waiting a full day without use of any skill bonus before the next works.
Essentially, day one wear craft headband. day two get craft skill ranks. day three wear perception headband. day four get perception skill ranks.
During day one and day four, the wizard does not get the INT bonus when memorizing spells.
I'm going out on a bit of a limb here. Skills that a wizard would like to have maxed, but doesn't have the skill points for? I can't say for that, but skills that I've read are deemed generally useful include Perception and Acrobatics.
I don't know, maybe Handle Animal? No, their familiar would have Speak with Master by then. How about Fly? They wouldn't have been maxing their Fly skill by the time they get the spell, right? I'm just thinking out loud.
Fly would make sense for some, but it's such a niche concern that I can't see it being amongst the most common choices. How about Stealth? Being able to hide is useful in a pinch and not something a wizard has likely bothered to learn beforehand.
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I'd say diplomacy, perception, and heal.
Wizards don't get the social skills, but sometimes a well placed word goes a lot farther than a well placed spell.
Perception is always useful for spotting that rogue before he eviscerates you.
And... heal? While wizards can do a lot with their spells, they have difficulty taking care of damage. Sometimes you just don't have a teleport spell ready to whisk your unconscious cleric back to town.
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what are the three skills, in order of priority, that are likely to have been incorporated into a Headband of Vast Intelligence during its creation by an unspecified creator?
From wizards I have played:
1 sense motive - its a pseudo initiative booster and trouble avoider2 fly - you don't want to focus on a skill that is useless at the very early levels
3 acrobatics - get out of combat tight corners and generally avoid damage
all are non-class skills
And... heal? While wizards can do a lot with their spells, they have difficulty taking care of damage. Sometimes you just don't have a teleport spell ready to whisk your unconscious cleric back to town.
My wizards tend to keep a Bears Endurance handy as a pretend healing "get the healer up now" spell.
Here are the current rankings for skills based on those that posters have mentioned:
5 votes for perception
3 votes for acrobatics
2 votes for craft (any)
2 votes for fly
2 votes for knowledge (any)
2 votes for sense motive
2 votes for stealth
1 votes for diplomacy
1 votes for escape artist
1 votes for heal
Anyone else care to weigh in?
Here are some examples for a game I'm in now.
My enchantress has a +4 headband atm, with Fly and Perception. Unsure what I'll add when I boost it to +6, probably Ride or Handle Animal.
Another wizard in the guild has Sense Motive and Survival. He's a city boy who hates getting lost, and wants to at least roll a die to check when the aforementioned Enchantress is lying.
We also have a fighter with a Spellcraft headband so she can tell what the finger-wigglers are doing.
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I would expect all wizards (and almost all PCs) to take perception from level 1 and therefore not need it on a headband.
Diplomacy was my fourth choice.
Ride would be my fifth choice (for Phantom Steed, or if campaign relevant)
Hmm I can see potentially themed pairings on a +4 headband:
Fly and Ride
Diplomacy and Sense Motive
Acrobatics and Stealth
The srd says:
These skills are chosen when the headband is created. If no skill is listed, the headband is assumed to grant skill ranks in randomly determined Knowledge skills.
personally the first skill I usually look to for the skill bonus is linguistics if I dont already have it. Gaining a bunch of potential talking time is never a bad idea in my book. =)
Asta
PSY
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Fly sounds good - you wouldn't necessarily start with ranks in that, but it'd be good as you progress as a wizard.
Knowledge skills too, probably planes or religion, as a wizard is going to already have arcana. Maybe history. I don't see a wizard spending on local or nobility.
Perception makes sense.
Maybe Linguistics. Not so much for the actual linguistics skills, but because it's an aditional language per point - that's potentially A LOT of new languages - pick up all the elemental and outside languages, dead languages, etc.
EDIT: Let me add Craft (alchemy) or any other Craft the wizard would need to craft magic items - jewelry, weapons, etc.
I would expect all wizards (and almost all PCs) to take perception from level 1 and therefore not need it on a headband.
I wouldn't make that assumption since I've seen plenty of PCs who don't. Oftentimes, there are simply not enough skill points available to spare on non class skills.
personally the first skill I usually look to for the skill bonus is linguistics if I dont already have it. Gaining a bunch of potential talking time is never a bad idea in my book.
It sounds like a good idea, I just dislike it because of the extra hassle it implies. With the potential of a wearer attaining 20th level it becomes necessary to list, in order of acquisition, the 20 languages that the headband is capable of granting. Yeesh... Also, since they receive so many free languages at character creation, how many more is a headband crafting wizard likely to want later on?
Currently, our three front runner skills appear to be:
Perception (6 votes)
Knowledge (4 votes)
Acrobatics (3 votes)
Fly (3 votes)
Honestly, I'm surprised by the wide variety of skills some consider to be likely choices for wizard NPCs. Interesting.
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The srd says:
These skills are chosen when the headband is created. If no skill is listed, the headband is assumed to grant skill ranks in randomly determined Knowledge skills.
Which is odd because, as a regular wizard player, knowledge skills are at the bottom of the list for skills I would want in headband. So not sure who they are being made for.
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RPG Superstar 2011 Top 32
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Bear in mind that int headbands are not only made for wizards; sometimes the creator is making one for the rogue or duelist in the party that wants a boost, and those characters might pick different skills for their custom headband.
Unlikely that the PCs will loot a headband like that from a dead opponent, though. Those would usually be from Int casters.
Which is odd because, as a regular wizard player, knowledge skills are at the bottom of the list for skills I would want in headband.
And yet, there's a fair bit of support for knowledges in this thread. Differing tastes I guess.
Unlikely that the PCs will loot a headband like that from a dead opponent, though. Those would usually be from Int casters.
Right. Thus this thread's assumption that most found headbands were made for wizards by wizards.
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Which is odd because, as a regular wizard player, knowledge skills are at the bottom of the list for skills I would want in headband.And yet, there's a fair bit of support for knowledges in this thread. Differing tastes I guess.
Not really. Each knowledge skill is a different skill. Taken as separate skills they are likely bottom of this threads list too.
A particular knowledge skill wanted likely would be very campaign specific.
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My wizards are book worms, therefor have 5 or more Knowledge skills already.
Perception,
Ride,
Fly
Would seem to be favorites
Since The +2 bonus is for lower levels
Stealth might be a good idea (since they can first make it at 5th lvl)
Perception would be another low lvl choice.
As you get higher in level the other skills get less and less important as spells grant you a lot of what you need.
Higher levels I would say In order of importance
Perception, (notice suprise rounds, exc)
Ride, (Phantom steed can fly)
UMD?
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As a witch I am leaning towards Knowledge-Religion. Seems more useful than Dungeoneering, Geography, or Nobility, and I already have one or two ranks in Engineering and Local. Undead is a major weakness for the witch so maybe can be more effective in at least identifying what can hurt them so others can take them down before they get to me.
I think the feat would be good for skills you can only do trained also. However I've already opened up Disable Device (through Criminal trait) and a rank in Sleight of Hand.
Fly would make sense for some, but it's such a niche concern that I can't see it being amongst the most common choices. How about Stealth? Being able to hide is useful in a pinch and not something a wizard has likely bothered to learn beforehand.That's what the Invisibility and Vanish spells are for. And much more reliable than a Wizard trying to roll Stealth on skill alone.
Invisibility and Vanish give huge boosts to stealth, but have more of a bonus is never bad.
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Linguistics for the extra languages would be very useful. Being able to communicate with all your summoned creatures is a pretty good idea.
Sense motive is probably also useful due to the fact many wizards dump wisdom. Having a good chance to figure out when someone or something is lying to you is also a good idea. It is almost required for a wizard dealing with evil outsiders.
Diplomacy would be my last choice because many wizards dump charisma. While they have spells like charm person to cover some of this there are times when casting spells are not a good idea. Casting a spell on the king during court is going to get you killed. Diplomacy is also used when bargaining so would be very useful to a wizard. The savings in material components alone could pay for the headband.
I usually go with Fly and UMD, since those are pretty much the only skills that are completely wasted when in an AMF or similar effect that would make the headband useless.