A Land Far Away

The new Intimidate Mechanic is very similar to the Fear Effect of the Barbarian's Rage, except that it is available to all Characters at all times, regardless of Class, Weapons Equipped or Armor worn, so long as the Character has invested skill ranks into Intimidate.

When an Enemy perceives the Character, the Enemy if they are capable of Fear will be forced to make a Will Save with a DC determined by the Character's Class Levels, Intimidate, and Equipment Equipped.

The basic formula is ...
Barbarian Levels + Intimidate + Weapon Value - Armor & Shield Value = The Will Save DC

If your Character has No Barbarian Levels then the formula for said Character looks like this....
Intimidate + Weapon Value - Armor & Shield Value = The Will Save DC

VALUE 3 WEAPONS
Dire Mace
Double Axe
Two Bladed Sword

VALUE 2 WEAPONS
Quarterstaff
Great Axe
Greatsword
Halberd
Heavy Flail
Trident
Great Hammer
Scythe

VALUE 1 WEAPONS
All other puny weapons


Shields
Small Shield 3
Large Shield 5
Tower Shield 6

Armor
None 0
Padded 1
Leather 2
Studded Leather / Hide 3
Chain Shirt / Scale Mail 4
Chainmail / Breastplate 5
Splint Mail / Banded Mail 6
Half-Plate 7
Full Plate 8

EXAMPLES.....

Thorne is 12th level Fighter who not only maxed out his cross class Skill ranks in Intimidate but also wears Full Plate, Wields a Bastardsword and Towershield Combo.
Intimidate 7 + Bastard Sword 1 - Full Plate 8 - Towershield 6 = Will Save DC -6

((Most Enemies Thorne our example 12th level Fighter will be facing will not flee or scatter at the sight of Thorne, but those that roll a natural 1 will))

Eva "Evil Eye" Evens is a 6th level Rogue, and she not only maxed Intimidate but has invested heavily in Charisma, wields a Rapier, and wears Leather Armor without using a Shield.
Intimidate 12 + Rapier 1 - Leather 2 = Will Save DC 10
(( Now she might break the nerve of some enemies because she is Intimidating))

Grak Turd da Half-Orc 5th level Barbarian has maxed Intimidate, Wields a Great Axe, and wearing minimal clothing.
Barbarian 5 + Intimidate 8 + Great Axe 2 - Clothing 0 = Will Save DC 15
((While he has Horrible AC, his Intimidating Savagery on the Battlefield will cause more foes then most to break and scatter, giving him the opportunity to put his Great Axe to use without to many distractions.))

Great write up.

Please note, based on my Ad Hoc testing, mobs like goblins, wolves and what not have Will save modifiers of between 5-8 and usually beat the DC of my Lvl 5 Dwarf Barb which is 11 when he wears Hide armor, 15 with no armor, no shield and greataxe. I know there are other mobs (dragon cultists) with low will saves and others (Yuan Ti) with even higher saves. Just an FYI.

Also, in addition to the fear save roll in the log, mobs now "shout text" or emote their fear. The other night I think a Goblin Elite or some such shouted "Run for your lives!" or something as my Barb approached. Very cool. I believe Ayergo has also scripted vfx for certain affects so you can tell which mobs have been affected.

Has the intimidate skill been changed to a skill that all classes are "class skilled" in?

no

Classes: assassin, barbarian, blackguard, purple dragon knight, rogue, weapon master

Oh, ok. I looked at the skill itself (on my character sheet in game), and the skill tab for Intimidate lists it as a "All Classes" skill... I thought maybe with this new Intimidation change, perhaps Ayergo made it an "All Classes" skill.

Okee dokie.

((Still think Fighters should get it ))

oldgrayrogue wrote:
The other night I think a Goblin Elite or some such shouted "Run for your lives!" or something as my Barb approached.

Totally unintentional, but I love it.

For numbers, lets say worst case goblins are +8 will and your effective skill DC is 15...Goblin has to roll a 7 or better. You just knocked out 30% of the goblins on first glance.

Not bad.

I was mistaken in thinking Intimidate was a class skill for all, I will rework the examples later today to make them more accurate.

Intimidate is working well. Last night on a sewer run goblins were fleeing left and right. Some with interesting emotes (One said something like "Looks at you wide eyed") and others with visible fear effects. Rage is a game changer. One level 5 raging Barb can give and take some serious damage wearing next to no armor.

Does this work exactly like rage. ie daze and stun depending on the roll or is it pure flea in fear or bust?

they scatter as far as i know, with a fear effect

"To crush your enemies, see them driven before you...."

this guide could be stickied too, it's awesome!

So there are various reactions to intimidate just like rage: fear, stunned etc. The emotes by mobs are hysterical i.e "Soils himself".

I have noticed that sometimes the intimidate bonus for my PC does not add up to what it should based on Barb level, intimidate score, and two handed weapon. This may be due to not having the weapon equipped when the game rolls the save, but it looks from the log that it is the Barb bonus that is intermittently not recognized. Need to do more testing.

oldgrayrogue wrote:So there are various reactions to intimidate just like rage: fear, stunned etc. The emotes by mobs are hysterical i.e "Soils himself".

I have noticed that sometimes the intimidate bonus for my PC does not add up to what it should based on Barb level, intimidate score, and two handed weapon. This may be due to not having the weapon equipped when the game rolls the save, but it looks from the log that it is the Barb bonus that is intermittently not recognized. Need to do more testing.

Lemme know how that goes.

I can't! My barb is dead! Alas, he was debuffed by goblins then paralyzed. I rolled up a new PC but not a Barb. As soon as Sword Mountains are done I intend to go back to a Barb.