Advantage on Intimidate

[JellyPooga]

Aside from the Help Action, the Lucky Feat and situational circumstances (i.e. GM opinion), does anyone know of any way to reliably get Advantage on an Intimidate check?

[Shaofoo]

Well there are the tons of spells that help you there (Guidance, Glibness, Foresight, etc...) although none of them are as much Advantage as make the check better.

I would also allow if the target is frightened of you (like the actual status condition) that you can get Advantage on Intimidate checks but that is DM fiat.

Also there is Bard helping you with his Inspiration but that isn't Advantage.

Rogues can't go below 10 if you choose Intimidate as a proficient skill at a high enough level.

[hymer]

The Charmed condition should do it. Or Enhance Ability, if you're willing to sink Concentration into it.

[Joe the Rat]

Doesn't Friends give you advantage on Charisma checks? They'll already dislike you for the Intimidate, so why not throw magic at them too?

[Dericof Diname]

A Barbarian should be allowed to use his Intimidate check to scare his opponents so that they get a disadvantage in their first strike (or d4 turns) or scare all those who are 2 or 3 CR lower than you.

The problem is that most players forget that they have Intimidate most of the time.

[ad_hoc]

Tides of Chaos. Highly underrated ability.

[JellyPooga]

So it's pretty much "use magic" or "get a friend to help" then?

[bid]

A Barbarian should be allowed to use his Intimidate check to scare his opponents so that they get a disadvantage in their first strike (or d4 turns) or scare all those who are 2 or 3 CR lower than you.
Intimidating presence, berserker level 10.

[Captain Panda]

If you use lingering injuries, having a horrible scar will give you advantage on intimidation forever, but disadvantage on persuasion.

[Malifice]

So it's pretty much "use magic" or "get a friend to help" then?

'Roleplay it' works.

Inspiration is pretty close to advantage too.

[JellyPooga]

'Roleplay it' works.

Hmm, yes quite. Unfortunately, no matter how good your Brian Blessed voice or psychologically terrifying your speech, many GM's take that as letting you make an Intimidation check at all; not so free and easy with handing out advantage (I suspect it comes down to that whole social/physical roleplaying dichotomy; "oh, your character is big and strong, of course you can have advantage to lift that rock" "Yeah, I totally don't believe that lie you, personally, just told me, no advantage for you and your Cha 20 character").

[Malifice]

Hmm, yes quite. Unfortunately, no matter how good your Brian Blessed voice or psychologically terrifying your speech, many GM's take that as letting you make an Intimidation check at all; not so free and easy with handing out advantage (I suspect it comes down to that whole social/physical roleplaying dichotomy; "oh, your character is big and strong, of course you can have advantage to lift that rock" "Yeah, I totally don't believe that lie you, personally, just told me, no advantage for you and your Cha 20 character").

I certainly award advantage for roleplaying social skills. Just like I would grant advantage for disarming a trap with a cunning plan, or a good explanation of how a skill is going to be performed that takes the environment into account.

I really dislike this:

Player: I search the chest for traps.
DM: Roll perception.
Player: [rolls] 19. Did I find one?
DM: Yep. A dart trap.
Player: I'll disarm it.
DM: Roll thieves tool proficiency.
Player: [rolls] 15. Did I disarm it?
DM: Yep.
Player: I'll open the chest.
etc.

When I can award advantage (or simply obviate the need for a check at all) via a player telling me what he is doing, where he is standing, how he is interacting with the trap etc, then I find my players engage with the environment much more, and the game is far more rewarding.

[Capac Amaru]

Popping a creatures head off by flexing your bicep while its in a headlock gives you advantage on intimidate checks.

[Edgerunner]

When some wild-eyed, eight-foot-tall maniac grabs your neck, taps the back of your favorite head up against the barroom wall, and he looks you crooked in the eye and he asks you if ya paid your dues....


If you get a customer, or an employee, who thinks he's Charles Bronson, take the butt of your gun and smash their nose in. Everybody jumps. He falls down screaming, blood squirts out of his nose, nobody says ****ing **** after that. You might get some bitch talk **** to you, but give her a look like you're gonna smash her in the face next, watch her shut the **** up. Now if it's a manager, that's a different story. Managers know better than to **** around, so if you get one that's giving you static, he probably thinks he's a real cowboy, so you gotta break that son of a bitch in two. If you wanna know something and he won't tell you, cut off one of his fingers. The little one. Then tell him his thumb's next. After that he'll tell you if he wears ladies underwear.

THAT'S an Intimidate with Advantage.

[JakOfAllTirades]

My DM sometimes gives my Tiefling warlock advantage on Intimidate when I come up with really creative descriptions of what he's doing with the Thaumaturgy cantrip.

[djreynolds]

RAW, not really, aside from help and magic or GM discretion. Is this your "rogue" we are talking about? The dwarven trap guy?

[JellyPooga]

RAW, not really, aside from help and magic or GM discretion. Is this your "rogue" we are talking about? The dwarven trap guy?

Different character, as it goes. Typical sort of Half-Orc Barbarian. Just looking to get more reliable use out of Intimidate.


I really dislike this:

Player: I search the chest for traps.
DM: Roll perception.
Player: [rolls] 19. Did I find one?
DM: Yep. A dart trap.
Player: I'll disarm it.
DM: Roll thieves tool proficiency.
Player: [rolls] 15. Did I disarm it?
DM: Yep.
Player: I'll open the chest.
etc.

Yeah, me too, but sometimes that's the way it rolls. I'm hoping, because it's a PbP game I'm playing on this one, I hoping to be able to get advantage for good descriptions, but I'm not counting on it; the GM seems pretty by-the-book and Advantage is, after all, quite a big deal.