Lore Bard based on Intelligence instead of Charisma: would that create an imbalance?

[Merudo]

Would changing the Lore Bard so that Spellcasting & Bardic Inspiration are based on Intelligence make the class more powerful than it is?

I feel many Lore Bard concepts would work better with a focus on Intelligence instead of Charisma. After all, the four "lore" skills are Arcana, History, Nature, and Religion, and they are all Intelligence skills. You'd think a "Lore Bard" would be good at, you know, lore.

The main problem I can see with such a change is one of balance: the Lore Bard is already one of the best classes in the game, and I fear changing Charisma to Intelligence would somehow make it an even stronger class. The only imbalance I can think of is the Bard/Wizard multiclass, which could potentially be too strong, but maybe there is more.

[KillingTime]

I think the biggest issue is the one you mention, which is that there may be unforseen consequences of allowing a SAD multiclass into wizard, for what is already an extremely strong caster.
That said, if casting ran off Int, but Bardic Inspiration were still keyed into Cha then I don't see it would be a massive problem. There would still be plenty of reason to pump Cha, and the Bard is also meant to take face skill which are obviously Cha based too.

[Merudo]

I think another issue is the High Elf race, which gives a free wizard cantrip and an intelligence boost.

That would give the Bard a great ranged cantrip such as Firebolt with little to no investment.

However, it seems to me that disallowing the Wizard/Bard multiclass & disallowing the High Elf as a race would make the intelligent-based Lore Bard balanced.

[Luccan]

Firstly, I wouldn't make this a required change for anyone. Beyond that though, the only inherent difference for a singled-classed Lore Bard would be the ability to dump Charisma. I see no reason it would make a Bard/Wizard any more powerful than they already would theoretically be, it just becomes a more viable multiclass. The problem with the Cha-class multiclasses (if you want to call it a problem) is that there are so many, each with interesting abilities and quirks, and the front loading of 5e classes particularly benefits them (especially since 3 of those classes start with their subclass). A Bard/Wizard, meanwhile, doesn't benefit from subclass features from both classes until at least level 5 and I can't think of any particularly vicious combos of Bard/Wizard that would exist just because it became more practical. Such combinations would already be known, because despite the fact that the classes don't naturally gel a good combo of abilities is a good combo of abilities.

[Grod_The_Giant]

I think another issue is the High Elf race, which gives a free wizard cantrip and an intelligence boost.
Eh, by the time Firebolt gets stronger than a longbow a Lore Bard could already have grabbed Eldritch Blast or something, and martials are making Extra Attacks with bonus stuff and leaving cantrip damage in the dust. No issue there. Cantrips stink if you're not an Agonizing Blast Warlock.

[QuickLyRaiNbow]

No, it's not overpowered. Being able to MC into wizard and use the high elf features is nice, but you'd lose out on half-elf and yuan-ti, both of which are superior to high elf. And you'd lose potential multiclasses into paladin, warlock or sorcerer, all of which are quite strong. You'd also be trading (presumably) Cha save proficiency for Int save proficiency, a slight downgrade in some campaigns. Additionally, the Int-keyed skills just aren't as good as the Cha-keyed ones.

[MagneticKitty]

I think if anything it slightly nerfs it. At least in my experience being the face is more beneficial than bright the brain of the group. If you keep the mc prerequisite of bard then it balances mixing it with wiz

[robbie374]

Would changing the Lore Bard so that Spellcasting & Bardic Inspiration are based on Intelligence make the class more powerful than it is? I feel many Lore Bard concepts would work better with a focus on Intelligence instead of Charisma. After all, the four "lore" skills are Arcana, History, Nature, and Religion, and they are all Intelligence skills. You'd think a "Lore Bard" would be good at, you know, lore. The main problem I can see with such a change is one of balance: the Lore Bard is already one of the best classes in the game, and I fear changing Charisma to Intelligence would somehow make it an even stronger class. The only imbalance I can think of is the Bard/Wizard multiclass, which could potentially be too strong, but maybe there is more. Changing any class from one of Wis/Int/Cha to another is balanced. None of the classes are really stronger than others, and it just makes new and interesting multiclass combinations. Cha already is the best multiclassing stat: if anything you are decreasing the flexibility and power of multiclassing by switching to Int, and your top stat has generally less useful skills attached to it. Personally, I would have no problem allowing a multiclasser to use their choice of spellcasting stat for all of their classes: they are arbitrarily assigned based on flavor rather than power.

[Merudo]

Changing any class from one of Wis/Int/Cha to another is balanced. None of the classes are really stronger than others, and it just makes new and interesting multiclass combinations. Cha already is the best multiclassing stat: if anything you are decreasing the flexibility and power of multiclassing by switching to Int, and your top stat has generally less useful skills attached to it. Personally, I would have no problem allowing a multiclasser to use their choice of spellcasting stat for all of their classes: they are arbitrarily assigned based on flavor rather than power.

Wisdom helps Perception and Wisdom saving throws so it's the best spellcasting stat by far.

[Nifft]

No imbalance that I could see.

Bards are already strong, and part of that strength is the prevalence of Charisma synergy.

Paladin 2-6 / Bard is a very strong build; Warlock synergy only increases that. Wizard / Bard is not going to punch above that weight.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Wisdom helps Perception and Wisdom saving throws so it's the best spellcasting stat by far.
Wis has the best saves. Cha has the best class features. Int is a downgrade either way.

[guachi]

As a DM, I'd be fine with a Lore Bard player who wanted to be Int based. There are few reasons to go Int as it is so as a DM I'd be happy to know there was an Int heavy PC in the party. Sure, the Bard can dip Wizard if he wants but it's not like he couldn't dip Warlock or Paladin or Sorcerer before.

EDIT: I'll add that it actually makes sense with a Lore Bard.

[CaptAl]

I wouldn't say it's overpowered at all. Intelligence is an underutilized stat, imo, so I'm all for adding something else to make it dumped a little less hard overall. I would allow it in my game and just take away the charisma focus for the fluff of that particular kind of bard.

[sophontteks]

Its a decent nerf. Makes several other archtypes superior IMO. Intelligence sucks. A bard thats bad at charisma skills is pretty painful to me.