Skip to main content

Intelligence (Hunter: The Reckoning 5th Edition)

Attributes

Definition

Intelligence carries the most important single roll most Hunts contain: working out what the creature is and what it cannot survive. It covers occult identification, evidence analysis, historical research, medical examination, and technical work, which is a wider spread of skills than any other mental attribute reaches. Where Wits handles the instant, Intelligence handles the hours. It is the attribute for extended actions: three nights in an archive, a week correlating disappearances against a calendar, the slow rereading of a file until the pattern surfaces. Cells that solve their problem before the confrontation are usually built around one hunter with high Intelligence and the Library Edge.

Ask AI about this term

How it works

**Dice Pool Uses**: - Intelligence + Occult: Identifying creatures and supernatural lore - Intelligence + Investigation: Analyzing evidence, following a paper trail - Intelligence + Academics: Historical research, reading old texts - Intelligence + Medicine: Analyzing wounds, establishing cause of death - Intelligence + Technology: Programming, system analysis **Special Rules**: Intelligence is the primary attribute for extended research actions. Many Storytellers use Intelligence plus Occult as the default roll to identify a creature's nature and weaknesses, which is often the roll the rest of the scenario hangs on. It pairs directly with the Library Edge, which supplies the sources the roll draws from.

Tips

**Build Advice**: Inquisitive hunters should put their single 4 here. Everyone else wants at least 2, because a briefing is useless to a character who cannot follow it, and identifying a threat one scene earlier changes what the cell can attempt. **Creed Synergies**: Inquisitive creed hunters are built on Intelligence and it drives their aptitude Edges. Entrepreneurial hunters use it for logistics and planning, where knowing what is needed is most of the job. **Character Concepts**: University professor, forensic analyst, occult researcher, epidemiologist, software engineer who found a supernatural pattern in network traffic.

Frequently asked questions

Intelligence or Wits?

Intelligence for anything with time to think, Wits for anything without. Research, analysis, and identification are Intelligence; initiative, ambush detection, and snap reads are Wits. Field-heavy hunters need Wits more, and research-heavy hunters need Intelligence more.

Do I need the Library Edge as well?

Not strictly, but they compound. Intelligence is what your hunter can work out and Library is what the cell has to work from, so high Intelligence with no sources is limited to what you already happen to know.

Which skills pair best with Intelligence?

Occult and Investigation first, then Academics, Medicine, Science, or Technology depending on the concept. Occult plus Intelligence is the roll that names the monster, which is why most Inquisitive hunters buy it early.

Further Reading

Inquisitive CreedLibrary EdgeAll Hunter5e Attributes
Previous
Dexterity
Next
Manipulation
Explore Hunter: The Reckoning 5th Edition
Full system guide and terminology.
Back to glossary
Browse all terms and categories.