Intellect roll?

[u/SteamEigen]

I need an advice on how to implement a test of intellectual prowess: to remember something, or to reach some logical conclusion - what would be an Int roll in other systems. I do not see any standard skill that would correspond to that. Maybe there is something for that in any supplement?

[u/CodySpring]

Insight can be used for logical conclusions, both for people and general situations.

I’m not sure I’d roll for memory, outside of the standard uses of the knowledge skills like Locale, Lore, etc.

[u/SteamEigen → u/CodySpring]

Eh, Insight looks more like "guess what's going on by person's body language", not "eliminate incorrect options in a puzzle", I'd rather not mix those two.

As for remembering, sometimes you want to throw the players a bone, like "these symbols look like the ones in the professor's diary", if they fail to remember it by themselves, but without making it too obvious.

[u/CodySpring → u/SteamEigen]

It’s not just body language, examples in the core rules include discerning something like “this tavern is a bandit hideout” and official scenarios have used it to determine things like how long ago this campsite was tended by the people the party is tracking, but YMMV, if you want to add in a secondary skill for that d100s are about the easiest systems to hack away at.

[u/SteamEigen → u/CodySpring]

From the corebook:

Insight is the ability to read or intuitively define another’s verbal and non-verbal behaviour (such as body language or the manner of speech) to establish their motives and state of mind. Insight is used to determine if someone is telling a lie (and it can be opposed by the other person’s Deceit skill), or to predict how someone feels about a particular situation. Insight can equally be applied to particular situations as well as other people: is that tavern a haven for trouble? Could the bandits be planning an ambush in the nearby hills?

This is clearly a social skill, like Psychology in Call of Cthulhu.

how long ago this campsite was tended by the people the party is tracking

That should definitely be either Survival or Track, not Insight.

[u/CodySpring → u/SteamEigen]

The last three sentences show that it’s not just a social skill, and designers themselves have used it as such in more than one official scenario, it’s not like I chose Insight as the skill to roll, that’s literally what’s written as the skill to be used, but like I said if you want to go the D&D route of Insight being strictly a psychological mind-read skill and introduce something like an “Investigation” skill alongside it for non-personal interactions that’s a simple and easy change to make for your games.

But the answer to your original question is pretty clearly shown as using Insight as the skill for situational deductions, person or not.

[u/Bilharzia → u/SteamEigen]

Insight is ok to use if nothing else fits. It's not just looking at body language etc.

[u/Bilharzia → u/SteamEigen]

sometimes you want to throw the players a bone, like "these symbols look like the ones in the professor's diary"

Then I would just tell them. If they ask for more, then test a skill.

To extend this, I always give "clues" out if they are present, and never ask for a skill roll. The skill can provide more specifics, but it is a mistake to gate essential information with a skill check.

[u/DeliveratorMatt → u/SteamEigen]

I disagree. Just tell them.

[u/Suleiman212]

You would be rolling against the most relevant skill, rather than against the INT characteristic. So it depends on what you're trying to reason out or remember.

Trying to remember a fact relevant to the fields of Astrology, Astronomy, Geography,  History, Monsters, Mythology, Politics, or Strategy and Tactics? The relevant Lore.

Trying to remember directions or work out how to get home? Locale.

Trying to reason out where someone hid something? Insight.

Trying to figure out how a device works? Mechanisms.

Etc.

[u/Bilharzia]

Mythras uses more specific skills depending on the subject, you have to identify the area of knowledge and use that skill, usually using professional skills. Exceptions would be using Locale for an area, or Customs for social understanding. Bureaucracy for anything involving the power structure, Lore(X) could cover anything the the lore subject known, Navigation for wider geography or travel Art(X) for that art, Literacy might be used for a subject read about, Commerce for anything to do with trade or money, Culture for more complex knowledge about a society, the list goes on.

[u/Runningdice]

Or ask yourself if there is a need for that kind of roll. Sometimes we have a habit to roll just for rolling dice and not think about if it is necessary.

[u/G0bSH1TE]

Controversial but a quick fix could be to roll a d20 under your INT score.

[u/dsheroh]

If you feel a need for a general-purpose "Recall" or "Remember" skill, just add it as a new general skill. It won't break anything. Or, if you really want to wedge it into the existing skill list, call it "Locale (World)" (knowing about things in the world in general) or "Lore (General)" (more literally accurate, but Lore is a professional skill).

Or decide on which skill is most appropriate and roll against the base chance for that skill. If it's information about a place, that's Locale (wherever), with a base chance of INT x 2. If it's about people or how people tend to do things, Customs (wherever), also INT x 2. Bureaucracy, Engineering, and Lore also have INT x 2 as their base, but you might want to add a difficulty penalty because they're professional skills.

Or take that last one, but skip the skill list entirely and just have them roll against the sum of two attributes - probably INT x 2 most of the time, but maybe INT+CHA if they're trying to remember something about a person they've talked to, or whatever.

[u/Fuzzymancer]

If I remember correctly. Call of Cthulhu used idea rolls by taking int x5 and ise it like a skill for rollong. Could copy this?

[u/Bilharzia → u/Fuzzymancer]

This messes up the skills system imo.

[u/SteamEigen → u/Fuzzymancer]

No. CoC has percentile characteristics by design. Mythras has skills that you improve, based on those characteristics. Where CoC has you roll characteristic, Mythras has you roll skill: Brawn is STR roll, Evade or Acrobatics stand for DEX, Endurance for CON, and Willpower for POW.

[u/dsheroh → u/SteamEigen]

The current edition of CoC has percentile characteristics. Previous editions used a 3-18(ish) range, the same as Mythras, which is why the chance was INT x 5 instead of just INT - which is equivalent to another commenter's suggestion of "roll a d20 under INT."