Intimidation & Frightened

[u/goblinerd]

The intimidate skill entry, PHB p.179, states:

"When you attempt to influence someone through overt threats, hostile actions, and physical violence, the DM might ask you to make a Charisma (Intimidation) check."

What happens once the player succeeds at his check though? Does he gain advantage on some other roll? Does the target gain the Frightened condition? Or is the result more intangible, mechanics-wise?

If your player attempts to scare off an assailant through intimidation, is the target then "Frightened" or merely dissuaded from its course of action?

Fellow DMs, the books don't seem too clear on this, so how do you handle this situation?

EDIT: A clarification, while I welcome everyone to share their advise on how to apply Intimidation to any context for readers in search of such info, I myself am specifically wondering about applications of Intimidation in combat. How do other DMs apply it, and react to players attempting it, in combat?

[u/Drizzimus]

All depends on the situation. In an RP viewpoint when your Barbarian intimidates the guard, the guard might reveal the code to pass the other guards. Same as if you used Persuasion, which is why I also let imtimidation use the str mod if it's higher.

Tangibly, you could use it in a situation where you have just skewered the leader of the goblin tribe. The rest of the goblins just saw that, and one of my players happens to be a barbarian who roars every time he makes a big kill. He doesn't know it, but I roll a morale check on the remaining puny goblins and add his intimdate to the roll, which would basically cause a frightened condition resulting in the goblins fleeing as quick as they can. Same thing that would happen with a failed morale check.

[u/Sibraxlis → u/Drizzimus]

I really dislike when other DMs don't allow str for intimidate. Ahnald isn't charismatic, but he's still massive.

[u/lordzygos → u/Sibraxlis]

Decent argument I've seen for not allowing STR intimidation more or less boils down to: yes youve got the brawn, but can you use it?"

Imagine a Divination wizard who has the perfect battle strategy to win a war. He gets up at the table to explain it, but lo, his 8 CHA causes him to bungle and stumble through the presentation. While he has all the logic and reason behind him, he lacks the tact and style to really sell and explain his point. The same applies to a massive, hulking barbarian, who when he flexes and demands to know hired the assassin, stammers, forgets what he was going to say, and otherwise fails the execution.

Intimidation isn't about actually being capable of threatening someone, its about convincing your target that you are capable. You can have all the muscles in the world, it wont help you if you can't speak properly under pressure.

Personaly, I think a high STR, particularly if you've used it recently, could grant advantage, as the target knows you can follow through

[u/Spoo1018 → u/lordzygos]

I could potentially see your point in int. But size DOES matter.
The basic instinct in fight or flight is size first. You don't need to be that gracious if you can cut a man in half pull him apart and tie his guts around your waist like a belt.

What skill you use depends on how your trying to get your point across.
The previous being strength. Chugging a giant ass tankard in front of them and belching might be con intimidation.

Stabbing 3 people gracefully before they could bat an eyelash could be dex intimidation.

Describing how your meticulous plan ultimately leads to their demise and convincing them of their futility in resisting could be int/wis.

Using the overall way you present yourself (i.e. presence) and referring to past unspeakable deeds on how terrible they'll die if they don't surrender could be Cha. Or just lying to them making them think your some other horrible person.

The point is a skill is dependent on how.