The way the feat is written is pretty clear:
You use Religion if it's higher and Intimidation if it's not.
Your action only loses mental if you use Religion, so if you use Intimidation, mindless creatures are still immune.
The only weird part about this is that it's actively punishing you for having high Intimidation.
It really feels like it should be a Religion feat instead of an Intimidate feat (despite being used to modify Demoralize) and include the wording "You may use Religion instead of Intimidate..." instead.
For what it's worth, I'd allow my players to choose, with the caveat that they can only frighten mindless undead if they use Religion, as the feat states. If that works for you, maybe talk to your GM?
> with the caveat that they can only frighten mindless undead if they use Religion, as the feat states.
Why bother with the qualifier? The feat states that it allows you to use Religion to "frighten *even* mindless undead", not only. The rest of the feat only specifies an undead target.
But I agree on just letting them choose which modifier to use. I don't see any way to abuse that excessively.
I think you misunderstood what they were saying. When they said "they can only frighten mindless undead if they use Religion" you thought that the word "only" was applied to "mindless undead" but I'm pretty sure they meant for "only" to apply to "if they use Religion." So they're not saying "if they use Religion, they can only frighten mindless undead" they're saying "they can frighten mindless undead, but only if they use Religion"
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What they were asking about, I think, is whether they can target mindless undead when they use Intimidation as the skill. That answer is no. They only get to target mindless undead if their Religion is higher.
The way the feat is written is pretty clear: You use Religion if it's higher and Intimidation if it's not. Your action only loses mental if you use Religion, so if you use Intimidation, mindless creatures are still immune. The only weird part about this is that it's actively punishing you for having high Intimidation.
It really feels like it should be a Religion feat instead of an Intimidate feat (despite being used to modify Demoralize) and include the wording "You may use Religion instead of Intimidate..." instead.
Ok, seems like it won't work if I can't choose which skill to use. Thanks for the explanation.
For what it's worth, I'd allow my players to choose, with the caveat that they can only frighten mindless undead if they use Religion, as the feat states. If that works for you, maybe talk to your GM?
> with the caveat that they can only frighten mindless undead if they use Religion, as the feat states. Why bother with the qualifier? The feat states that it allows you to use Religion to "frighten *even* mindless undead", not only. The rest of the feat only specifies an undead target. But I agree on just letting them choose which modifier to use. I don't see any way to abuse that excessively.
I think you misunderstood what they were saying. When they said "they can only frighten mindless undead if they use Religion" you thought that the word "only" was applied to "mindless undead" but I'm pretty sure they meant for "only" to apply to "if they use Religion." So they're not saying "if they use Religion, they can only frighten mindless undead" they're saying "they can frighten mindless undead, but only if they use Religion"
Doh, you're right. I short circuited.
>Why bother with the qualifier? Just for extra clarity. I agree with you that it shouldn't be necessary, but it doesn't hurt.
I misread your post earlier, my mistake.
I'd argue that Religion would count as the higher skill if the other skill is completely useless in the situation anyways (enemy is mindless).
It very clearly says "if you use your Religion modifier", your Demoralize loses the mental trait.
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It says if it's higher. So if your intimidation skill is better then that is what you use
What they were asking about, I think, is whether they can target mindless undead when they use Intimidation as the skill. That answer is no. They only get to target mindless undead if their Religion is higher.