View source for Skills/Evaluating Intelligence

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'''Evaluating Intelligence''' lets you size up the mind of any creature, but its real value is in battle: it is the skill that makes your '''spells hit harder'''. Every serious combat mage trains it alongside [[Skills/Magery|Magery]].

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== At a glance ==
{| class="wikitable"
! Skill category
| Magic
|-
! What it does
| Increases spell damage; lets you judge a creature's Intelligence and mana
|-
! How you use it
| Use the skill and target a creature within 8 tiles. It also works passively every time you cast.
|-
! Works with
| [[Skills/Magery|Magery]], [[Skills/Meditation|Meditation]] and [[Skills/Anatomy|Anatomy]]
|-
! Skill cap
| 100 (Grandmaster), raised up to 120 with Evaluating Intelligence power scrolls
|-
! Stats it can raise
| Intelligence
|}

== Spell damage ==
[[File:NB_Tailor_WizardsHat.png|right|link=|Wizard's hat]]
Whenever one of your damaging spells lands, your Evaluating Intelligence is compared with the target's [[Skills/Resisting Spells|Resisting Spells]]:
* If your Evaluating Intelligence is '''higher''', the spell does extra damage: '''+1% for every 5 points''' of difference.
* If it's '''lower''', the spell does less: '''−1% for every 2 points''' of difference. Fighting a strong resister with low Evaluating Intelligence hurts.

{| class="wikitable"
! Your Evaluating Intelligence !! Target Resist 0 !! Resist 50 !! Resist 80 !! Resist 100 !! Resist 120
|-
| 0 || +0% || -25% || -40% || -50% || -60%
|-
| 25 || +5% || -12% || -28% || -38% || -48%
|-
| 50 || +10% || +0% || -15% || -25% || -35%
|-
| 75 || +15% || +5% || -3% || -12% || -22%
|-
| 100 || +20% || +10% || +4% || +0% || -10%
|-
| 120 || +24% || +14% || +8% || +4% || +0%
|}

This is applied on top of the other damage modifiers on the [[Skills/Magery#Spell damage|Magery]] page, like the double damage spells do to monsters.

== Other benefits ==
* '''Protection spell.''' Your chance to keep casting while being hit under the Protection spell is (Evaluating Intelligence + [[Skills/Meditation|Meditation]] + [[Skills/Inscription|Inscription]]) ÷ 4 percent, up to 75%.
* '''Unarmed defense.''' When you fight without a weapon (holding a spellbook counts), you defend as if your [[Skills/Wrestling|Wrestling]] were (Evaluating Intelligence + [[Skills/Anatomy|Anatomy]] + 20) ÷ 2, if that's better than your real Wrestling. A mage with 100 Evaluating Intelligence defends like a 60 wrestler.

== Evaluating a creature ==
Use the skill (''What would you like to evaluate?'') and click a creature or person within 8 tiles. If you succeed, you'll see how clever it is:

{| class="wikitable"
! Intelligence !! You see: "He/She/It …"
|-
| 0–9 || ''looks slightly less intelligent than a rock.''
|-
| 10–19 || ''looks fairly stupid.''
|-
| 20–29 || ''looks not the brightest.''
|-
| 30–39 || ''looks about average.''
|-
| 40–49 || ''looks moderately intelligent.''
|-
| 50–59 || ''looks very intelligent.''
|-
| 60–69 || ''looks extremely intelligent.''
|-
| 70–79 || ''looks extraordinarily intelligent.''
|-
| 80–89 || ''looks like a formidable intellect, well beyond even the extraordinary.''
|-
| 90–99 || ''looks like a definite genius.''
|-
| 100 or more || ''looks superhumanly intelligent in a manner you cannot comprehend.''
|}

With '''76 or more''' Evaluating Intelligence you'll also see how much mana it has left, in steps of ten percent (''This being is at fifty percent mental strength.'').

Your reading can be a little off at low skill. The margin of error shrinks as you improve:

{| class="wikitable"
! Evaluating Intelligence !! Margin of error (Intelligence and mana %) !! Shows mana
|-
| 0 || ±20 || No
|-
| 25 || ±15 || No
|-
| 50 || ±10 || No
|-
| 75 || ±5 || No
|-
| 76 || ±5 || Yes
|-
| 90 || ±2 || Yes
|-
| 100 || ±0 || Yes
|}

If you fail: ''You cannot quite judge his mental abilities.'' Trying it on yourself gets ''Hmm, that person looks really silly.''

== Training Evaluating Intelligence ==
* '''Cast spells.''' Every spell you attempt from a book or scroll, success or fizzle, gives you a chance to gain Evaluating Intelligence. Most mages raise it alongside [[Skills/Magery|Magery]] without trying.
* '''Use the skill on creatures.''' Each use is a chance to gain, and it costs nothing. You can use it again after 1 second.
* Mass Curse cast on a target gives you another chance to gain.
* '''Below 10.0''' you gain on every attempt, sometimes several tenths at once. Above that, each attempt has a chance to gain 0.1.
* The '''harder the attempt''' is for your skill level, the better your chance to gain. Your chance also drops as you get closer to your Evaluating Intelligence cap and to your total skill cap of '''700'''.
* If you've set Evaluating Intelligence to go down (the arrow in your skills list), gains elsewhere can lower it to make room under your total cap. Lock skills you want to keep.
* Reaching 100.0 adds Evaluating Intelligence to the '''Skills Mastered''' count on your achievements.
* Mages, mage guildmasters, holy mages, healers and scribes will train you for gold: up to a third of their own skill, at most '''42.0''', for '''1 gold per 0.1''' points. Ask them (or use their context menu) to train the skill, then drop the gold on them.

'''Stats:''' each successful use has about a 3% chance to raise Intelligence by 1 point. Each stat can rise at most once every 10 minutes, and only if it's set to rise.

=== Suggested path ===
{| class="wikitable"
! Evaluating Intelligence !! How to train
|-
| 0 to about 33 || Buy it from a mage trainer.
|-
| 33 to 100 || Keep casting while you train [[Skills/Magery|Magery]], and use the skill on any creature nearby while you wait for mana. Every cast counts, so it usually keeps pace with Magery.
|-
| 100 to 120 || Requires a power scroll. Keep casting: the higher your skill, the slower the gains.
|}

=== Power scrolls ===
[[File:NB_PowerScroll.png|right|link=|Power scroll]]
Evaluating Intelligence tops out at '''100.0''' unless you use a '''Evaluating Intelligence power scroll'''. There are three kinds: ''exalted'' (110), ''mythical'' (115) and ''legendary'' (120). Double-click one to raise your Evaluating Intelligence cap to that number: ''"You feel a surge of magic as the scroll enhances your Evaluating Intelligence!"''

* Evaluating Intelligence power scrolls come from '''champion bosses''': [[Bestiary/Barracoon|Barracoon]], [[Bestiary/Lord Oaks|Lord Oaks]], [[Bestiary/Mephitis|Mephitis]], [[Bestiary/Neira|Neira]], [[Bestiary/Rikktor|Rikktor]], [[Bestiary/Semidar|Semidar]] and [[Bestiary/Silvani|Silvani]]. Each champion boss leaves '''6 power scrolls''' in random fighting, magic, bard and animal skills, handed out among the players who helped kill it. Each scroll is a 110 (60%), 115 (35%) or 120 (5%).
* A scroll only works if it's higher than your current cap. Otherwise: ''"Your Evaluating Intelligence is too high for this power scroll."''
* Champion power scrolls are '''cursed''': they always drop when you die, even from a blessed container. Use them or bank them quickly.
* Raising the cap doesn't raise your skill. You still have to train the extra points.

== Tips ==
* '''Train it to match your Magery.''' Below the target's Resist, your spells lose damage fast.
* '''Check a mage before you fight it.''' A creature that "looks like a definite genius" probably has the mana to cast its strongest spells.
* '''Watch an enemy mage's mana''' at 76+ skill. When it's nearly empty, it's time to attack.

== See also ==
* [[Skills/Magery|Magery]] · [[Skills/Meditation|Meditation]] · [[Skills/Resisting Spells|Resisting Spells]] · [[Skills/Anatomy|Anatomy]]

[[Category:Skills]]