D&D: Intelligent animals variant?

Is there a variant of D&D rules on animals, in which they are not constrained to 1 or 2 INT?

This was prompted by my reading somewhere recently that crows are quite intelligent, probably more so than some human children. And of course, I shouldn't haven't to mention animals like dolphins and chimpanzees.

edited 31st Oct '10 9:08:57 AM by GlennMagusHarvey

You used to be able to roll the stats for druids' animal companions. (One druid in a game I ran ended up with a wolf with an Int of 5 or 6, no joke.)

edited 31st Oct '10 2:09:40 PM by FarseerLolotea

I'm pretty sure I know some people who don't have Int 5 or 6. Like the primary school students on my morning bus.

There's a D&D 3e book called Noble Wild, which details how to play as intelligent animals. There's also a spell called Awaken in the Player's Handbook, which can be cast on animals or trees to give them sapience. It's a fifth-level Druid spell, and it seems to last indefinitely.

edited 31st Oct '10 3:20:24 PM by Ezekiel

Probably not what you're thinking of, but I can't resist.

I don't think the OP was thinking of fully sentient animals (as per Noble Wild or awaken).

That said: Noble Deer are seriously screwed-up individuals.

In 3.5e SRD edition, officially, Animals must have int < 3 - unless it has a Celestial, Fiendish, or Magical Beast modifier.

But this is not INT 2, I think.

^ Exactly why I dislike that rule.