:facepalm:

I think it would be better if they made intelligence (in the sense of information, not of mental acuity) a game resource rather than something handed to you for free. They don't give you free weapons, or spells, or dragon shouts, or skill increases, and information is roughly as useful, so why just hand it to you like it's your right?

It would make playing an "Agent" type of character more true to form, and maybe add more depth: e.g. the house you want to rob had work done recently, so you go to the architect and distract him long enough to steal a copy of the floor plans (or just bribe him for the information) -- thus revealing secret passages, guard stations, and treasure vaults. Or you're heading into a huge tomb, and you pay a historical scholar a visit who provides you with some knowledge about how to identify the specific tomb you want rather than sorting through them all, in addition to some hints about traps and puzzles. You could chat with a person's friends or enemies to get information on their whereabouts and movements. Or for that matter, you pay a priest of Talos handsomely to grant you "Quest Sense" for a day, enabling quest markers for any quest you choose. But it would usually be optional.

I suppose the beggars in TG were sort of a limited implementation of this idea, but it would be nice to see it expanded. Ideally the stealthy character who uses, acquires, and sells intelligence would get the same gameplay consideration as the stealthy character who steals physical stuff, especially since the former lends itself more to politics, intrigue, and narrative (and a more legitimate reason for "Speech" to be a class skill).