Do starting intelligence flaws reduce the starting skill count

Question

The Iruxi ancestry has an ability flaw in Intelligence, which means that Iruxi characters who didn't take a boost somewhere else would have a negative Intelligence modifier at level 1. Every class in the Core Rulebook references this modifier, e.g. for the monk:

Trained in a number of skills equal to 4 plus your Intelligence modifier

This is distinctly different from the language specification in the ancestry definition, which for Iruxi (in the Lost Omens Character Guide) reads:

Additional languages equal to your Intelligence modifier (if it's positive).

Should I interpret this to mean that a Monk with a -1 Intelligence modifier would start with only three skills from their class?

Answer 1

Negative intelligence reduces the starting skills

The wording used by classes for your trained skills isn't unique, for example the same wording is used a lot in Chapter 1 of the CRB:

Your character’s Perception modifier measures how alert they are. This modifier is equal to their proficiency bonus in Perception plus their Wisdom modifier. For more about Perception, see page 448.

On page 448 the corresponding check is explained in full and we can see that 'plus' is literally '+':

Perception check result = d20 roll + Wisdom modifier + proficiency bonus + other bonuses + penalties

So if your class states something like:

Trained in a number of skills equal to 4 plus your Intelligence modifier

Then you do a proper addition, even if the modifier is -1: number of trained skills = 4 + Intelligence modifier = 4 + (-1) = 3.

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The defining feature of a modifier is that it can be either positive or negative. This is just mentioned in passing in Step 1 for checks:

You’ll then identify all the relevant modifiers, bonuses, and penalties that apply to the roll. A modifier can be either positive or negative, but a bonus is always positive, and a penalty is always negative.

If we were meant to ignore negative modifiers by default, then the notion of a modifier just wouldn't exist in the rules and every modifier would be a bonus instead. That clearly isn't the case, so in general we need to account for the negative modifiers, unless we are explicitly told otherwise (i.e. the languages, as you've already noticed).

Answer 2

I would say yes, even just from a simulationist point of view. If you're less intelligent, presumably you can learn less skills. Perhaps, just to even the Monk with the rest of the party, you can rule that the Iruxi doesn't have to only take three skills, and can take 4 or some other amount. Maybe there's some errata somewhere that specifies otherwise, but I can't find any.

Answer 3

tldr : Yes, you lose a trained skill if you have an Intelligence penalty, but not a language.

Those are two entirely separate rules, and worded differently for a reason. Logically, if you were to have a penalty reduce your number of languages, you would potentially lose the ability to speak Common, which would be difficult to play at the table. (quite possibly painful for all concerned!)

For Skills, since you start with a few anyway, losing one isn't the end of the world. It also means all attributes have some level of importance to all characters, even those more physically inclined.