[Anthony]

Broadly speaking, the problem with 'intimidation' skill is that it's seen as the skill of being scary, and then people wonder why it doesn't scale with traits that seem intuitively scary.

You can make it make sense if you instead interpret it as the skill of maximizing the benefits of being scary, and/or getting people to overestimate how scary you are. Simply looking scary doesn't require any roll, it just requires looking and acting scary. A failed intimidate roll against a thug doesn't mean the thug doesn't run away -- it might mean the thug runs away and returns with a bunch of friends.