Zovc
2010-07-05, 06:12 PM
Last night I had an interesting idea to make skill points be worth more.
Mind you, I'm a fan of consolidating skills like Jump, Climb, and Swim into one Athletics skill, and doing things along those lines (Open Lock becomes a part of Disable Device, etc); I'm also a big fan of skill tricks. So, I like to make people's skill points go farther without having to give players that many more skill points.
So, similar to skill tricks, I was pondering letting skill points go towards Feat-(or in some cases, 'class ability')-type effects. Obviously, Skills can already do something similar to the Skill Feats, and I'll touch on a potential revision of those later in this post, but they can't do things like some suboptimal (but necessary-to-a-lot-of-characters) feats.
So, for the sake of reference, we'll call these Talents. I'm not feeling too creative at the moment, and I'm generally awful with naming things, so that will have to make due for this example. Here's what a basic entry would look like in a book:
Talents
At first glance, Talents might seem too powerful to include in your game, but consider the perspective in which they are presented. A non-fighter character generally gets one or two feats at level one, and from there, they go on to get six extra feats beyond that without something granting them extra feats. So, a rogue using one of his or her 7/8 feats on Weapon Finesse comes at a great cost. As an attempt to remedy this, Talents enable characters to spend a less finite (but still valuable) resource, skills, on effects that will make them more reliable.
Note: Talents can be treated as feats of the same name for meeting the prerequisites of anything, this includes prestige classes and other feats.
Weapon Finesse
Cost: 4 skill points.
Benefit: With a light weapon, rapier, whip, or spiked chain made for a creature of your size category, you may use your Dexterity modifier instead of your Strength modifier on attack rolls. If you carry a shield, its armor check penalty applies to your attack rolls.
Special: If you already have the Weapon Finesse feat when you gain this talent, you may select a new feat you meet the prerequisites for.
Psionic Meditation
Cost: 4 skill points.
Benefit: You can take a move action to become psionically focused.
Quick Draw
Cost: 4 skill points.
Benefit: You can draw a weapon as a free action instead of as a move action. You can draw a hidden weapon (see the Sleight of Hand skill) as a move action. A character who has selected this feat may throw weapons at his full normal rate of attacks (much like a character with a bow).
Skill Focus
Cost: 4 skill points.
Benefit: Choose a skill. You get an untyped +3 bonus on all checks involving that skill.
Special: You can gain this talent multiple times. Its effects do not stack. Each time you take the talent, it applies to a new skill.
(It is recommended you do not allow this feat and this skill at the same time.)
Mind you, I'm a fan of consolidating skills like Jump, Climb, and Swim into one Athletics skill, and doing things along those lines (Open Lock becomes a part of Disable Device, etc); I'm also a big fan of skill tricks. So, I like to make people's skill points go farther without having to give players that many more skill points.
So, similar to skill tricks, I was pondering letting skill points go towards Feat-(or in some cases, 'class ability')-type effects. Obviously, Skills can already do something similar to the Skill Feats, and I'll touch on a potential revision of those later in this post, but they can't do things like some suboptimal (but necessary-to-a-lot-of-characters) feats.
So, for the sake of reference, we'll call these Talents. I'm not feeling too creative at the moment, and I'm generally awful with naming things, so that will have to make due for this example. Here's what a basic entry would look like in a book:
Talents
At first glance, Talents might seem too powerful to include in your game, but consider the perspective in which they are presented. A non-fighter character generally gets one or two feats at level one, and from there, they go on to get six extra feats beyond that without something granting them extra feats. So, a rogue using one of his or her 7/8 feats on Weapon Finesse comes at a great cost. As an attempt to remedy this, Talents enable characters to spend a less finite (but still valuable) resource, skills, on effects that will make them more reliable.
Note: Talents can be treated as feats of the same name for meeting the prerequisites of anything, this includes prestige classes and other feats.
Weapon Finesse
Cost: 4 skill points.
Benefit: With a light weapon, rapier, whip, or spiked chain made for a creature of your size category, you may use your Dexterity modifier instead of your Strength modifier on attack rolls. If you carry a shield, its armor check penalty applies to your attack rolls.
Special: If you already have the Weapon Finesse feat when you gain this talent, you may select a new feat you meet the prerequisites for.
Psionic Meditation
Cost: 4 skill points.
Benefit: You can take a move action to become psionically focused.
Quick Draw
Cost: 4 skill points.
Benefit: You can draw a weapon as a free action instead of as a move action. You can draw a hidden weapon (see the Sleight of Hand skill) as a move action. A character who has selected this feat may throw weapons at his full normal rate of attacks (much like a character with a bow).
Skill Focus
Cost: 4 skill points.
Benefit: Choose a skill. You get an untyped +3 bonus on all checks involving that skill.
Special: You can gain this talent multiple times. Its effects do not stack. Each time you take the talent, it applies to a new skill.
(It is recommended you do not allow this feat and this skill at the same time.)