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View Full Version : [3.5] Some Different Ideas on Skills... [PEACHiness]



darkzucchini
2008-08-11, 10:11 PM
I have always had a number of small problems with the way that skills were handled in 3.e. While I like the system overall (yeah, some of the skills are pretty screwed up), I feel that I could have used a few changes. First off, I don't like cross class skills, I feel that you should be able to have a fighter who is very knowledgeable about the local community, or a cleric who is master horseback rider. This easily remedied by using the Class Skill Group system from Iron Heroes. I also don't like how shafted some classes are when it comes to skill points, also easily remedied by increasing the number of skill points said classes get. But the one thing that I haven't really seen a fix to is disparity between the number of skill ranks low level characters have and the number that high level characters have. I don't like how an Expert has to be really high level to be a master Sword Smith, and, of course, being high level comes with all sorts of added hit points and BAB that might not be appropriate for the character. So I have come up with two solution that I hope people will comment on (either with constructive criticism or to tell me how awesome I am).

1. Simply divide the number of skill points that a character may have in half and divide skill advancement in half. Thus, at first level, a Rogue would gain 8+Int x 2 skill points, with a max of two ranks per skill. Max rank would increase to 3 at level 3, 4 at level 5, 5 at level 7, and so on and so forth. Skill points you could do every two levels, or you could divide the number of skill points that you would gain in half and do it every level, making for a bit smoother skill progression. This would make it so that low level character with a good score in the related stat would not be so out shown by a high level character. Possible problems that I see; abilities become a lot more important, you can never really outclass everyone else to such an incredible degree, which is a mixed package in my opinion.

2. Turn skills into skill blocks. Every class gains a number of skill blocks based on their class and their int mod. A skill block grants the character a +4 (or +2 if you want to combine this method with #1) bonus to that skill and a character may have up to 5 skill blocks spent on any one skill. The number of skill blocks that a character puts into a skill is not limited by level. A character must have purchased all 5 skill blocks in a certain skill before they may purchase Skill Focus for that skill. Thus, a 1st level human expert with an Int of 10 could have Craft (Weapon Smith) 5 (for 10 or 20 ranks) and Any Other Skill 1, plus Skill Focus: Craft (Weapon Smith), allowing the first level character to max out their talent in a certain field early on. Problems I can see; you don't get as much of an ability to dabble, being able to put 1 rank here and 1 rank there, I might find that nobody spreads their skills out any more, instead just focusing on 1 or 2 skills to max out early on.

Anyway, drop me a line and tell me what you think.

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