Quote Originally Posted by Cluedrew View Post
You know I think I would add "thin skill system" to the list of biases that hurt martials. Yes, this one is very D&D but would extend to any system that has combat, magic and other. Combat and magic get a lot of attention and casters draw from both, or just the magic part for out-of-combat things. Outside of combat martials just get to draw from other, which tends towards flavour text compared to the others.
Yes, the skill systems of every version of D&D is somewhere between half-assed and barebone. And obviously this hurts characters that would rely on and excel in skills. That does hurt the martial, but at least a martial can fight. Most other muggle concepts even get relegated to NPC classes like commoner or expert because the system recognizes that skills don't work as main character feature the way they are handled ruleswise.

Many other systems with proper skill systems have viable player characters that work via those skills.