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[Hawken]

C'mon, think fantastically. Yo Yo Ma is a 5th-level cello maestro. Joshua Bell is a 5th-level violin maestro. James Galway is a 5th-level flute maestro. (Yes, I'm a classical fan.) A 20th level bard? He's a maestro at the cello, violin, pan flute, harpsichord, harmonica, and kazoo--a veritable one-being orchestra.

The only name there I recognize is Yo Yo Ma. And I'd have to say he's further along than just being a 5th level Bard (or even Expert). If these guys are at the top of their field, best in the world, they would be pushing 20th level, if not already epic!

Also, considering that it takes years for even prodigies to master a single instrument, I don't see a 20th level bard being a master of more than maybe two or three instruments. It just isn't feasible. Going out and killing monsters, stealing treasure, plane hopping, all that stuff doesn't make one a better singer or story-teller.

Kerrick, I kind of like your ideas for proficiency levels, but at the same time, why bother? On your Decipher Script thing, proficiency level doesn't mean anything special--or at least, that's how it read to me. If you're the lowest rank, you can still translate something multiple ranks above you, it just takes longer to do so. What's the incentive beyond just getting better die rolls (or just getting magic items that give better modifiers), just to speed up the time it takes?

If you're going to have levels, there has to be things levels can do, things they can't. You listed what levels can do, but not what they can't. If someone has only proficient level in a language, how exactly are they going to be able to translate, muchless understand, something written at a more erudite level? Meaning, if someone has a Jeff Foxworthy-level of understanding of a language, how is just taking a little more time (a few extra minutes per page) going to allow them to understand Sartre or Confucious level writings? Some codes take years, decades or even centuries to break, and that's after being worked on by experts. Someone with rudimentary language skills would be lucky to get a single word right, and without having the correct context, that word could have any number of meanings.

If you want to do proficiency levels, how about like this:
Each skill has a proficiency level: Novice, Proficient, Talented, Expert, Master.
Each level has 5 ranks; Novice 1-5, Proficient 1-5, etc.
The first rank put in a skill becomes Novice 1, etc., up to 5 ranks being Novice 5. The sixth rank changes the level to Proficient 1, and so on, up to Master 5.

Each skill has 6 difficulty ratings; Easy, Simple, Average, Difficult, Hard and Impossible. Each rank has different DCs based on the proficiency level.

Skill check difficulty levels
Easy: DC 7
Simple: DC 10
Average: DC 15
Difficult: DC 17
Hard: DC 20
Impossible: DC 25
The skill check made is as normal: skill ranks + modifiers + d20 roll.

If your proficiency level is higher, reduce the DC by 1 step for each proficiency level higher. So what would be Difficult (DC 17) for a Novice, would be Simple (DC 10) for a Talented person. The Talented person would add his ranks of Talented (1-5), plus modifiers + d20 roll when making that check.

On the other end, increase DCs by 1 step if the task is set for higher proficient level characters. So, something Average (DC 15) for a Master, would be Impossible (DC 25) for someone Proficient.

I just came up with the DC numbers off the top of my head--feel free to tweak to your heart's content!