So the skill list is too long, and what's more, it has some lame choices in it. Below are an initial offering of suggested tweaks. Thoughts?
1. roll Drive into Ride.
2. roll Balance into Tumble.
3. roll Spot and Listen together
4. Eliminate Search as a separate skill, but have a feat that grants a bonus to searching.
5. Eliminate Knowledge: Heraldry
6. Eliminate Perform as a skill, since it is also a Background trait.
7. Eliminate Disguise and make it a Rogue Skill trick, not a skill.
8. Is anyone interested in the Heal skill, when Herbalism exists? Maybe it can go too.
9. Clarify Knowledge: Warfare -- probably make it not a knowledge skill, but one of leadership and tactics (profession: tactician?)
10. I'd also like to make it a requirement that every background (even customized ones) have at least one Knowledge or Profession skill attached to it.
I disagree almost completely. The "skill list" should not be short, with extremely broad "skills". They should be much, much narrower. I've said it before and I'll keep saying it again... the broader the "skills", the more they overlap and thus destroy the concept of Ability Checks.
We ARE NOT making skill checks anymore. Everything we are doing are Ability Checks. And thus... THOSE give us our "broad" abilities. If you want your PC to be good at talking to people... having a high CHA modifier is the way to accomplish it. If you want to have a lot of knowledge in lots of many topics... you need a high INT. You want to be good at balancing, and tumbling, and stealth, and sleight of hand? Take a high DEX.
Thus... your four "skills" are meant to convey those very small, narrow, focuses that you are brilliant at, in and around your broad knowledge base of abilities. An Olympic high jumper is very athletic. Probably better than most people in most athletic competitions. Fast. Strong legs. Strong arms. In game, he would be listed as having a high STR mod. And thus, any checks the DM might ask him to make that involve any sorts of athletics... he would be better at because of his STR.
But what is he brilliant at? Best at than almost everybody? Jumping. He's spent his whole life focusing on jumping. Not sprinting. Not hurdles. Not shot put. Not shoot basketballs. Just jumping. And thus, he should have a skill of "Jumping" so that he gets a bonus over and above his general athletic ability. So that way we get both-- a way to denote his broad athleticism... his high STR... and his specific focus in one narrow area of expertise... his Jumping skill.
If you create a broad "skill" of Athletics... you pretty much duplicate and replace everything you would ever use your STR mod for. What's left? Bend bars? Great... the rarest of STR checks is by itself, while every other STR related check is replaced by Athletics. You'd never be making STR checks, because practically every single thing that would fall under a STR check would get covered by Athletics.
And the same could be said for "Diplomacy" and CHA. Every single interaction you might have that would be a CHA cheeck would get overwritten by Diplomacy. Diplomacy is also too broad. Bluff? Narrower and good. Intimidate? Narrower and good. Negotiate? Narrower and okay. Seduction? Narrower and good. But if you want to be able to talk to people... you shouldn't need Diplomacy, you should need a high CHA.
At the end of the day... any "skill" that would cover every single aspect of some ability check is too broad and should not be in the game in my opinion.
