Kerrick
First Post
There's been some discussion on the PF forums about Concentration, Knowledge (arcana), and Spellcraft. As you all may or may not know, they combined Concentration and Spellcraft into one skill. I thought it was a dumb idea (as did many other folks), but they're doing the Skills and Feats testing now, and the discussion got me thinking:
Why do we have three skills that cover spells and magic, two of which are pretty much must-haves for spellcasters? Does anyone ever use Concentration for skill checks?
So I thought this over last night and today at work, and came to the following conclusion: We only need two skills - Knowledge and Spellcraft. Knowledge (arcana) simulates book-learning; it covers identifying magic items/sigils/glyphs, reciting knowledge about magical creatures, draw magical diagrams, etc. Spellcraft, OTOH, is practical knowledge - you use it to identify a spell/magical aura/magical diagram, learn a spell, dispel/counter a spell*, penetrate SR*, etc.
*This is a variant rule I'm working on, where Spellcraft adds a bonus to caster level checks. I'm also considering changing the "make a check or lose the spell" check to 1d20+mods+bonus based on Spellcraft ranks; this makes it not always a given that the caster will make it.
Concentration is "ability to cast a spell under pressure" and "ability to maintain focus on a spell", but both the uses fall under Spellcraft, so it makes eminent sense to roll them together. Someone brought up psionics - it relies heavily on Concentration - but that would just as easily fall under Psicraft instead of Spellcraft. As far as skills are concerned, just increase the DC for the task depending on what's going on.
Thoughts?
Why do we have three skills that cover spells and magic, two of which are pretty much must-haves for spellcasters? Does anyone ever use Concentration for skill checks?
So I thought this over last night and today at work, and came to the following conclusion: We only need two skills - Knowledge and Spellcraft. Knowledge (arcana) simulates book-learning; it covers identifying magic items/sigils/glyphs, reciting knowledge about magical creatures, draw magical diagrams, etc. Spellcraft, OTOH, is practical knowledge - you use it to identify a spell/magical aura/magical diagram, learn a spell, dispel/counter a spell*, penetrate SR*, etc.
*This is a variant rule I'm working on, where Spellcraft adds a bonus to caster level checks. I'm also considering changing the "make a check or lose the spell" check to 1d20+mods+bonus based on Spellcraft ranks; this makes it not always a given that the caster will make it.
Concentration is "ability to cast a spell under pressure" and "ability to maintain focus on a spell", but both the uses fall under Spellcraft, so it makes eminent sense to roll them together. Someone brought up psionics - it relies heavily on Concentration - but that would just as easily fall under Psicraft instead of Spellcraft. As far as skills are concerned, just increase the DC for the task depending on what's going on.
Thoughts?