How do skills work? Or...?

[Quixoticelixir]

As the title says, how exactly does skills work? I've only just finished browsing through the play test papers, and didn't find anything on skills, except the various characters seem to have some bonuses in skill-like talents (commerce, for instance, as noted at the rogue's background).

For some reason, I can't open the DM Guide (I've tried re-downloading a couple of times - still nothing).

Thanks!

 

[hafrogman]

Yeah, skills are rather free-form, and covered in the DM document. In general though, they haven't changed from 3e and 4e, you roll a d20, add an ability and any training.

The biggest difference is they are now disassociated from specific abilities. The DM picks which attribute is most likely to apply to a given use of the skill.

 

[Yora]

The skills given to the characters are weird. Diplomacy, Intimidate, and Perception are easy enough. We know them from 3rd Edition.
But then you have Natural Lore, Survival, and Wilderness Lore. What is Wilderness Lore, when you already have Knowledge (Nature) and Survival?
Insight isn't defined at all. Forbidden Lore also isn't that helpful.

 

[hafrogman]

But then you have Natural Lore, Survival, and Wilderness Lore. What is Wilderness Lore, when you already have Knowledge (Nature) and Survival?

Since the domain-split clerics were added to this version of the playtest, it could have been made off a different iteration of the rules. I expect Wilderness and Natural Lore are the same thing.

Insight isn't defined at all. Forbidden Lore also isn't that helpful.

Insight is 4e, it's like sense motive.

Forbidden Lore is possibly like knowledge dungeoneering or planes, representing knowledge of unnatural things, demons, etc.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

The skills given to the characters are weird. Diplomacy, Intimidate, and Perception are easy enough. We know them from 3rd Edition.
But then you have Natural Lore, Survival, and Wilderness Lore. What is Wilderness Lore, when you already have Knowledge (Nature) and Survival?
Insight isn't defined at all. Forbidden Lore also isn't that helpful.

You know it if you encounter it

 

[Yora]

I expect Wilderness and Natural Lore are the same thing.

In 3.0, Wilderness Lore was the name for Survival, hence the confusion.

 

[hafrogman]

In 3.0, Wilderness Lore was the name for Survival, hence the confusion.

Yeah, I can understand that. But the wizard's background seems to lean towards "Lore" being a class of skills akin to 3e's Knowledge (X) skills.

 

[Gilladian]

Yeah, skills are rather free-form, and covered in the DM document. In general though, they haven't changed from 3e and 4e, you roll a d20, add an ability and any training.

The biggest difference is they are now disassociated from specific abilities. The DM picks which attribute is most likely to apply to a given use of the skill.

Skills are not mentioned in the DM document AT ALL. The way to make ability checks is thoroughly discussed, but the word "skill" is in the document twice, on page 2, and never refers to the skills a pc could have.

So while skills are listed on PC sheets, with a modifier, the ways to apply those modifiers, are, at this time, entirely in the guesswork range.

 

[hafrogman]

Skills are not mentioned in the DM document AT ALL.

My apologies, the actual mechanic for checks is in the player's document, where it discusses adding the skill bonus to a check. The DM's document discusses checks from the other side of the table. The word skill is something that I think you'll see less of as we move forward. Now there is only one mechanic, the check. Skills are a bonus that is a applied to a check.

Being as these are playtest documents and not finished products, they do seem to assume at least a basic understanding of D&D mechanics, particularly from 3.X, and so they don't explain it quite as well as they might, but it's not exactly guesswork, either.

 

[FATDRAGONGAMES]

Skills are handled a lot like Castles & Crusades (at least in this document.)