Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Need help naming skills!
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="doctorbadwolf" data-source="post: 6943300" data-attributes="member: 6704184"><p>OK, here's a list of the skills which have crap names, and a basic idea of what they do. </p><p></p><p>oh and if it wasn't clear, if you need to do a specialty thing, and have no ranks in it, you default to any ranks you have in the broad skill. also the broad skills usually have some super simple "ribbon" stuff that is always just a broad skill use, and ranks in a skill also equate to knowledge level regarding that skill and closely associated things, rather than having knowledge skills. </p><p></p><p><strong>Alchemy</strong>: Specs are Elixers, Sigils, and Transmutation. Not happy with "Elixers". Want something that evokes magical chemistry, other than the broad skill name. </p><p></p><p><strong>Althetics: </strong>has CLimb, Swim, and...Jump/Run? Not so much a naming issue, I guess. Maybe running faster just needs to be a use of the broad skill? </p><p></p><p><strong>Con</strong>: Lying skill. Spec skills are Deception, Disguise, and Obfuscate. Willing to rename Con or Deception or both. </p><p></p><p><strong>Electromancy:</strong> I'm fine with Conductivity and Lightning, but Control Device is...a lame name. It does what it says on the tin, though. </p><p></p><p><strong>Hydromancy.</strong> Is Aquamancy better? idk. Specs are Biomancy (healing skill, basically), Water Breathing, and Weather. Biomancy is fine, but the other two are terrible names. Just the worst. Water Breathing needs to evoke being able to live in water, echolocate like animals with sonar, etc, not just breath in water. Weather...I mean, I feel like there is a name for weather magic, and I just can't find it/think of it. </p><p></p><p><strong>Influence.</strong> Fine broad skill name. Specs are Persuasion, Negotiation, and Suave-faire. The last one I'm not sure of. Negotiation could change to Haggle to make it more clear why it isn't also persuasion, but then it loses the flavor of deal making of the sort a diplomat does, to some extent. </p><p></p><p><strong>Investigate</strong>: Has Research, Deduction, and Gather Information. I'd love a shorter name for Gather Info, and Research is a terribly broad name, and also a broad part of the game. Id rather something that evokes being skilled at figuring out how to find information, if that makes sense. Make a check with this skill when you need to figure out what books to read at the library, or how to navigate the archives, etc, as well as how to use indexes and to quickly find information and cross reference things in a book, website, etc, </p><p></p><p><strong>Enchantment</strong>: Ive no names for the specs. I want a glyph (temp enchantment, ward, etc) making skill, a skill for making a permanent enchantment into a distinct item, and a skill for manipulating existing magical effects, fields, glyphs, etc.</p><p></p><p><strong>Nature Magic</strong>: Healing, Herbalism, Plant-Growth. all terrible names. Especially "Healing". How exquisitely boring. Especially since Sacrumancy also has a "Healing" skill. I'd be willing to ditch the idea of Nature magic having a healing skill outside of Herbology, but I haven't thought of a good skill idea to add in it's place. </p><p></p><p><strong>Necromancy</strong>: This one is changing from standard dnd necromancy, to the magic of life and death. So, Command Dead stays. Use for speaking to the dead, commanding them back to their rest, animating them, etc. Need a skill for draining life, and another for restoring it, I think. Unless you've ideas for a better arrangement of three Necromancy specializations. </p><p></p><p><strong>Pyromancy</strong>: Combustion, Convection, and a blank one. (things have changed in the last couple months, used to have Pyromancy inside Electromancy) I want something mystical here, or something to do with shaping fire and/or light. </p><p></p><p><strong>Sacrumancy:</strong> Healing, Bless, Rebuke. Do what you'd expect. Holy magic (sacrum=holy or sacred). I'd be willing to ditch Healing if we can come up with a good replacement. Sanctify seems like it would be a function of Bless. Rebuke is both a defense skill against supernatural attacks/effects, and something you can use to "turn undead" and the like. Right now the different healing skills work differently, so I'm also fine with keeping them in. They just need different names. also, Sacrumancy, Sacromancy, or Sacramancy? </p><p></p><p><strong>Shadow Magic</strong>: Has Obtenebrate, Vitiate, and Sombramancy. Obtenebrate is for making yourself into a shadow being, which has defense, speed, and stealth benefits, and passing through objects. Vitiate sucks the will and energy from stuff. It's the entropy skill, basically. Sombramancy (good broad skill name?) covers making things of shadow, shaping shadow, etc. </p><p></p><p><strong>Shamanism</strong>: Communion, Ghost Walk, Healing. bleh. I love using this skill set, but I hate the names. Communion is talking to spirits and gaining their wisdom, Ghost Walk includes taking spirit form and taking on spirits aspects, like a totem warrior. Healing is self explanatory, but focuses on ailments of the spirit, and should probably also be a defensive skill. </p><p></p><p><strong>Sonic Magic</strong>: not the hedgehog. but, hedgehog wizards, right? ahem, anyway, includes Sonic Blast, Resonance, and Voice Casting. Sonic Blast is just creating waves of sound at things. Resonance involves manipulating vibrations in objects, creatures, etc for various effects, including disrupting enemy casters, helping allies concentrate, echolocation, and some stuff that involves crystals and frequencies that would take a paragraph to explain. Voice Casting involves throwing sounds, creating "ghost sounds", speaking over distance, etc. </p><p></p><p><strong>Unarmed</strong>: Striking, Grappling, Throws. Mostly I don't dig "Throws". but basically a skill for redirecting momentum, throwing opponents, etc. </p><p></p><p>and that's about it. The weapon skills may get shuffled around soon, so I'm not worried about them RN, but just in case: </p><p></p><p><strong>One-Handed</strong>: Blades, Bludgeons, Axes. </p><p><strong>Two-Handed: </strong>see above</p><p><strong>Thrown</strong>: Blades, Axes, Slings (includes atlatl, so not a great name)</p><p><strong>Pole-arms</strong>: Blades, Axes, Whip (flexible reach weapons, includes chains, ball and chain, etc may get moved to it's own skill) </p><p><strong>Bows</strong>: Hand-Bow, Crossbow, Manual Bow. I often call it longbow, but it includes a range of bow sizes, so I don't like that. </p><p><strong>Firearms:</strong> Sidearms, Rifles, Shotguns</p><p><strong>Heavy Arms</strong>: Mounted Guns, Launchers, Artillery</p><p><strong>Defense Weapons</strong>: Hand Shield, Arm Shield, Parrying Weapon. Hand and Arm shield refers to whether the shield is simply held with a handle, or strapped to the arm.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="doctorbadwolf, post: 6943300, member: 6704184"] OK, here's a list of the skills which have crap names, and a basic idea of what they do. oh and if it wasn't clear, if you need to do a specialty thing, and have no ranks in it, you default to any ranks you have in the broad skill. also the broad skills usually have some super simple "ribbon" stuff that is always just a broad skill use, and ranks in a skill also equate to knowledge level regarding that skill and closely associated things, rather than having knowledge skills. [B]Alchemy[/B]: Specs are Elixers, Sigils, and Transmutation. Not happy with "Elixers". Want something that evokes magical chemistry, other than the broad skill name. [B]Althetics: [/B]has CLimb, Swim, and...Jump/Run? Not so much a naming issue, I guess. Maybe running faster just needs to be a use of the broad skill? [B]Con[/B]: Lying skill. Spec skills are Deception, Disguise, and Obfuscate. Willing to rename Con or Deception or both. [B]Electromancy:[/B] I'm fine with Conductivity and Lightning, but Control Device is...a lame name. It does what it says on the tin, though. [B]Hydromancy.[/B] Is Aquamancy better? idk. Specs are Biomancy (healing skill, basically), Water Breathing, and Weather. Biomancy is fine, but the other two are terrible names. Just the worst. Water Breathing needs to evoke being able to live in water, echolocate like animals with sonar, etc, not just breath in water. Weather...I mean, I feel like there is a name for weather magic, and I just can't find it/think of it. [B]Influence.[/B] Fine broad skill name. Specs are Persuasion, Negotiation, and Suave-faire. The last one I'm not sure of. Negotiation could change to Haggle to make it more clear why it isn't also persuasion, but then it loses the flavor of deal making of the sort a diplomat does, to some extent. [B]Investigate[/B]: Has Research, Deduction, and Gather Information. I'd love a shorter name for Gather Info, and Research is a terribly broad name, and also a broad part of the game. Id rather something that evokes being skilled at figuring out how to find information, if that makes sense. Make a check with this skill when you need to figure out what books to read at the library, or how to navigate the archives, etc, as well as how to use indexes and to quickly find information and cross reference things in a book, website, etc, [B]Enchantment[/B]: Ive no names for the specs. I want a glyph (temp enchantment, ward, etc) making skill, a skill for making a permanent enchantment into a distinct item, and a skill for manipulating existing magical effects, fields, glyphs, etc. [B]Nature Magic[/B]: Healing, Herbalism, Plant-Growth. all terrible names. Especially "Healing". How exquisitely boring. Especially since Sacrumancy also has a "Healing" skill. I'd be willing to ditch the idea of Nature magic having a healing skill outside of Herbology, but I haven't thought of a good skill idea to add in it's place. [B]Necromancy[/B]: This one is changing from standard dnd necromancy, to the magic of life and death. So, Command Dead stays. Use for speaking to the dead, commanding them back to their rest, animating them, etc. Need a skill for draining life, and another for restoring it, I think. Unless you've ideas for a better arrangement of three Necromancy specializations. [B]Pyromancy[/B]: Combustion, Convection, and a blank one. (things have changed in the last couple months, used to have Pyromancy inside Electromancy) I want something mystical here, or something to do with shaping fire and/or light. [B]Sacrumancy:[/B] Healing, Bless, Rebuke. Do what you'd expect. Holy magic (sacrum=holy or sacred). I'd be willing to ditch Healing if we can come up with a good replacement. Sanctify seems like it would be a function of Bless. Rebuke is both a defense skill against supernatural attacks/effects, and something you can use to "turn undead" and the like. Right now the different healing skills work differently, so I'm also fine with keeping them in. They just need different names. also, Sacrumancy, Sacromancy, or Sacramancy? [B]Shadow Magic[/B]: Has Obtenebrate, Vitiate, and Sombramancy. Obtenebrate is for making yourself into a shadow being, which has defense, speed, and stealth benefits, and passing through objects. Vitiate sucks the will and energy from stuff. It's the entropy skill, basically. Sombramancy (good broad skill name?) covers making things of shadow, shaping shadow, etc. [B]Shamanism[/B]: Communion, Ghost Walk, Healing. bleh. I love using this skill set, but I hate the names. Communion is talking to spirits and gaining their wisdom, Ghost Walk includes taking spirit form and taking on spirits aspects, like a totem warrior. Healing is self explanatory, but focuses on ailments of the spirit, and should probably also be a defensive skill. [B]Sonic Magic[/B]: not the hedgehog. but, hedgehog wizards, right? ahem, anyway, includes Sonic Blast, Resonance, and Voice Casting. Sonic Blast is just creating waves of sound at things. Resonance involves manipulating vibrations in objects, creatures, etc for various effects, including disrupting enemy casters, helping allies concentrate, echolocation, and some stuff that involves crystals and frequencies that would take a paragraph to explain. Voice Casting involves throwing sounds, creating "ghost sounds", speaking over distance, etc. [B]Unarmed[/B]: Striking, Grappling, Throws. Mostly I don't dig "Throws". but basically a skill for redirecting momentum, throwing opponents, etc. and that's about it. The weapon skills may get shuffled around soon, so I'm not worried about them RN, but just in case: [B]One-Handed[/B]: Blades, Bludgeons, Axes. [B]Two-Handed: [/B]see above [B]Thrown[/B]: Blades, Axes, Slings (includes atlatl, so not a great name) [B]Pole-arms[/B]: Blades, Axes, Whip (flexible reach weapons, includes chains, ball and chain, etc may get moved to it's own skill) [B]Bows[/B]: Hand-Bow, Crossbow, Manual Bow. I often call it longbow, but it includes a range of bow sizes, so I don't like that. [B]Firearms:[/B] Sidearms, Rifles, Shotguns [B]Heavy Arms[/B]: Mounted Guns, Launchers, Artillery [B]Defense Weapons[/B]: Hand Shield, Arm Shield, Parrying Weapon. Hand and Arm shield refers to whether the shield is simply held with a handle, or strapped to the arm. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Need help naming skills!
Top