Very curious now to see what the DMG includes for 'alternate skills', because this particular list is kind of 'meh' for me. I know I've definitely moved on from "one skill / one ability", plus there are still several skills in this list that I just don't see getting used nearly enough in my games to warrant having them... like Animal Handling, Performance and Sleight of Hand.
The nice thing I thought about Thievery was that you combined opening locks, disarming traps, and picking pockets into a single skill. Because I know in my games... picking pockets has been *such* a minor thing that going back to having a skill for it (and really *only* that) is just completely unnecessary and a real waste. Same thing with Animal Handling-- it occurs so infrequently that just wrapping up the couple times it occurs into the Nature umbrella has always been fine for me. And what exactly are anyone going to use Performance for that you couldn't just use Persuasion, Deception, or Intimidation? So you're singing instead of talking. Seems like a very minor difference to warrant having its own skill to me.
I've also become soured on having separate Athletics and Acrobatics skills, since invariably I get questions like "If I Jackie Chan up this wall, can I use Acrobatics instead of Athletics to climb it?" And seeing as how you're still making a STR or DEX check anyway... having a single skill that says "You're really good at physical actions" plus the applicable ability modifier is all I really need.
Also, there's no Dungeoneering skill anymore, which also seems odd. We still have above-ground information gathered from Nature, but no more below-ground info. Not sure of the reasoning for that.
This will definitely be a part of the game that I'm going to rework for my home games. Quite possibly just let players select four 'Aspects' of their character that go along with their Background, rather than set skills. So let the Minstrel select something like 'My music soothes the savage beast' and thus it could apply in place of Persuasion, or Animal Handling, or any other rolls that apply to having things calm or quiet. I think I'll find that much more satisfying in the long run.
