Pbartender
First Post
green slime said:Swim? Because the farm had a nearby lake, and the kid skivved off to the lake everyday?
Jump? Because there wasn't much else to do?
Ride? Because they had a big farm, and the horse had to serve multiple functions, not just drag the plow?
Knowledge (Religion)? because the old man was a religious nut and made the family attend services?
Sure, but those skills and their explainations don't really anything to do with farming specifically. There's nothing in those skills that would help you plant turnips.
What I'm saying is that there are DMs, I've played under more than a few, who would require a player with a character that has a turnip farmer background to spend a significant number of skill points and/or feats on turnip farming. Often those skills and feats are wasted because...
el-remmen said:Skills are only as useless as a player's imagination (or lack thereof) and/or as the DM allows them to be.
...As el-remmen points out, the player often forgets about them as useless and never looks for an opportunity to use them, and/or the DM never offers up them chance to use them.
el-remmen said:If a player in my game puts ranks into Profession (farmer) I will try to work that into the campaign at some point or another if at all possible, examples might include:
* Actually planting and growing something
* Having a general knowledge of the tenancy laws of where they come from
* Synergy in gathering info from farmers because of a common ground of professions parlance
* Understanding how a grain mill or similar technology works (which would make a great scene for a combat)
* Catching someone in a lie because of false detail regarding the process of farming.
Etc. . .Etc. . .
I try to as well, but in my experience that's more the exception than the norm. And even then, there's a limit to how often you can include such skills without it appearing contrived.