D&D 5E Adding Additional Skills to the game

[Crimson Longinus]

So about endurance: even if one wouldn't want constantly be using athletics + constitution, why such situations where long-term physical endurance is required couldn't (and wouldn't) be handed via a constitution save? DMG instructs to use constitution save for things like long term exposure to heat, cold etc, so it is a bit unclear to me at which point something would become an endurance task. If the characters are travelling through scorching desert do they roll endurance or constitution save to see whether they accrue exhaustion? As I said, 'endurance' was originally on my altered skill list, but these are the sort of questions that made me abandon it.

 

[Minigiant]

So about endurance: even if one wouldn't want constantly be using athletics + constitution, why such situations where long-term physical endurance is required couldn't (and wouldn't) be handed via a constitution save? DMG instructs to use constitution save for things like long term exposure to heat, cold etc, so it is a bit unclear to me at which point something would become an endurance task. If the characters are travelling through scorching desert do they roll endurance or constitution save to see whether they accrue exhaustion? As I said, 'endurance' was originally on my altered skill list, but these are the sort of questions that made me abandon it.

Based on 4e, Endurance checks that weren't turned to save sare

Long distance running, swimming, or flying,
Treading water
Ignoring the effects of hunger, thrist, or lack of rest
Withstanding torture or noticeable pain
Withstanding long term discomfort
Doing a repeatitve action without major deviation.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

Based on 4e, Endurance checks that weren't turned to save sare

Long distance running, swimming, or flying,
Treading water
Ignoring the effects of hunger, thrist, or lack of rest
Withstanding torture or noticeable pain
Withstanding long term discomfort
Doing a repeatitve action without major deviation.

However in 4E saves work completely differently than the skills, whereas in 5E they work the same way. So in 5E I would be far more comfortable using a save in a skill-like situation than in 4E.

 

[Minigiant]

However in 4E saves work completely differently than the skills, whereas in 5E they work the same way. So in 5E I would be far more comfortable using a save in a skill-like situation than in 4E.

Sure 4e saves are different but the application of those same actions in 5e would be skills.

An athlete can train their strength, agility, or endurance. In 5e there is a Athletics skill for Strength training, Acrobatics and Sleight of Hand for Dexterity training, but no Endurance skill for Constitution training.

You could do Athletics Constitution but at that point you oughta remove Acrobatics.

If 5e kept Acrobatics, it should have kept Endurance.

 

[Haldrik]

How can Dungeoneering fall under Nature when dungeons tend to be the polar opposite of natural?

If dungeoneering means spelunking, then Nature.

If dungeoneering means other planes, then Arcana.

If dungeoneering means drow, then History.

 

[Haldrik]

This doesn’t work for me at all. Why not have just two skills: Knowledge and Doing stuff? To me, collapsing wildly different concepts into very broad skills sounds absurd.

A benefit of lumping is, the other skills become more useful, at least tempting compared to Perception.

 

[Haldrik]

I always use the 'Alternative Ability Score' variant rule, where I ask for an Ability Check and the player can then possibly add a skill they are proficient at. By doing this, and seeing what usually got applied... I was able to determine which skills were unnecessary in this system, and what categories of stuff felt like they were missing. Thus I merged some skills and added new ones.

Animal Handling was merged into Nature; usually a Wisdom (Nature) check.
Acrobatics was merged into Athletics; usually a Dexterity (Athletics) check.
Intimidation was merged into Persuasion; usually a Strength (Persuasion) check.
Medicine was merged into Survival; usually a Wisdom (Survival) check.
Sleight of Hand was merged into Deception; usually a Dexterity (Deception) check.

New skills included:
Commerce (for interacting with merchants, appraising, haggling, and anything money related)
Dungeoneering (for everything related to spelunking, dungeoncrawling and the Underdark)
Etiquette (for interacting with things related to nobility, high society, castles and the like)
Folklore (for interacting with commoners, low society, and stories/lore that the common folk might know)
Mechanics (for things related to architecture, engineering, tinkering, and took the place of Thieve's Tools proficiency)

Lumping skills helps skills become clearer and more useful.

Commerce seems to merit a separate skill. I can see that. It seems to overlap other skills tho, like Persuasion to haggle, Arcana to price a magic item, and so on. But I see the usefulness of Commerce as a separate concept.

Mechanics, I like. It is similar to my Alchemy for material sciences, but see the idea of clockwork and pulleys as more machinery related.



By the way, I use Intelligence (Deception) for any kind of replication, reconstruction or simulation, even when there is no attempt to deceive, such as making an accurate replica of a seal for someone who needs the seal for official purposes. I also use it to create an accurate portrait, for photorealism, for a painting or a coin, or so on.

 

[Minigiant]

A benefit of lumping is, the other skills become more useful, at least tempting compared to Perception.

Some skills are just always going to more useful in a game with a clear theme.
Stealth, Perception, Acrobatics, and Athletics will always be tops in a dungeon raiding game.
Social skills will be more important in a dark society game.

With Tasha's ease of swapping skills soon becoming a base option, lumping will weaken skill classes and boost nonskill classes.

 

[cbwjm]

I was thinking about adding in endurance and streetwise from 4e but then figured that endurance is probably just a straight constitution check or saving throw or possibly constitution (athletics). Streetwise became a charisma (investigation) check so ended up not adding in anything.

Something else I've thought about instead is specialities for skills, a small +2 bonus for a specific use of the skill so a first level character with Intelligence 14, Charisma 12 might end up with Investigation +4 (streetwise +5).

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

Lumping skills helps skills become clearer and more useful.

It’s the gamist approach. But multiplying skills and making sure that they’re more precise and more distinctive helps defining characters and may even inspire a player’s actions.