D&D 5E Rolling for starting skill bonus

Crimson Longinus said:
It creates wild random imbalance for no reason and removes half of the purpose of even having ability scores in the first place, producing a chaotic mess that doesn't represent anything. Like I cannot even begin to imagine what you're even trying to achieve with this.
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Random yes.

Wildly unbalanced - you’ll have to explain.

Ability scores don’t actually make sense.
Being a good athlete requires a mix of str, dex and con. Same really for most all the physical skills. The mental skills are the same way except it’s wis, int, cha combinations.

What is produced is a more realistic and less cookie cutter character.

I hope to add some interesting variability to character creation that won’t yield too much imbalance.
 

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I'm unclear on what you want to do. Perhaps you can run me through an example?

Bob is a Sailor Dwarven Fighter. He has 16 Strength, 12 Wisdom, and 12 Charisma.

Bob is proficient in Perception and Athletics from being a Sailor, and picks up Intimidation and Insight from Fighter.

Do you Bob to roll the d6-3 for all 18 skills and ignore the Ability score? Or just for the 4 skills he selected from his class and background?

You'll end up with random ability score bonuses. So a strong fighter might be bad at athletics, or a charismatic sorcerer might lack the ability to influence people. I do not see the advantage.
 


FrogReaver said:
Sorry I thought I was more clear. Proficiency stays the same. So include it. ASI’s wouldn’t affect your skills.

So athletics in your example would be +4
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Got it. Ok, so then without expertise (in some fashion), your maximum skill would be +9 (starting +3 and +6 proficiency).

It would remove the link between skills and ASIs, which in some ways I don't mind because we freely associate them if there is justification.

My only issue would be having, say a PC with STR 10 and another with STR 16, but both roll the same at level 1 for Athletics. I have a hard time envisioning a STR 10 and STR 16 both having (effectively) the same level of Athletic ability. I suppose you could argue the STR 10 guy has a "knack" for it or maybe the STR 16 guy lacks the coordination or whatever or never bothered developing the skill as much as they could have?
 

dnd4vr said:
Got it. Ok, so then without expertise (in some fashion), your maximum skill would be +9 (starting +3 and +6 proficiency).

It would remove the link between skills and ASIs, which in some ways I don't mind because we freely associate them if there is justification.

My only issue would be having, say a PC with STR 10 and another with STR 16, but both roll the same at level 1 for Athletics. I have a hard time envisioning a STR 10 and STR 16 both having (effectively) the same level of Athletic ability. I suppose you could argue the STR 10 guy has a "knack" for it or maybe the STR 16 guy lacks the coordination or whatever or never bothered developing the skill as much as they could have?
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If we wanted to keep to total bonus closer To current 5e we could find a mechanism to do so. I’m not convinced it necessary but many ways to do that.

Well - athletics is a mix of raw str, dex and con. So I’m not sure the current representation is very good anyways.
 

FrogReaver said:
Well - athletics is a mix of raw str, dex and con. So I’m not sure the current representation is very good anyways.
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Oh, I know. Many people have talking about making most skills somehow "linked" to two or more abilities. Like doing a handstand--is it more about the strength (or application of strength as in 5E) or about balance/coordination (i.e. DEX)?

For example:

1595877204620.png

Suppose these were the results of your rolls. As a rogue, you might decide to become proficient in Acrobatics, Deception, Investigation, Perception, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth, with expertise in Deception and Stealth.

1595877470261.png

These would be your final scores for your skills at level 1.

I don't know if I would adopt such a system as it stands, but the idea has merit in removing ability scores as a goal.
 

I'm all for removing ability scores modifiers from skill checks. I not quite sure about this method, but it is interesting. But then they would never increases right? Unless you gain proficiency in a skill from your class.
 

vincegetorix said:
I'm all for removing ability scores modifiers from skill checks. I not quite sure about this method, but it is interesting. But then they would never increases right? Unless you gain proficiency in a skill from your class.
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Right but there are countless ways to increase them if we decide that’s important. Say you get a few free floating skill points every level you get an ASI. Or you make ASIs after level 1 affect skills. Etc.
 

You know, a lot of this in some ways reminds me of skill ranks. I explained the concept to some newer players and they like the idea that not all skills should increase at the same rate, but proficiency is just a simpler method meant to appeal to more people and speed up the game as I understand it.
 

If your mean beef is that Athletics is a combination of str, dex, and con, you can always roll athletics (dex) or athletics (con) where it is more appropriate. I think you're probably a little too hung up on the name. Athletics is probably somewhat misnamed for what it is actually used for most of the time.

It seems like an interesting system. Not sure if I would like it, but I'd be willing to try it. I would recommend rolling these before doing anything in character creation. It seems a more natural way to build a character. The character is choosing a class based on what skills they are good at, rather than being good at skills based on their class/ability scores. It would suck to try to make a sneaky character only to get shafted by rolling low for stealth.
 

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