3.5 Edition News from Winter Fantasy.

[Ysgarran]

Regarding skill points:

It just always seemed to me that wizards should have the easiest time with various knowledge skills but often I see wizards doing things like spending their skill points on things like jump and tumble. Why? Because those skills have a direct effect in combat and can increase a wizards ability to survive.

It is hard to get those knowledge skills up to the same par of immediacy as some combat skills.

A change I've thought about is giving wizards (and maybe others) 'exclusive' skill points that can only be spent on a small subset of skills. For example, wizards could only spend those points on knowledge skills.

later,
Ysgarran.

 

[Henry]

Ysgarran, to me, that's treating the effects, instead of the problem. The problem is players who get by unscathed with dedicating their skill points in their cross class skills. There is reward and punishment enough both in those PC's who have inadequate knowledge skillls when time comes to use that knowledge. The DM should utilize more knowledge skills in their game to make everyone aware just how valuable they are. If the DM never CALLS for a knowledge skill, the players just aren't going to pick them up.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I rather hope they might do something to regularise the use of craft and knowledge skills in the same manner as d20Modern, as at the moment they are bottomless sinks of skill points with very little return to them!

 

[reiella]

Ysgarran, to me, that's treating the effects, instead of the problem. The problem is players who get by unscathed with dedicating their skill points in their cross class skills. There is reward and punishment enough both in those PC's who have inadequate knowledge skillls when time comes to use that knowledge. The DM should utilize more knowledge skills in their game to make everyone aware just how valuable they are. If the DM never CALLS for a knowledge skill, the players just aren't going to pick them up.

Easy direct way for that, change the 'free spells' for wizards to require that they are able to pass appropiate Knowledge checks to get the 'free spell' at that level (or even in general for spell knowledge).

[ Add ]
Although it is more of a house rule (g'duh and prolly inappropiate in this discussion), there is no real mention that the PC gets to choose their free spells beyond the specialist comments.

[ Lapse of Intelligence ]
Err, no it does say you can choose, Rei is an idiot .

 

[Shard O'Glase]

Clerics, fighters, and wizards all have low skill points, because they have so many other good abilities. Give them more, and where does that leave the poor rogue?

I agree with the cleric and wizard, but not the fighter. The cleric and wizard can fake combat/out of combat situations with their spells as good as the specialists, they need nothing except maybe to be hit with the nerf bat.(though I'm more for buffing other classes) The fighter on the other hand doesn't come close to dominating combat enough to expalin his absolute suckage out of combat.

 

[jasamcarl]

I agree with the cleric and wizard, but not the fighter. The cleric and wizard can fake combat/out of combat situations with their spells as good as the specialists, they need nothing except maybe to be hit with the nerf bat.(though I'm more for buffing other classes) The fighter on the other hand doesn't come close to dominating combat enough to expalin his absolute suckage out of combat.

Yeah, but the game is balanced for combat and neither the wizard nor cleric has any skills that have a combat application. No Spot, Listen, Tumble, Animal Training, etc. They are in the same league as the Fighter in terms of combat balance, i.e. they rely on their class abilities.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

More news! Less "IMC..."!

I think what little news there was has been completely wrung out of the topic, if the thread is read in its entirety.

 

[Mark]

Ysgarran, to me, that's treating the effects, instead of the problem. The problem is players who get by unscathed with dedicating their skill points in their cross class skills. There is reward and punishment enough both in those PC's who have inadequate knowledge skillls when time comes to use that knowledge. The DM should utilize more knowledge skills in their game to make everyone aware just how valuable they are. If the DM never CALLS for a knowledge skill, the players just aren't going to pick them up.

Yup. Not broken, just little used. Probably could stand for a section in the revised editions to address usage by DMs of all skills to help them maintain the balance that they are supposed to have within the game as a whole.

 

[Vocenoctum]

I don't think Clerics need a power boost, but I would like to see some way of making prestige domains more available. Right now I've house-ruled that you can swap an existing domain for a prestige domain when you can cast 5th level divine spells (and have a domain in the first place), but I'm still hoping for some form of official word on this.

Have you looked at the shaman from OA?
They get a third domain at 11th level. A system like that wouldn't be too much.

I actually wouldn't mind if Clerics got only 1 domain at first, then added another domain at 6th, 11th and 16th or something.

 

[Vocenoctum]

Regarding skill points:

It just always seemed to me that wizards should have the easiest time with various knowledge skills but often I see wizards doing things like spending their skill points on things like jump and tumble. Why? Because those skills have a direct effect in combat and can increase a wizards ability to survive.

It is hard to get those knowledge skills up to the same par of immediacy as some combat skills.

A change I've thought about is giving wizards (and maybe others) 'exclusive' skill points that can only be spent on a small subset of skills. For example, wizards could only spend those points on knowledge skills.

later,
Ysgarran.

But, they're not abusing the Wizard skill points really. There's only 2!
It's more a function of a high intelligence. It's a roleplaying decision, not a problem with the system IMO.
(and, I generally take knowledge skills, simply because I doubt I'd ever get my physical skills high enough