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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ainamacar" data-source="post: 5709581" data-attributes="member: 70709">In the non-d20 homebrew I play we similarly let any ability score be used with any skill.  (Incidentally also a 4 score system, with Brawn, Agility, Mind, and Soul.)  However, I don't think it is necessary to formulate the skill list to make sure each one has a use for every ability.  The skills above are closer to ends side of things than to means.  (It's a spectrum, of course, since the end goal is to find the lost sword, or to save the world, or to have fun, etc.)  Skill training, in my mind, is better represented as learning specific activities which serve more as means within the game world. In other words, your system is a little more utilitarian/abstract than I prefer.  Given your apparent preference, though, I think your list is pretty decent.  Investigation has some overlap with deception/negotiation.  I think Investigation also overlaps with Survival, e.g. finding shelter based on environmental clues.  Skills don't necessarily need to be orthogonal, and the very idea of multiple ways to achieve the same goals suggests that, at some fundamental level, they can't be.  So if someone can come up with a creative use for a skill they know, that's great, but I don't think we need to guarantee such uses exist for every skill.  The example for strength with investigation strikes me as existing to fill that blank, for example.That's a mild criticism, especially since characters will tend to use the skills they know using the ability scores that give them the greatest benefit if at all possible, and in every case it needs to make sense in context.  So a wizard trained in your negotiation skill could technically try to use his muscles to get what he wants (and be decent at it due to his training), but why would he unless there were no other choice?I will say that systems like these can help out some types of players to roleplay a little more thoughtfully.  Since there is no canonical ability score to use, the player must (well...is more likely to) justify the one they choose by describing what they do.  This can cut down on the "I diplomacize the watchman" rollplay that is a temptation/excuse for some.  For players that have wanted to stretch the uses of their skills for a long time, it's nice for the system to enable rather than fight that urge.  Tools that enable creativity are a welcome thing in my games.One time this can be a problem is when a character is grasping for fairly tenuous ideas to make their high ability scores work with a skill in a given instance.  (It can also happen regarding which skill to use in the first place, of course.)  Usually the system is essentially no slower than fixed ability score skills, but it can drag here.  In my game such corner cases give the user half-ranks if the use seems somewhat plausible.  That can shortcut some of the more onerous "Can I try ____?" discussions by throwing the player a bone, and is satisfactory in many of the inevitable corner cases.  A DM can do this on the fly, of course, but it is such a helpful rule of thumb that I think players appreciate knowing it is available.Happy gaming.</blockquote>

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