D&D (2024) 5e 2024 Skills

[Yaarel]

Skills are somewhat fluid. Each setting can have its own skill list.

I am wondering what interesting things DMs are doing with skills for their settings.

 

[Theory of Games]

Aren't skills the same as trad 5e?

 

[Yaarel]

Aren't skills the same as trad 5e?

For example, the Exodus scifi game is 5e, but tweaks the skill list for the sake of setting flavor and utility.

Plus, 5e has always granted DMs almost total control over skills, and how to adjudicate them.

 

[Yaarel]

I deleted Acrobatics, and instead gave Athletics to Dexterity, relating to Reflex.

So now Athletics handles all agility and mobility challenges: Speed, Run, Jump, Fall, Tumble, Climb, Balance, Aerial Stunt, and so on. It is the go-to Skill for swashbuckling characters. It is no longer to invest in both Strength and Dexterity to create an agile swashbuckler.

I added a Lifting skill for Strength. This is for powerlifting and extreme texts of Strength. Weightlifting is literally a reallife skill, that one must learn and work at, in order to lift heavier weights. It is also the 'Break Doors / Bend Bars / Lift Gates' skill. Carrying heavy loads while traveling is normally a Constitution (Lifting) check.

As a rule of thumb: lifting and throwing ones own bodyweight around is a Dexterity (Athletics) check. But lifting and throwing someone elses bodyweight is a Strength (Lifting) check.

 

[Yaarel]

The 5e skill list is tight. It was hard to come with a skill that wasnt already covered by one of the skills in the list.

I am considering adding a Clockwork skill, for clocks, pulleys, gears, machinery, contraptions, traps, mathematics, and construction projects.

According to core, Investigation handles machinery, but I want to keep this for logic, intuition, discernment, research, and piecing clues together

 

[AnotherGuy]

I am considering adding a Clockwork skill, for clocks, pulleys, gears, machinery, contraptions, traps, mathematics, and construction projects.

5e favours the Tool Proficiency for some of these.

Not a fan of your idea for tying Dexterity to Athletics.
Seems like you're exacerbating the dominance of that ability with that houserule.

 

[DEFCON 1]

We have gone over adjusted skill lists for 5E since 5E first got released. I change my skill list every time I run a new campaign when there are skill effects that I wish to highlight. Also, because I use the 'Alternative Ability Score' variant, that changes what skills I need to have and use in my games, thus allowing me to get rid of skills that are severely underused.

Always applies to every campaign:
Acrobatics is removed. Use Dexterity (Athletics) instead.
Sleight of Hand is removed. Use Dexterity (Deception) instead.
Animal Handling is removed. Use Wisdom (Nature) instead.
Intimidation is removed. Use Strength (Persuasion) instead.
Medicine is removed. Use Survival for any necessary checks instead.
Performance is removed. Use Persuasion instead.
Perception applies only to finding living creatures that are hiding.
Investigation applies to finding hidden inanimate objects-- secret doors, traps, hidden objects.
Mechanics added to skill list. Skill used for engineering information and as a replacement for Thieve's Tools.

Then for specific campaigns I have included various combinations of the following skills:
Warfare. Any actions, information and lore related to military action.
Nautics. Any actions, information and lore related to naval and ship action and the sea.
Dungeoneering. Any actions, information and lore related to the underground, Underdark, and dungeon crawling.
Commerce. Any actions, information and lore related to appraisal, trade, haggling, and all financial work.
Politics. Any actions, information and lore related to law and the political arena.

 

[Corinnguard]

Not a fan of your idea for tying Dexterity to Athletics.

Loosely tying DEX to Athletics. Both 5e and Level Up do allow a DM to ask a player to use a different ability score for certain skill checks. For instance, a character might use DEX instead of STR to climb a smooth wall for a short distance or to make a jump onto a moving creature. Or the DM might ask the player to make a CON (Athletics) check for any athletic movement that lasts for more than a minute.

This is kind of what @Yaarel meant by skills being somewhat fluid.

 

[Horwath]

I deleted Acrobatics, and instead gave Athletics to Dexterity, relating to Reflex.

So now Athletics handles all agility and mobility challenges: Speed, Run, Jump, Fall, Tumble, Climb, Balance, Aerial Stunt, and so on. It is the go-to Skill for swashbuckling characters. It is no longer to invest in both Strength and Dexterity to create an agile swashbuckler.

I added a Lifting skill for Strength. This is for powerlifting and extreme texts of Strength. Weightlifting is literally a reallife skill, that one must learn and work at, in order to lift heavier weights. It is also the 'Break Doors / Bend Bars / Lift Gates' skill. Carrying heavy loads while traveling is normally a Constitution (Lifting) check.

As a rule of thumb: lifting and throwing ones own bodyweight around is a Dexterity (Athletics) check. But lifting and throwing someone elses bodyweight is a Strength (Lifting) check.

why?
STR is already weaker than DEX, why would you take Athletics out of it?
And Athletics by itself is not really that powerful skill, why separate it further into "Lifting"?
If anything, Athletics as tied to STR needs more usages, better to delete Acrobatics and only ask a DEX(Athletics) if DEX really needs to be used. Like balancing.

 

[AnotherGuy]

Loosely tying DEX to Athletics. Both 5e and Level Up do allow a DM to ask a player to use a different ability score for certain skill checks. For instance, a character might use DEX instead of STR to climb a smooth wall for a short distance or to make a jump onto a moving creature. Or the DM might ask the player to make a CON (Athletics) check for any athletic movement that lasts for more than a minute.

This is kind of what @Yaarel meant by skills being somewhat fluid.

I suggest you tell @Yaarel that.

I deleted Acrobatics, and instead gave Athletics to Dexterity, relating to Reflex.
So now Athletics handles ALL agility and mobility challenges: Speed, Run, Jump, Fall, Tumble, Climb, Balance, Aerial Stunt, and so on

All and fluid are not the same.
There is a difference between saying the game handles skills somewhat fluid and then homebrewing so the somewhat and fluid are no longer present.