Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Jefe Bergenstein" data-source="post: 6815561" data-attributes="member: 31506">Tool proficiency is the kind of awkward side system of skills. In general, most of them seem to be fluff/ribbons, but then you have Thieve's Tools, which reigns supreme among them in most campaigns in terms of usefulness. There's the issue of the disconnect between musical instrument tool proficiency and perform... so the guy can play an instrument, just not give a performance with that instrument? Then there's the fact that tool proficiency doesn't seem to contain any knowledge behind it. Like how do you know how to make all these things with an herbalism kit, but have no knowledge of herbs, which is covered under Nature? Like, in a super sim game, sure you might have people who *only* know those two recipes and nothing else, but 5E uses a wider umbrella of competency, and it feels odd to have these few specific granular areas. The most elegant design would have been ditching Tool proficiency as a concept, and just having them be things you apply your skill with (like they do with medicine and the healer's kit, or athletics and the climbers kit). It feels like a half-assed version of the secondary skill system, or the fluff skills you get in Shadowrun (comic book lore, craft brewing, baking).</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Jefe Bergenstein, post: 6815561, member: 31506"] Tool proficiency is the kind of awkward side system of skills. In general, most of them seem to be fluff/ribbons, but then you have Thieve's Tools, which reigns supreme among them in most campaigns in terms of usefulness. There's the issue of the disconnect between musical instrument tool proficiency and perform... so the guy can play an instrument, just not give a performance with that instrument? Then there's the fact that tool proficiency doesn't seem to contain any knowledge behind it. Like how do you know how to make all these things with an herbalism kit, but have no knowledge of herbs, which is covered under Nature? Like, in a super sim game, sure you might have people who *only* know those two recipes and nothing else, but 5E uses a wider umbrella of competency, and it feels odd to have these few specific granular areas. The most elegant design would have been ditching Tool proficiency as a concept, and just having them be things you apply your skill with (like they do with medicine and the healer's kit, or athletics and the climbers kit). It feels like a half-assed version of the secondary skill system, or the fluff skills you get in Shadowrun (comic book lore, craft brewing, baking). [/QUOTE]

Verification