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<blockquote data-quote="Kerrick" data-source="post: 5117172" data-attributes="member: 4722">Let me preface this by saying I don't consider this to be a &quot;serious idea&quot; - it's more something I thought up and figured I'd toss out there for the hell of it.I've been playing Oblivion for awhile now - a couple years, IIRC. I also bought Fallout when it came out and played it bit, then got bored with it and went back to Oblivion. I recently took a break from Oblivion and went back to (a heavily modded) Fallout). The difference in levelling systems struck me: Oblivion uses a system whereby you choose seven skills, which are your &quot;major&quot; skills - kind of like class skills in D&amp;D - and all the others are minor skills. You increase skills through use (each skill has an XP meter); every time you gain ten major skill increases, you gain a level. Stat increases are based on which skills you used. In Fallout, levelling works pretty much like D&amp;D - you gain XP for killing stuff and finding locations, and you gain skill points each level that you can allocate.As I was playing, I thought: Why not have a system whereby you gain levels only through XP as normal, and skills only through use? As it turns out, there are already several such systems for Oblivion (good for me), but I thought about porting this to D&amp;D.The concept is simple: 50 skill XP = 1 rank. XP is handled by the checks you make:[code]Difficulty&nbsp; &nbsp; DC&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Skill XPVery Easy&nbsp; &nbsp; Score - 10 or more&nbsp; &nbsp; 0Easy&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Score - (6 to 9)&nbsp; &nbsp; 1Average&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Score - (0 to 5)&nbsp; &nbsp; 2Tough&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Score + (1 to 5)&nbsp; &nbsp; 3Challenging&nbsp; &nbsp; Score + (6-10)&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 4Formidable&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Score + (11-15)&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 5Heroic&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Score + (16-20)&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 6Nearly&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Score + 21 or more&nbsp; &nbsp; 7&nbsp; Impossible[/code]So, for example, Kurth wants to make a Climb check. His Climb score is +6; the DC is 20, which makes it a Formidable check (+14). If he succeeds, he gets 5 skill XP. Note the ratings are based on total score, not ranks - this ensures someone can't have a ridiculously high score and still gain XP. The score used is the PC's score without temporary modifiers - circumstance, aid another, spells, bardic song, etc. This is why &quot;nearly impossible&quot; is listed.The rest is equally simple - PCs keep their class skill lists, and start with their normal skill point allotment. The only difference is that they never gain more skill points from levelling. You could rule that cross-class skills require more XP to level, but I wouldn't bother. PrCs that have no level-based requirements beyond skill ranks (BAB, sneak attack dice, etc.) would need a little tweaking, and maybe a few other things would as well.Pros* The big one is that you can now properly model NPCs with huge skill scores that are only L1-2, like the master sage or master smith. (Yes, I know someone will point out that you could do that anyway, and that NPCs' skill scores are none of the players' business; I won't argue that point, because I agree. However, it also breaks the rules - I prefer to work within the framework of the rules; if you can break them any time you like, what's the point of using them at all?)* Skill checks scale with level. That is, in order to keep gaining XP, you have to accomplish skill checks that are challenging. This may reduce the reliance on skill-boosting items and such, since they would largely become superfluous - if most skill checks are based on your score (no matter what it is), there's no real point to boosting it into the stratosphere.Cons*Bookkeeping. This system requires a lot of it, which pretty much makes it untenable for PnP (but great for computer games!)*It requires the players to be honest (and, to a lesser degree, knowledgeable).</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Kerrick, post: 5117172, member: 4722"] Let me preface this by saying I don't consider this to be a "serious idea" - it's more something I thought up and figured I'd toss out there for the hell of it. I've been playing Oblivion for awhile now - a couple years, IIRC. I also bought Fallout when it came out and played it bit, then got bored with it and went back to Oblivion. I recently took a break from Oblivion and went back to (a heavily modded) Fallout). The difference in levelling systems struck me: Oblivion uses a system whereby you choose seven skills, which are your "major" skills - kind of like class skills in D&D - and all the others are minor skills. You increase skills through use (each skill has an XP meter); every time you gain ten major skill increases, you gain a level. Stat increases are based on which skills you used. In Fallout, levelling works pretty much like D&D - you gain XP for killing stuff and finding locations, and you gain skill points each level that you can allocate. As I was playing, I thought: Why not have a system whereby you gain levels only through XP as normal, and skills only through use? As it turns out, there are already several such systems for Oblivion (good for me), but I thought about porting this to D&D. The concept is simple: 50 skill XP = 1 rank. XP is handled by the checks you make: [code] Difficulty DC Skill XP Very Easy Score - 10 or more 0 Easy Score - (6 to 9) 1 Average Score - (0 to 5) 2 Tough Score + (1 to 5) 3 Challenging Score + (6-10) 4 Formidable Score + (11-15) 5 Heroic Score + (16-20) 6 Nearly Score + 21 or more 7 Impossible [/code] So, for example, Kurth wants to make a Climb check. His Climb score is +6; the DC is 20, which makes it a Formidable check (+14). If he succeeds, he gets 5 skill XP. Note the ratings are based on total score, not ranks - this ensures someone can't have a ridiculously high score and still gain XP. The score used is the PC's score without temporary modifiers - circumstance, aid another, spells, bardic song, etc. This is why "nearly impossible" is listed. The rest is equally simple - PCs keep their class skill lists, and start with their normal skill point allotment. The only difference is that they never gain more skill points from levelling. You could rule that cross-class skills require more XP to level, but I wouldn't bother. PrCs that have no level-based requirements beyond skill ranks (BAB, sneak attack dice, etc.) would need a little tweaking, and maybe a few other things would as well. [b]Pros[/b] * The big one is that you can now properly model NPCs with huge skill scores that are only L1-2, like the master sage or master smith. (Yes, I know someone will point out that you could do that anyway, and that NPCs' skill scores are none of the players' business; I won't argue that point, because I agree. However, it also breaks the rules - I prefer to work within the framework of the rules; if you can break them any time you like, what's the point of using them at all?) * Skill checks scale with level. That is, in order to keep gaining XP, you have to accomplish skill checks that are challenging. This may reduce the reliance on skill-boosting items and such, since they would largely become superfluous - if most skill checks are based on your score (no matter what it is), there's no real point to boosting it into the stratosphere. [b]Cons[/b] *Bookkeeping. This system requires a lot of it, which pretty much makes it untenable for PnP (but great for computer games!) *It requires the players to be honest (and, to a lesser degree, knowledgeable). [/QUOTE]

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