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Message: <blockquote data-quote="GSHamster" data-source="post: 5650696" data-attributes="member: 20187">Thanks to all the discussion lately about skill systems lately, I've had an idea for a skill system, and I'm presenting it to you guys for feedback. It's slightly influenced by the system in Mass Effect 2.BackgroundI usually DM, and the problem I've always had is setting appropriate DCs. Starting from a static base and adding modifiers often ends up in an unexpected place, and my skill checks never seemed to hit the sweet spot. They always seemed to end up too high or too low.So I'm trying to come at it from a different angle. Instead of asking "How difficult is this task?" and coming up with a numeric answer, let's ask, "What type of person could complete this task?" It seems easier to me to say that "anyone can do it" or "only a highly-skilled person could do it".SystemEach skill has four ranks:Rank - Cost - DCUntrained - default - DC 10Trained - 1 point - DC 12Excellent - 3 points - DC 14Master - 5 points - DC 16All characters start Untrained by default. Purchasing higher ranks costs an increasing number of skill points. Spending 1 point makes the character Trained. Then spending 3 more points moves her up to Excellent.Untrained people have no formal training in the skill. They rely on natural ability to complete tasks.Trained people have some training in the skill. The majority of people with this skill are at this level.Maybe 1 or 2 people in a large town or city have Excellent skill level. Masters are the best of the best. Maybe a handful of people in the entire country will be at this level.Task ResolutionTasks or challenges are then linked to the skill rank. The DM determines what level of skill this task requires. Perhaps only an Excellent climber could climb this particular cliff face. If the character has that skill rank, she makes an Ability check against the DC listed in the table above. The DM chooses the relevant ability based on the task.A character with a higher rank automatically succeeds at the task without fear of failure.A character with a rank one level lower can attempt the task with a -10 penalty. Characters with ranks below that cannot succeed at the task.Example:The PCs need to scale a sheer cliff face at night. They decide to send Anne up and have her drop a rope back down to the rest. The DM declares that this particular cliff at night would be challenge for an Excellent climber. If Anne is an Excellent climber, she makes a Dex check against DC 14 to see if she is successful. If Anne is a Master climber, she can easily scale the cliff. If Anne is merely a Trained climber, she can attempt the cliff, but suffers a -10 penalty to her roll (effectively DC 24). If Anne is Untrained, she cannot scale the cliff successfully.Example Skill:Medicine (mostly Wis or Int based)Untrained challenges - cleaning and bandaging a wound preventing infection - popping a joint back into placeTrained challenges - setting and splinting a broken bone properly - diagnosing common illnesses - making cures for common and uncommon illnesses - amputation of limbsExcellent challenges - diagnosing rare diseases - making existing cures for rare diseases - internal surgery - saving limbs that most would amputateMaster challenges - creating a cure for a new disease - brain or spinal cord surgeryCommentsI think this system is fairly simple. It's non-linear in terms of skill points, making easier to learn a lot of little things, but harder to master one skill. For the DM, there's really only 4 categories for challenges, making it a lot easier to assess correct difficulties. Automatic success at lower challenges makes a player who invests in a higher rank feel that decision paid off, which can be hard to see when you invest 1 point at a time.I also think it maps better to how we think of skilled people. I think it's easier to think of people as a series of tiers (professional atheletes vs amateur atheletes for example) than it is to see a strictly linear gradient of skill.</blockquote>

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