About Skilltricks...

[Sharkon]

Have not seen any post to them for a while and i would like to ask you to say anything about them (including of course effective combinations).

 

[Gilladian]

I had one PC who wanted to use some skill tricks; they really didn't add all that much to his character, as most of the things they did were stuff I'd have let a PC try to do with a related skill anyway.

they were one more thing I had to keep track of and be aware of as a DM. I wasn't thrilled with that! In the end, when that player left, the idea was never picked up by anyone else, so I'm just as happy to leave them alone.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

I like them, and almost all of my PCs get at least one eventually. The most common being Collector of Stories, both for knowledge whores (or "pokedexes," as we also call them) and those that take at least a single rank in all the knowledges so they can at least attempt a check.

Not sure what are some good "combos..." I'm doing a gestalt game right now and one of the NPCs was a gestalt with Scarlet Corsair prestige class. She knew some Tome of Battle maneuvers and could use Mithral Tornado (attack all adjacent enemies and +2 to hit on all of them as a standard action) once per encounter. She also had +3d6 SA, and the Scarlet Corsair ability to feint as a free action every few rounds.

So...she moved into a good position, used a free action to make a bluff check. Used the Group Fake-out skill trick to attempt it on all 8 enemies around her, won all the bluffs...and proceeded to attack each of them at +2 to hit and for 3d6 SA damage. I'd call that a pretty awesome combo, even though only once/encounter.

 

[Sharkon]

True collector of stories is a good one.It also makes a very good combination with the feat Knowlegde devotion from Complete Champion. And i had though that mosquito's bite would work perfect on an assassin making a death attack...

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

True collector of stories is a good one.It also makes a very good combination with the feat Knowlegde devotion from Complete Champion.

I wanted to do that, but my DM at the time ruled that Knowledge Devotion is different than IDing a creature, and so the skill trick could not be used. A ruling I have since adopted to my games, though I might drop it.


Another example of a combo, I guess, was last night's game. A duelist with rogue sneak attack NPC used the skill trick that requires quick draw and leaves the opponent flatfooted to your attack to devastating effect. That, plus telling blow and feinting, and he managed to hamper the movement and disembowel (SA feats) the entire party over the course of the fight, even the ones with Uncanny Dodge. Which were far more serious* hindrances than normal, since the fight was within the anti-magic cone of a powerful beholder watching the arena fight.

*Speed cut to half normal until you recieve magical healing or a heal check and 1d4 con damage, respectively.

 

[roguerouge]

They are a good boost to the non-magical classes. They give fighters something to do with their few skill points (the ones that negate bad terrain and nerf grapple monsters are key) and rogues, of course, get extra cool nonmagical things. The key for DMs? You don't have to track this "power". It's really up to the player to remember them and how to use them. If they don't have it mastered or on a card how to use it, that's their fault.

A good bit of flavor to the skill system. And, actually, there's some feats that would work nicely as skill tricks, such as goad.

 

[Darklone]

There are some must-have skilltricks such as the stand up ones... Others are scarcely used.

I'd love to see more useful ones.