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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Johnny Angel" data-source="post: 3099926" data-attributes="member: 13334">Huh.  I tell my players that Knowlege skills are a lot more important in d20 Future than in D&D, and I call for Knowledge checks all the time.  Possibly it's just because of the way I interpret them.Arcane Lore - I include in this knowledge of not only psionics, but also knowledge of rumored conspiracies, secret organizations, speculations about pre-cursor civilizations and crypto- and xeno- zoology.Art - Never comes up.Behavioral Sciences - It makes sense that this would give a synergy bonus to Sense Motive, but I haven't codified it in my spreadsheet.  Whoops, there I just did.  But otherwise any practical use of this skill would usually be handled with Sense Motive.Business - Players have asked for information about markets, and I made them roll on this skill to see what they knew, but we haven't done a lot of commerce.Civics - Questions of legality have come up quite a number of times.Current Events - I'm running a Star*Drive game, and in that setting the GM has lots of information he'd like to impart, given an excuse.  A player who wants more background information, or wants to give the GM an excuse to impart some data can often roll on this to see if they've seen some relevant item on The Grid.Earth and Life Sciences - My game is probably more science-heavy than most.  This skill, which covers a dizzying array of science specialties, is called upon frequently in dealing with xenoforms, environments and facilities on alien vessels, planetology, ect.  From examining the geothermal energy in one of Bluefall's abyssal planes to analyzing the environmental impact of the asteroid that hit the Spes colony on Hammer's Star, ranks in this skill have paid off again and again.  History - Again, in Star*Drive, loads of history.  I give a lot of information to the players in the form of power point presentations, but some questions the players have are answered by them rolling on this skill.Local - I don't use this much.  These are spacefarers, and they aren't in one place very long.Physical Sciences - As with Earth and Life Sciences, the party often finds reasons that it would be handy to know physics, chemistry or astronomy, all of which are covered in one skill in d20 Modern.Streetwise - This hasn't come up often, since my players have usually been more interested in using their knowledge of Civics to skirt the law than in outright defying it.  But I would think people would find this coming up frequently for more seedy characters.Tactics - Blood & Space 2 has a rule for using this to get an advantage in combat, though my players seldom use it for that.  But it's the skill I have them roll on for most things military or combat related.  For example, if you're being shot at, you can attempt to identify what kind of weapon was being used by the sound of the blast.  I also allow players to make checks on this skill to determine the effectiveness of their own attacks -- noticing whether or not a creature shrugs off laser damage, for example.Technology - This skill gets a good deal of use.  Often when a player wants to know what a device does, identify what sensor systems appear to be installed on the gun drone that's currently pinning them down in the flight deck, or know what environment the treated surface of an object they found was meant to withstand, this is the skill I ask them to roll on.  Theology and Philosophy - This has been useful for roleplaying purposes, since there are religious and philosophical motivations to the behavior of many NPCs.  Often, I'll call for the better of two skill checks.  If you actually have Craft (mechanical) then identifying a mechanism will be easier than the same check using Knowledge (technology).  If a character wants to examine a weapon, he can use his knowledge of tactics, or his knowledge of technology in general to tell him something about it, depending on which would give the biggest bonus.  As for some of the other skills deemed by some to be less than useful, I'm wondering if at least for d20 Modern certain skills ought to be combined, like they did with Disable Device and Open Lock.  The system seems to be built on the idea of broad skills.  Some candidates I have in mind:Acrobatics - Covers Balance and Tumble.Athletics - Covers Climb and Jump, and possibly Swim.Legerdemain - Combines Sleight of Hand with Escape Artist.  There isn't really one good word to cover them both, but often these two disciplines are studied by the same people.  Mind you, the system is also designed around a default of DC 15 for most skill uses.  I use a complex skill check system, which is handy for translating Alternity adventures, and makes it worthwhile to get skill ranks above 15.</blockquote>

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