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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Crazy Jerome" data-source="post: 5857780" data-attributes="member: 54877">I'll assert here (will discuss more fully later, if interested, and had some stuff along those lines in the Codzilla topic), that you'll never get to your goal with only those three categories, not even with the specializations you mentioned later. You might get there with something like this:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Heavy Combat - assuming heavier armor and weapons</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Skirmish Combat - assuming lighter armor but still very varied weapons</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Ranged Combat - assuming lighter armor and light melee weapons</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Combat Magic - blasting and straight, "active" defenses</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Healing/Informational Magic - supportive in combat but very powerful strategicallly</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Conjuring/Summoning/Transformation Magic - not as strong when replicating (e.g. transform to melee one step down in your general levels, best you can do with primary here is secondary melee transformation).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Utility Magic - capable of replicating skills, with the same restrictions as conjuring above.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Sneaky Skills - including stealth, but also bluff, streetwise, and the like.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Lore Skills - assuming "lore" is made to matter, a catch-all for the exotic. Otherwise roll into the other categories.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Perception Skills - so valuable should cost a pick, but can be pretty broad.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">General Society Skills - basic diplomacy, mercantile abilities, understanding societal levers.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Craft Skills - being "handy", ablility to readily make things.</li> </ul>Then layer your specializations on top of that.  "Skullduggery" is a specialization of "Sneaky Skills" that adds lockpicking, trap disarming, etc.  "Item Enchanting" are various specializations on top of "Craft Skills"--and in a mundane enough game, any kind of strong crafting (e.g. blacksmith) would also be so layered. Of course, you might break them down some other way, too, especially in magic.  But I think you need about that many categories to make such divisions work.  Then give each class at least a couple of primaries and secondaries, perhaps some fixed and some chosen. So your typical fighter gets primary heavy combat or skirmish combat (his choice) and primary skill pick (his choice, but must be a skill pick).  Then he also gets a secondary combat pick and a secondary skill pick.  Finally he gets one or two tertiary picks, one of which can be magic--but often won't be.  (The default rules can simply pick something likely, then offer the chance to swap some of them.  It amounts to the same thing.)  Meanwhile, a paladin is primary heavy combat, primary societal skill, secondary healing magic.  The rest of his picks are wide open to compensate for his limits here. (Alternately, paladins can be a little more rough and ready, with the primary societal skill being an option.)</blockquote>

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