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<blockquote data-quote="JohnSnow" data-source="post: 8077158" data-attributes="member: 32164">Experience, Skills, &amp; Skill PointsIt's hard to talk about combat without talking about skills.In any game that doesn't have &quot;Classes,&quot; using weapons is rather obviously a subset of the skill system. OpenD6, which allows you to actively defend as an action in combat, also calls out Dodge and Parry as separate skills. And of course many systems use (or at least allow) specialty versions of the above: separating Unarmed from Armed Melee combat, or splitting weapon use into Fighting(blades), Fighting(axes), and so forth. Personally, I tend to think of keeping it mostly in broad terms - Fighting (melee), Shooting, and Throwing (which maybe is part of athletics...). Savage Worlds, which doesn't generally require specialties (although it's an option), does have a cool narrative rule that allows a GM to rule that a character is &quot;unfamiliar&quot; with a particular use of a skill - the kid who's used to fighting with a quarterstaff, but picks up a sword in combat, for example. He'd be unfamiliar and take some penalties, but he's not going to be as total rubbish as someone with NO fighting skill.I am also increasingly inclined to the opinion that skill points should buy the same amount of &quot;ranks&quot; regardless of the skill that you apply it to. Back in 3e, D&amp;D tried to preserve niche protection with the concept of Class Skills, and even Savage Worlds tries to keep skills directly tied to Attributes - raising a skill above an attribute is pricier than buying ranks that are below it.I notice that D&amp;D, rather interestingly, basically defines the concept of &quot;Class&quot; using five things:1) General competence with skills (Skill Proficiencies).2) Training with weapons and armor (Weapon &amp; Armor Proficiencies).3) General ability to avoid and resist getting hurt (Hit points).4) Specialty talents (Class features or bonus feats).5) Access to magic (Spells).I note that most of those could be thought of as either skills or particular edges, and several of them are directly connected to combat prowess. Which I guess shouldn't surprise me, but it further supports the notion that one could totally go &quot;classless&quot; with a decent skill system (as for example, GURPS does). But I digress.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="JohnSnow, post: 8077158, member: 32164"] [B]Experience, Skills, & Skill Points[/B] It's hard to talk about combat without talking about skills. In any game that doesn't have "Classes," using weapons is rather obviously a subset of the skill system. OpenD6, which allows you to actively defend as an action in combat, also calls out Dodge and Parry as separate skills. And of course many systems use (or at least allow) specialty versions of the above: separating Unarmed from Armed Melee combat, or splitting weapon use into Fighting(blades), Fighting(axes), and so forth. Personally, I tend to think of keeping it mostly in broad terms - Fighting (melee), Shooting, and Throwing (which maybe is part of athletics...). [I]Savage Worlds,[/I] which doesn't generally require specialties (although it's an option), does have a cool narrative rule that allows a GM to rule that a character is "unfamiliar" with a particular use of a skill - the kid who's used to fighting with a quarterstaff, but picks up a sword in combat, for example. He'd be unfamiliar and take some penalties, but he's not going to be as total rubbish as someone with NO fighting skill. I am also increasingly inclined to the opinion that skill points should buy the same amount of "ranks" regardless of the skill that you apply it to. Back in 3e, D&D tried to preserve niche protection with the concept of Class Skills, and even [I]Savage Worlds[/I] tries to keep skills directly tied to Attributes - raising a skill above an attribute is pricier than buying ranks that are below it. I notice that D&D, rather interestingly, basically defines the concept of "Class" using five things: 1) General competence with skills (Skill Proficiencies). 2) Training with weapons and armor (Weapon & Armor Proficiencies). 3) General ability to avoid and resist getting hurt (Hit points). 4) Specialty talents (Class features or bonus feats). 5) Access to magic (Spells). I note that most of those could be thought of as either skills or particular edges, and several of them are directly connected to combat prowess. Which I guess shouldn't surprise me, but it further supports the notion that one could totally go "classless" with a decent skill system (as for example, GURPS does). But I digress. [/QUOTE]

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