Condesing the skills

[Michael Morris]

I've been working on an alt PHB, and I'm moving towards condescing the skill list some more.

Open Locks - My setting occurs before locks were invented, so the rare lock-like device can be left to disable device to handle.

Tumble - Becomes a feat, and balance is used to check the success of a tumble attempt.

Any other ideas?

 

[Erekose]

In line with Arcana Unearthed, I'd merge Hide and Move Silently together into "Sneak".

 

[RangerWickett]

Easy.

Str - Climb, Jump, Swim.
Dex - Acrobatics, Ride, Sleight of Hand, Sneak
Con -
Int - Craft (subcategories include forgery), Disable Device, Knowledge*
Wis - Perception, Track
Cha - Deception, Influence

Make the Strength skills matter so that ranks in them are more useful than a low-level spell like jump or spider climb.

Acrobatics is balance and tumble.

Knowledge lets you do stuff with your knowledge. All knowledge skills let you appraise items related to that field of knowledge.

* Arcana lets you identify spells and magic items.
* Beasts lets you identify creatures and learn their powers/weaknesses.
* Geography tells you about distant lands.
* History tells you about history.
* Linguistics lets you decipher scripts.
* Nature tells you about natural creatures and plants, and helps you survive in the wilderness.
* Religion tells you about religion.
* The Planes tells you about the planes.

Influence is Intimidate and Diplomacy, plus part of Perform. Deceive is Bluff and Disguise.

 

[Ibram]

I merged Spot and Listen into Perception, and Hide/move silently into stealth. Both were done because I found myself calling for both skills at the same time far more often then a single skill. I also use Tumble for balance checks (its not realy a merging IMO). Merging Pick Locks into Disable device sounds like a good idea as well.

 

[Nareau]

Like others, merge spot/listen into Perceive, and move silently/hide into Sneak.

Merge Climb, Swim, Balance, Jump into Athletics. Base the checks off of Str or Dex as appropriate.

Spider

 

[Nifft]

Open Locks - My setting occurs before locks were invented, so the rare lock-like device can be left to disable device to handle.

Before locks, huh? Is it before Books, too? If so, I'd argue that Know(foo) should be replaced with a different system, and more stuff should go under Wisdom:

Wis: Survival (includes Kn(Nature) and Kn(Geography)), Magecraft or Spiritcraft (includes Kn(Arcana) and Kn(Religion), and the Fey info from Kn(Nature)), Perception


I'd also consolidate all the Str skills into "Athletics".


Finally, what are the archtypes in your setting? Consider putting the "wise man" stuff under Wisdom, and the "trickster" stuff under Int, if that's more in the flavor of your setting than "book learning" vs. "street smarts" (D&D to Modern era).

-- N

 

[Hodgie]

I had a quick idea from looking at RangerWickett's little diagram--although I have no idea if it will work. What if you created skills but didn't automatically key them to certain abilities. For instance, a character could take ranks in Acrobatics and would apply Strength if it was a feat of raw power, Dex if it was a feat of finesse, or Con if it was a prolonged feat.

This allows a greater number of skills to be condensed into one category without too rigorously defining the category. I have found that some skills condense down wonderfully (jump, climb, swim into athletics for example) while others are stubborn (use rope) and end up either being cut or remaining as their own skill. No one would take Use Rope when Athletics was offered, so perhaps this approach will be beneficial.

As a final aside- it is akin to the World of Darkness dice pool, so the idea has at least seen similar play.