Decoupling actions and skills

[AeroDm]

I’ve been considering a modification to 4e skills to make them more generally applicable to a range of actions. My goal is to encourage players to take actions that make sense instead of focusing on actions predominantly because of their chance to succeed. By actions here, I am referring to any actions that are currently embedded under a skill description.

Here are the broad strokes of the change:

• All actions (i.e. climb, handle animal, change attitudes, etc) are now ability checks (ability mod + ½ level) with no change to how DCs are calculated. The GM selects a single ability for an action that best encapsulates the essence of the action. For example, if strength goes to the essence of jumping, jumping is a strength check. If two or more abilities seem to go to the essence of the action, pick one and be consistent.
• Characters receive a number of affinities equal to how many skills they would normally receive. Affinities begin at +5 and may be increased by feats, races, or other sources.
• Affinities may often add to an ability check. If the affinity goes to the essence of the action, add the affinity in full. If the affinity is related to the action (but doesn’t go to the essence), add half the affinity (round down).
• The player announces the action and the manner in which it is achieved. The GM then determines if the affinity goes to the essence of the action (full bonus), is related to the action (half bonus), or is unrelated to the action (no bonus). The GM is encouraged to give greater deference to creative or new descriptions. Use existing sources, like the PHB, as a guide in determining affinity applicability.

The impact is modest (no one gets more affinities than they did skills, same DCs, and no feats are obsolete) but reverses the current relationship between skills and actions. When asked, “What do you do?” instead of having the reaction of “Well what am I good at?” the instinct becomes “I want to do X, how can I do it well?” I prefer the later and I think this goes in that direction.

You can read a more detailed rationale here, but the article closes with what I think is the coolest part of the change:

There is an ancillary benefit to this system as well. In the current system, because actions are embedded in skills, skills become a resource to access actions. So any new skill added to the game either must subsume some of those actions (diluting the power of other skills) or must fuel actions powerful enough to draw players away from other skills (raising the overall power level of the game). Decoupling actions from skills removes this tradeoff. New affinities can be added freely so long as they are not so broad that they would fully apply too often. For example, if a player desperately felt they needed a Sailor affinity for a character, it could be easily added. It would apply fully whenever dealing with sailor activities, but might be related (i.e. half bonus) to things like balance, climbing, reading the stars, finding a good bar, swimming, etc. The character can invest in Sailor and it will contribute to defining how his character acts across a range of actions.

 

[aurance]

When asked, “What do you do?” instead of having the reaction of “Well what am I good at?” the instinct becomes “I want to do X, how can I do it well?” I prefer the later and I think this goes in that direction.

1. As far as my players go, it's always been the latter than the former. And we've been using the skill system as-is.
2. What you're good at should have an impact on your decision-making process.

 

[AeroDm]

1. As far as my players go, it's always been the latter than the former. And we've been using the skill system as-is.
2. What you're good at should have an impact on your decision-making process.

Nothing about my proposal discourages what you are good at from having an impact on your decision-making process. In fact, it broadens the potential for what you are good at to impact the decision making process.

 

[AeroDm]

I wrote up the general idea for affinities more formally and attached it below. I think it should slide pretty seamlessly into a 4e game without altering DCs, class skill lists, feats, racial abilities, or anything else. It still has the added benefit, in my opinion, of encouraging more creative skill uses as well as allowing for the introduction of new skills or professions without diluting the rest of the skill pool.