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Message: <blockquote data-quote="KidSnide" data-source="post: 5552524" data-attributes="member: 54710">Non-adventuring skills matter (and deserve mechanics) when they apply to a type of action that is a major focus of the campaign.  If 30% of the campaign is non-adventuring, than the PCs should each have a non-adventuring niche (appropriate to the campaign) so they can each shine in a distinct way.If a player wants a character who's a cobbler, than - yes - any decent GM can just say "it is so."  But that's not a general answer to non-adventuring skills, that's a particular answer to the question of minor trade skills.  It's OK to say "you're PC is a competent" cobbler for no mechanical cost because -- unless the campaign has an unusual focus on shoes -- there is little mechanical benefit.  A cobbler PC isn't stepping on the toes of any other PCs (as it were).Game mechanics are important when the skills in question are an important part of the campaign.  If the campaign is truly 98% adventuring, then it's appropriate to treat all non-adventuring skills with a non-mechanical handwave.  If the campaign involves a large amount of royal intrigue, then it's its important that the PCs have intrigue-related abilities that allow each of them to shine in different intrigue-related ways.  If a campaign is nautical then a different set of niches are appropriate for the PCs.  A campaign with lots of mass combat should allow the PCs to participate in mass combat in distinct ways also.  If a campaign is actually about a collection of very-low-level characters playing the leaders of a village (a little boring to me, but - hey - I'm sure it's someone's idea of fun), then mechanics for trade skills might be important.A core aspect of the D&D adventuring rules (i.e. most of them) is that they provide PCs with niche protection.  Particularly with 4e, a player picks a role and - by virtue of that role - has a capability to uniquely contribute to the group's success.  Good non-adventuring rules should also give each PC a non-adventuring niche.  The challenge is that one campaign's solid niche is another campaign's useless ability.  That why (1) non-adventuring rules should be optional, and (2) when creating non-adventuring rules the designer needs to focus those rules on the types of campaigns for which they are important.The objective is not to create a single set of non-adventuring rules appropriate for all campaigns.  The objective should be to create a small library of well thought out non-adventuring rules that can be mixed-and-matched to support a wide range of campaigns.-KS</blockquote>

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