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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DEFCON 1" data-source="post: 8421988" data-attributes="member: 7006">As far as D&D is concerned... I'm happy with the three changes regarding skills that I have now playtested over time and now finalize for my upcoming campaign:1)  Use the Alternate Ability Score variant rule.I always use this rule, because it allows me to not see skills as small, concrete things-- which usually result in feeling like you need more skills to accommodate more uses.  The game includes for instance both Athletics and Acrobatics because they both are attributed to a single ability.  But all that does is cut down the number of times it gets used (Acrobatics being the one that usually gets short shrift.)  By using the variant rule, I can have just a single 'Athletics' skill, but each character can choose to add it when making a STR * or * DEX check depending on what they are doing.  Likewise... a skill that at least at my tables barely gets used... Sleight of Hand... I can remove the skill from the game and instead I let players make DEX (Deception) checks when they try and sneak stuff like that.  It makes Deception much more worthwhile a skill and because most characters only get like 4 or 5 skills total... it gives them more chances to "spread out" what they know instead of being stuck in the standard "Well, I'm a urchin, so I guess I'll take the same Stealth, Deception, Sleight of Hand, and Perception as always."Making the specific skills have a much wider opportunity and allow you to assign it to any of your six ability scores as the times come up just increases their use and has more application.2)  Create setting-specific skill lists.Every setting has specific activities and knowledges that are going to be important to them and oftentimes aren't what the standard skill list gives.  So I always now cultivate my skill lists to add or subtract those skills that do or do not have a real place in the setting (or whose use could be merged into another skill.)  For my Greek-styled Theros campaign I knew that seafaring was going to be much more important to these people... so I added a Seafaring skill to the list (and in case you are wondering I don't like Tools or the Tool proficiency system at all, and replace them with skills almost always.)  I wanted philosophical debate to be a specific thing in the game and the skill related to it more thematically connected ...so I changed 'Persuasion' to 'Rhetoric'.  And then adjusted 'Intimidation' to become 'Presence', making it more indicative that the skill is not meant to just frighten or cow people, but rather is to be how awe-inspiring you are (positively or negatively, which is important for characters and people who are potential demigods or oracles for the gods themselves.)In certain games... Trade or Commerce might be an important theme and you'll want a skill for it.  A heavy military campaign might want a Warfare skill.  A campaign that takes place underground a lot of the time might want to make Dungeoneering its own skill, rather than part and parcel with Nature.  Some setting might not find enough use for both Nature and Survival as discrete skills and might want them combined into one.  Same perhaps with Nature and Animal Handling.  I myself (again due to my distaste for the Tools system) add Mechanics to the skill list pretty often, which covers not only anything that Thieve's Tools did, but also adds in knowledge about engineering, mechanical systems and the like.3)  Give every Background an ExpertiseA frequent complaint we've seen over the years with 5E is the "Every cleric is perceptive!" idea-- because Clerics have WIS as their primary ability and Perception uses WIS standard... Clerics are oftentimes the ones who can spot more things than any other party member, which doesn't make real thematic sense (as far as that class is concerned.)  Rogues can overcome that by taking Expertise in Perception if they want, but they still end up oftentimes only equal to the cleric even with the Expertise.  But this also doesn't help all the other characters who have taken a background and thus storywise should be really good at something in particular... but because the ability score doesn't line up correctly they still are pretty poor compared to others in the party.  To help ameliorate this... when I redid the Backgrounds for my latest campaign I gave the primary skill for that Background Expertise.  Now, if you for instance are an Acolyte, you have Expertise in Religion and will be stronger at it, even if you don't have great INT.  The Scout gets Expertise in Perception.  The Sailor has Expertise in Seafaring; the Soldier in Warfare; the Philosopher in Rhetoric; the Epic Pet in Performance; the Craftsman in Mechanics; and so forth.Expertise won't guarantee that the character whose background is a specific thing will be the absolute best at it (at least not until the Proficiency bonuses jump to +3 / +6 for Expertise)... but it's a start.  And the players seem happy with it.  (And in case anyone is wondering, the Rogue and Bard still get their additional Expertises on top it.)</blockquote>

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