Does anyone like class skills?

[Vigilance]

Well, what I ended up doing, which I hope people like, is just getting rid of class skills altogether.

Spend your skill points where ever you want, max ranks at Level +3 and occupations grant two "phantom" ranks that actually let you exceed the Level+3 cap for those particular skills.

My players have enjoyed that system for almost a month now, so I just made it official.

And did I mention Modern20 Revised will have 100 more guns, 40 more feats and be a free upgrade?

It's about 25% expansion of the original game (by page count), for free.

Cause I like mentioning that, cause I'm proud we actually did that.

 

[Arashi Ravenblade]

I like class skill. It shows a training focus.
Cross class limits are good I just dont like spening 2 skills points on them. Either they shold have the same rank limit as class skills or cost one point.

 

[questing gm]

Well, what I ended up doing, which I hope people like, is just getting rid of class skills altogether.

Spend your skill points where ever you want, max ranks at Level +3 and occupations grant two "phantom" ranks that actually let you exceed the Level+3 cap for those particular skills.

My players have enjoyed that system for almost a month now, so I just made it official.

And did I mention Modern20 Revised will have 100 more guns, 40 more feats and be a free upgrade?

It's about 25% expansion of the original game (by page count), for free.

Cause I like mentioning that, cause I'm proud we actually did that.

Looking forward to it.

 

[Greg K]

Vigilance,
I am just glad that you chose to stay away from the following solutions :
1. Star Wars/4e automatic increases
2. Iron Heroes's Skill groups
3. Pathfinder's +3 bonus to class skills that you put a rank into. I wouldn't have minded this so much if it was limited to one or two skills that you put ranks into at first level. I dislike that it is any class skill that you put ranks into and applies at any level.

 

[roguerouge]

Isn't one of the major powers of the Smart hero/rogue the ability to have so much skill choice? Might it nerf two classes that really don't need that to happen to them?

 

[Vigilance]

Isn't one of the major powers of the Smart hero/rogue the ability to have so much skill choice? Might it nerf two classes that really don't need that to happen to them?

Actually, I think this change benefits all classes more the more skill points they have.

If you think about it, 3 of the Modern20 classes have 4 skill points per level, two of them have 6 skill points per level and 1 has 8 skill points per level.

Given that Brainiacs still had skills not on their class skill list, they are receiving more proportional benefit by being able to spread those skill points into new areas.

The only thing Brainiacs "lose" with this change is the advantage of their broader skill list, but since their skill list also got broader, and they have more skill points to invest, they still see more potential benefit from this change.

 

[FentonGib]

Personally I agree with Mustrum that I like class skills but hate the limitations on cross-class. They limit character concept. Why can't you have a strength-oriented character who likes to chill out at night in a jazz club playing his Saxophone with his mates? So I agree that the Pathfinder system of allowing all skill ranks to be 1 point but you get a +3 bonus of class skills to be great. This way all characters can be flexible, but someone who "does it for a living" will always be better (in theory at least).

Considering my d20 Modern game is a low-magic setting, skill point distribution is normally the main thing that separates one PC from another.

 

[Drowbane]

I threw out class skills a couple years ago. A class isn't, and shouldn't be, defined for its skills.

 

[Angrydad]

Personally, I like the fix of just having cross class skills capped at half the number of ranks as class skills while allowing ranks to be bought for the same number of points. I know there are tons of times I'd have liked to add a little flavor to a character via ranks in some random skill, but it costs a ton of points to make him half as good at the cc skill as it does for class skills. None of my players have ever really questioned the cc skill rules, but I'm going to suggest this fix and see if it gets them adding some spice and interesting twists to their characters.

 

[Witchfinder General]

Personally, I like the fix of just having cross class skills capped at half the number of ranks as class skills while allowing ranks to be bought for the same number of points.

Most of the d20 campaigns I've played in or game mastered have used this rule. It allows for greater diversity and is hardly game breaking.