ThirdWizard said:
Okay, lets take that, look at real life. Lets say we have two people. One works on a ranch riding horses all day. As such, he has max ranks in ride. He also has to cook his meals, but nothing fancy. He has a single point in profession(cook). Another works in the city as a professional cook, and has max ranks in cooking. He also rides a horse occasionally on his days off to relax, but isn't very good at it, so we'll give him one rank in ride.
Aliens come down and make them both smarter. Here's the question: will the ranch hand automatically get better at cooking, and will the cook automatically get better at riding a horse? Your answer is yes. Mine is no. We have a very different idea of how these things work. In fact, you would say that the cook can become just as good at riding as the cowboy, and the cowboy can become just as good at cooking as the cook, assuming they are both class skills. I can't see that at all. Smarter does not mean you learn things without working to learn those things.
No, my answer is: maybe. I have not said you automatically do, just that you *can*. TO say my position otherwise is a severe mischaracterization.
It depends on where they apply their newfound intellect. And in my real life experience, yes smarter does mean you can learn things w/o working on it. Not all things, but some things you can't learn by smarts no matter how intelligent you are.
I think your example is not as biased against my position as it should be. You gave them each a starting point in the opposite skill. Thus it isn't picking up a new skill, it is improving an existing one. This also serves as a nice counter to the "well int bonus represents your iproved smarts". Riding a horse is not int based. But a smarter person can learn it quicker than a less smarter person. You can also get better w/o practice but merely by intelligence. Can you master a non-int based skill using int alone? No. But insights gained by intelligence can certainly apply and the mechanic is skill point accumulation.
Let us examine cooking. Per your example, it is a wisdom based skill. But I'd argue that intelligence has a direct impact on ability to cook. Things as simple as knowing how to not burn the food. Intelligence also deals with memory. Maybe now the ranch hand remembers that every time he added 5 shakes of salt it was not so good fo reveryone else, but that two shakes of salt was better. Maybe before he just threw things together. Maybe now he understands that. Maybe now thate he is smarter he can remeber, know, or can figure out recipies for foods other people like (remember profession is about making a living, not just doing the item but doing it for pay).
Maybe the cook uses his newly increased intelligence to actually think about how to ride a horse better. Maybe he looks at the gear and figures out that he really should make sure teh saddle and harness are tight. Maybe he realizes that there is more to turning a horse than pulling on it's reins. Maybe he *thinks* about it. Skills in D&D are conscious, and thus intelligence is applie din one way or the other. In the mechanic it is skill points. The ranks indicate the mental aspect and the ability modifier finishes it off. Thus while you can think all you weant about how to properly ride a horse (ranks) you are still limited by your physical abilities (Dex in this case).
So in answer to your question, yes they can each get better at the respective skills, but they may not necessarily be as *good* as the other. Presumably, the ranch hand has a higher dex and the cook has a higher wisdom. Thus, as long as the difference is measurabe by ability bonuses, they can not be as good as the other despite what they know. Just to be clear ...
Ranch Hand:
Dex: 15 (+2)
Wis: 10 (+0)
Cook:
Dex: 10 (+0)
Wis: 15 (+2)
Now assuming same level, they can both *know* as much about riding and cooking as each other, but they will not both be equally *good* at any each; the ranch hand will be a better rider and the cook will make more money cooking for people. Ranks are *knowledge* of the skill, nothing more.
Maybe that's the disconnect people have. Ranks only represent knowledge, not ability. Maybe most are thinking ability? Skills encompass to aspect, and people are thinking of it as one single aspect?
Consider swimming. Swimming is strength based. No matter how much you know about how a body moves through water, the stronger person will be able to swim with more gear on.
Take two people. One has a high strength but few ranks in swimming, the other has more ranks but less strength than the other. But their total bonus is the same. What is the difference? In mechanical terms, no difference. But how are they equal? They are equal because one relied on physical ability the other on mental. One uses his knowledge of how water flows to better position his body or take advantage of currents etc.. The other relies on brute force. Both get the job done but in different ways.
Still, that way your cowboy would get his retroactive skill points more slowly (only 2 extra skill points per level), thus preventing the problem of a 19th-level fighter boosting his Int and suddenly getting 22 extra skill points at the next level increase.
