D&D 5E Eliminating skill & feat taxes

[Gimul]

Skills:

Animal Handling - Remove it. Survival is enough. Maybe a bit of Nature for remembering how to deal with weird beasts

No. Tracking, foraging, and not dying of exposure have nothing to do with controlling/training/domestication of an animal... every farmer is not a ranger and vice versa

Medicine - Remove it. All medicine related checks to be covered by a Nature check. Nature encompasses knowledge about biology, botany, meteorology, etc. It is the natural philosophy or science lore.

Meh to no. Nature is already a ridiculously broad category. Medicine is sufficiently useful as is, doesn't really need to be merged.

Performance - Now grants proficiency in all musical instruments. A performance check was either an instrument check or a persuasion check anyway. The Bard extra tool proficiencies now give proficiency in Performance instead.

No. This also covers things like Poetry, Acting, general command of an audience and various bardy things that do not involve an instrument and that a diplomacy style face would not be adept at.

History/Religion - Meld these together. One informs the other anyway.

Hell to the no. On its face ridiculous.

Tools:

Herbalism Kit - Now doubles as a poisoner's kit

There has never really been a mechanical difference here, only fluff. The key distinction here is that a poisoner's kit is generally considered contraband. And that adds solid roleplay opportunity.

Gaming Set - Encompasses all games.

Meh, sure...


Feats:

Dual Wielder - Allow all characters to draw or stow 2 weapons at once if they want.

No.


GWM - Allow anyone to Cleave - It still uses the bonus action

No.

War Caster - Give Eldritch Knights the ability to perform somatic components with hands occupied by weapons/shield.

Yes for EKs. Implement/shield or implement/weapon for anyone proficient in both.

Problems with what I have changed?

Making the categories too broad hurts roleplay. It's ok for people to attempt checks for which they are not proficient.

 

[Remathilis]

I have a radical concept.

1. Combine deception, intimidation, persuasion, performance and proficiency in disguise kits and music instruments together.

2. Combine investigation, insight, and perception into one skill.

3. Combine survival, medicine, handle animal, and nature into one skill. Add poisoners and herbalism kits.

3.5. Since all those skills rely on keen senses to operate, lets merge them with 2 as well.

4. Put the thief skills (acrobatics, stealth, sleight of hand and thief tools and forgery kit) together.

5. Put the remaining knowledge and science skills together. Add artisan tools and navigators tools to it as well.

6. Keep athletics mostly as is, but maybe expand it.

7. Add a new skill that includes endurance and stamina.

8. Remove proficiency with gaming and vehicles; let anyone use those.

That leaves us with six skills. Name them: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma and allow PCs to use their proficiency bonus when it makes sense to their class or background.

Voila! Chaff cut.

 

[Kalshane]

It's true until it isn't. Climb (Athletics) for example would be heavily reliant on rope and pitons. Medicine is heavily reliant on medical supplies. Survival would use fishing lures, etc to survive.

You can climb without tools. Whether or not that's advisable is another story. But by the rules you can attempt to climb trees, walls, cliffs, etc with your bare hands. Specialized tools help (and reduce your chance of dying if you fall off) but aren't required.

As for Medicine, while it's easy to assume supplies would be needed when treating someone who is wounded, the rules don't actually require them. They simply state you can make a check to stabilize a dying creature or diagnose a disease. (Now, someone trying to stabilize someone who is bleeding out without bandages or something doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but "bandages or something" is pretty much a healer's kit, which can do the same thing without a check.)

I'd say fishing is an incredibly small portion of Survival (and there's tons of other uses that don't require tools) plus it is possible (though really difficult) to fish with your bare hands.

I do agree there are some gray areas where Tool vs. Skill is concerned, but for the vast majority of circumstances that come up in the game the "I need to use something to do this/I can do this myself" divide is fairly clear.

 

[Pssthpok]

I have a radical concept.

[...]
That leaves us with six skills. Name them: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma and allow PCs to use their proficiency bonus when it makes sense to their class or background.

Voila! Chaff cut.

So you cribbed an idea straight from the DMG and called it a radical concept?

 

[Remathilis]

So you cribbed an idea straight from the DMG and called yourself radical? Tell us more.

I didn't say I invented it, merely it was a radical way to remove redundant skills.

 

[Chaosmancer]

I didn't say I invented it, merely it was a radical way to remove redundant skills.

It may also be useful to write "sarcasm" in giant letters