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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 5030482" data-attributes="member: 4937">The big problem I have with combining skills like this is it that it forces you to make many modifiers conditional.For example, an ooze or something that acquires ooze like traits you gain a large bonus on escape artist checks.&nbsp; If I combine balance, escape artist, and tumble into a single acrobatics skill, I then have to write alot of things like, &quot;Oozes have a +50 bonus on acrobatics, when using a acrobatics to escape or squeeze.&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp; And the even bigger problem here is the modifier is now conditional, which means that instead of writing it down and being able to forget about it, I or the player have to look up the base acrobatics skill check, then remember that there is a conditional modifier, look up the conditional modifier, and then perform the addition.&nbsp;&nbsp; The result is that the attempt to simplify the skill system has led to being actually being more complicated in play, which is the very time you don't want to have extra complexity.This is one of the reasons I resist combining skills where modifiers to special usages of the skill would be common.&nbsp; If modifiers to a particular usage of the skill would be common, I'm very likely to want to keep it as a separate skill.&nbsp; It's kind of unavoidable that there will be conditional modifiers (otherwise, you end up with alot of skills that are too narrow), but I don't want to create them when I don't have to.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 5030482, member: 4937"] The big problem I have with combining skills like this is it that it forces you to make many modifiers conditional. For example, an ooze or something that acquires ooze like traits you gain a large bonus on escape artist checks. If I combine balance, escape artist, and tumble into a single acrobatics skill, I then have to write alot of things like, "Oozes have a +50 bonus on acrobatics, when using a acrobatics to escape or squeeze." And the even bigger problem here is the modifier is now conditional, which means that instead of writing it down and being able to forget about it, I or the player have to look up the base acrobatics skill check, then remember that there is a conditional modifier, look up the conditional modifier, and then perform the addition. The result is that the attempt to simplify the skill system has led to being actually being more complicated in play, which is the very time you don't want to have extra complexity. This is one of the reasons I resist combining skills where modifiers to special usages of the skill would be common. If modifiers to a particular usage of the skill would be common, I'm very likely to want to keep it as a separate skill. It's kind of unavoidable that there will be conditional modifiers (otherwise, you end up with alot of skills that are too narrow), but I don't want to create them when I don't have to. [/QUOTE]

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