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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Water Bob" data-source="post: 7377334" data-attributes="member: 92305">USING SKILLS OTHERWISE NOT USEDSkill points are a scarce resource, and understandably, players will use them to improve their character's effectiveness in the game.  Usually, we're talking about improving the character's combat ability.  A player will sometimes place a few points in a skill just for roleplaying purposes, but in most cases, it has been my experience, that players won't put any significant (or any at all) points into a skill like Craft (Cooking).  Players often see that as a waste of valuable points.The reason players aren't keen to improve skills like that is because that point expenditure leads to no real mechanical benefit in the game.  I mean, so what if a character can cook.  The player would rather have those skill points put to better use in his Spot skill, or his Listen skill, or any of the other skills that are often used in combat or otherwise very useful in the game.There's nothing wrong with this type of play.  I'm not bad-lipping that style of gaming.  What I am doing with this post is trying to point out an alternative style of play.  And, that is to say that if a GM wants to make the more mundane skills useful to players in his game, then he must find ways in the game to make that skill use important.  That sounds like I'm not making sense, but follow me here.I've used a rule like this before in my games, and it works great.  Allow a Craft (Cooking) checking each time a meal is made.  If a certain DC is met (set by the GM), then the person has created an excellent meal.  Allow the cook to create a floating +1 Morale Bonus to any skill check the character makes before his next meal.This is a nice little perk players can pick up by using the skill.  All of a sudden, Craft (Cooking) ain't such a bad little skill to keep throwing skill points into, here and there.A GM needs to decide about his rule, here.  You don't want to make it too powerful.  And, at the same time, you don't want to want to implement the rule but not draw the player's desire to use it because they don't see the benefit worth the expenditure of valuable skill points.PLEASURE!You can do this type of thing with any skill that would bring pleasure to others.  For example, in a Bard like fashion, you could have a character with Perform (Singing) who will stir up hot blood amongst the band before a fight by singing a tale and war song.  Use the Advantage rule from the game.  If the singer is effective with his song (he bets a DC set by the GM), then all within hearing range have a +2 Morale Modifier that can be used at anytime during battle--and it can be used on combat checks as well as skill checks.Be careful not to allow players to load up too many of these bonuses.  Again, you'll want to find the sweet spot between being attractive to the player and being undesirable to the player without making the resource overpowering.  Remember the rules for stacking modifiers in standard 3.5E d20.  So, if a PC going into a battle receives a +1 Moral bonus from his excellent breakfast, and he receives another +2 Moral bonus during the battle, then he can only use one of the two bonuses--not both.  They don't stack.  If he uses the +2 Moral bonus during the fight, he doesn't later get to use the +1 Morale bonus for the food.A GOOD BED!A GM can even use the Morale Bonus situation as a reward for getting a good night's sleep.  This can encourage PCs to spend coin on better beds in which to sleep.  If you've got players camping out in the wilderness in order to save money, or if you notice your players never have their characters spend the night in the high quality inn, make it worth their while, mechanically, to do so.  Have a good night's sleep in a feather bed?  That could be worth a +1 or +2 Morale Bonus that can be used for any throw in the next 8 hours.With the time limit, often these rewards will time out before the player can use them.  And, that's OK.  It also reflects how people's energy drains throughout the day.You could set up a situation like this:  A PC spends the coin to sleep in the high quality inn and stays the night in a feather bed.  He wakes up refreshed and has a +2 Morale bonus for 8 hours.  That time expires, but he finally eats again, and the meal is great (a Cooking check), so now, he's got a +1 Morale bonus for 4 hours.STUFF LIKE THIS IN THE GAMEIf you notice, there are skills like that that you can exploit in the game.  If you're running a military based game, consider doing something with the Perform (Guard Mount) skill mentioned in the Aquilonia book.  The text says that the skill is used to pass inspection.  The Soldier who rolls highest gets to be the officer's orderly for the day, which is a coveted position.  The Soldier who rolls lowest is assigned punishment duty, like digging the latrines.  If it were me, I'd use the Profession (Soldier) skill because I think that skill is a tad more useful to the players.You could do something with the Handle Animal skill, where, if the DC is met, the Moral bonus goes to the horse that maybe the PC can use too when making a Ride check.  Or, maybe the horse's speed or range is increased by a small amount for a period of time--all because the horse is well taken care of with good food, brushing, resting, etc.If you start looking at the game this way, you will find lots of opportunities to implement this type of rule.  You can even use it for NPCs.  Think of a tavern wench who can mesmerize a man with her dance!  Allow a high roll with Perform (Dance) to have a Charm-spell like effect on the PC.  Maybe have the PC roll a Willpower Save vs. a DC set by the Perform (Dance) roll.I think it is best to use a carrot rather than a stick.  For example, I like the 8 hour Morale bonus that a PC can use on any check as a reward for sleeping in a high quality bed rather than saying any PC who doesn't sleep in a high quality bed must save or be Fatigued for the rest of the day.A talented GM can really make his game sing if he starts implementing this way of playing into his game.<img src="https://i.pinimg.com/originals/5c/68/77/5c6877785dc245b1598117c855f99322.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /></blockquote>

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