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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cheiromancer" data-source="post: 1622723" data-attributes="member: 141">Skills are tricky.  I mostly thought of what I would want NPC occultists to be able to do, and not do.  For instance, I would want them to be able to spy on people, and impersonate people (or at least pretend to be of classes/professions other than what they were).  So hide, move silently and disguise should all be class skills.  But I want PCs to be able to infiltrate cult gatherings, maybe in disguise, without being automatically detected by someone present, so I didn't want spot or listen to be class skills.  I wondered about including sense motive, but I thought that if the occultists didn't have it, it would guarantee that PCs would be able to lead them around by the nose, and I didn't want that.With respect to diplomacy, I think that might be a little too open and above board.  Occultists get what they want in covert and devious ways, not in straightforward negotiating.  So I see occultists as tending to use deception (bluff) rather than diplomacy.  I thought about including Intimidate as a class skill as well, but decided to leave that to the fighters, barbarians and true rogues.  Forgery would fit, but that is exclusive to rogues; if a character wants to have a knack for it that's fine, but I won't make it a class skill.I want occultists to be able to do a little break and enter if need be, and so I gave them open lock, disable device and search.  Skill with mechanisms and fine tools should be up right up their alley.  Escape artist is a bit of throw in.  It means that a captured cultist might get away from his PC captors, which seems like a good idea. And occultists borrow a lot of abilities from rogues and monks, and escape artist is a skill that both those classes have.   Although... based on that logic I should add perform and tumble, I suppose (skills shared by both monks and rogues), but I want some occultists to be *failed* members of the various PC classes, and so they should lack some of the distinctive skills those classes have.  I.e. without perform it is clear why they would get kicked out of bard school.  Tumble... well, I just didn't want them tumbling all over the battle-field.And of course with only 4 skill points per level I don't want to swamp them with options.  I think the current list should allow all kinds of interesting possibilities and combos to be implemented, but the variety is not *too* broad.  Comparable to that of a monk, I'd say. Anyways, if a particular skill is key to the concept of an occultist character, then a knack should be a good way of fulfilling it.Note that I don't regard characters as being blank slates that the appropriate training fills in with the desired character class.  They have a lot of pre-existing quirks and talents that training attempts to shape.  I view it as perfectly possible that three friends can begin training with a thieves guild, and one will come out with a level of rogue, another with a level of expert, and the third end up with a level of occultist.    Similarly it wouldn't surprise me if warriors, fighters, rangers and barbarians would all come out of fighter school, depending on the talents, interests and backgrounds of the students.</blockquote>

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