Hobby skills

[JimAde]

I've got two things I want to accomplish with skills and I think I have a decent way to do them:

1) Allow characters to have skills in highly specialized areas that aren't really useful elsewhere
2) Allow low-level NPCs to compete with higher-level PCs at things the NPCs should be good at

Both of these desires have to do with sport. Specifically the Spellflag game introduced in Redhurst Academy of Magic by Human Head Studios. I wanted to create "spellflag player" NPCs without actually having it be a class or something. I mean, it's just a game.

So I came up with the Hobby skill. The Hobby skill allows for Chess masters that aren't high level super-geniuses and good blackjack players that are bad at poker. This write-up is part of a Spellflag document I'm working on, so it makes some specific references, but I think you'll get the idea.

Hobby Skill
This skill is considered a class skill for all classes. As with Craft or Profession, you must select a particular hobby. Hobby is a special skill that can substitute for other skills, but only in connection with the hobby in question. It has no controlling ability. More correctly, different abilities are used with it in different situations. So to use the Fake Out maneuver, you can either use the Bluff skill, or use Hobby(Spellflag) with your Charisma modifier. This is written as Hobby(Spellflag(Cha)). To resist the fakeout, use Sense Motive, or Hobby(Spellflag(Wis)). Any time a skill is listed in these rules, you can use the Hobby(Spellflag) skill instead unless the text specifies otherwise.

The idea is that a really dedicated player could max out his Hobby(spellflag) skill and be good at all aspects of the game, while a PC would use his own innate talents and regular skills (like Bluff and Sense Motive) and they would be on a similar footing. Feedback and polite critiques are appreciated.

 

[silvermane]

Isn't the same result achieved with extra narrow Knowledge and Profession and Craft skills? For example Knowledge (Spellflag) or Profession (Spellflag player) or even Craft (tinkering), if you want your character to have that hobby...

 

[JimAde]

The difference is that each of those skills has a pre-defined ability associated with it. Knowledge skills are always INT, etc. Hobby lets you use whatever ability is most appropriate to the specific task, as long as that task is part of the hobby.

You could just use Knowledge ranks with different abilities to get the same effect, but I prefer to give it a new name to avoid confusion.

 

[Kisanji Arael]

hmmm... maybe to better emulate what you're going for, the max skill ranks should be on a monthly basis or so. Also, maybe this "skill" can be exchanged with Exp. Err... example.

I am a nine year old genius. I watched someone play chess, and decided to learn it. I put the next four skill points I earned into it. In addition, that is where all of my time (skill) goes. I gain, over the next six months, 800 Exp at chess. However, these skill points go straight into chess, so personally, I remain at nearly zero exp. The first point I spent cost 50 exp. the seoncd costs 100, the third 200, the fourth 400. My maximum skill increases by 1 point one month after I max it out I will earn my next when I gain 800 Exp at this game. I could only gain 1 skill point / month, and I just earned my fourth level last month. I will gain no exp toward this if I beat up monsters (fifth graders), which is why it is difficult. I will also gain no more skill points even if I get the exp until one month from now.

 

[JimAde]

That's an interesting idea, but it's not quite what I'm trying to achieve. It sounds like you are looking for a way to remove the skill ranks cap in a limited way to reflect super-specialization. I'm looking for a way to let someone spend a moderate amount of ranks to get good at all aspects of something that d20 would normally treat as different skills.

Even though I used it as an example, I don't think Chess would be a good use of the Hobby skill now that I think about it. If you wanted a super-specialized Chess skill you could just create it and make it based on INT, I suppose. I don't see how you would use other abilities with the chess skill. I don't play chess well enough to appreciate the "metagame" of intimidation and bluffing that might use other stats.

Maybe I don't need a new mechanic. I already let people use their ranks with different abilities if the situation calls for it. For example, in my game you could use your Climb ranks with your Int ability to find and describe a route up a cliff face (effectively Aid Another without you actually having to climb).