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<blockquote data-quote="robertliguori" data-source="post: 4019419" data-attributes="member: 47776">One problem is that the skill is extremely rare that, once you wrap rules around it, you cannot gain mechanical advantage from; in edge cases, nearly every skill can be used by adventurers.&nbsp; The other is that D&amp;D encodes several real-world assumptions into its rules, one of those assumptions being that specialization of devoted resource in the direction of a particular goal is usually worth it.&nbsp; If you have two fighters, one of which took points in profession(calligrapher) and knowledge(philosophy) to represent his training as a warrior-poet, and another fighter spends his skills on not-die skills because he wants to not die, then, all things being equal, he should be better at not dying than the warrior-poet...but he should be screwed when he's called upon to compose a haiku in the middle of combat to distract the enemy (who is also a warrior-poet).I think that a meta-system that determined the value of skills in a given campaign would be helpful.&nbsp; For instance, if you are role-playing an adventuring boy-band overcoming challenges through the power of Rock, skills like Perform and profession(roadie) are more valuable than your BAB score.&nbsp; Conversely, in a kick-down-the-door tomb-raiding quest, skills like diplomacy are pretty much useless.&nbsp; The DMG should mention that challenges involving certain skill groups are expected to come up X so often, and that if you are having a lot of/no rolls in a particular skill in your expected campaign, you should adjust the cost of the skill accordingly.As an alternate option, a background system a la Iron Heroes or d20 modern, in which you choose a background that grants you extra class skills, a bonus to some skills, and a minor mechanical benefit (a feat or a feat-plus in Iron Heroes) would accomplish this, as well.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="robertliguori, post: 4019419, member: 47776"] One problem is that the skill is extremely rare that, once you wrap rules around it, you cannot gain mechanical advantage from; in edge cases, nearly every skill can be used by adventurers. The other is that D&D encodes several real-world assumptions into its rules, one of those assumptions being that specialization of devoted resource in the direction of a particular goal is usually worth it. If you have two fighters, one of which took points in profession(calligrapher) and knowledge(philosophy) to represent his training as a warrior-poet, and another fighter spends his skills on not-die skills because he wants to not die, then, all things being equal, he should be better at not dying than the warrior-poet...but he should be screwed when he's called upon to compose a haiku in the middle of combat to distract the enemy (who is also a warrior-poet). I think that a meta-system that determined the value of skills in a given campaign would be helpful. For instance, if you are role-playing an adventuring boy-band overcoming challenges through the power of Rock, skills like Perform and profession(roadie) are more valuable than your BAB score. Conversely, in a kick-down-the-door tomb-raiding quest, skills like diplomacy are pretty much useless. The DMG should mention that challenges involving certain skill groups are expected to come up X so often, and that if you are having a lot of/no rolls in a particular skill in your expected campaign, you should adjust the cost of the skill accordingly. As an alternate option, a background system a la Iron Heroes or d20 modern, in which you choose a background that grants you extra class skills, a bonus to some skills, and a minor mechanical benefit (a feat or a feat-plus in Iron Heroes) would accomplish this, as well. [/QUOTE]

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