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<blockquote data-quote="Dausuul" data-source="post: 8455411" data-attributes="member: 58197">An &quot;aptitude&quot; trait which applies to a group of related skills and provides the following benefits:1. If you make a skill check from that group, and you aren't proficient, you get half your proficiency bonus*.2. When you have the option to gain proficiency in a skill, you can instead gain two skills from that group.This provides the following advantages over ability scores:<ul>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">A bunch of number-crunching at the start of chargen is totally eliminated.</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">In play, you only need to know two numbers: Your proficiency bonus, and half your proficiency bonus. I can't tell you how many times I've watched novice players stumble over which numbers to add to a given roll.</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Independence at chargen. You can pay for aptitude without also paying for a lot of other stuff you may not want or care about (e.g., saving throws, attack and damage bonuses, the option to multiclass).</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Related to the previous, choosing a descriptor to flesh out your character concept (&quot;educated/scholarly&quot;) no longer requires you to sacrifice combat effectiveness if you don't happen to belong to the right class (wizard).</li>
</ul>*Proficiency bonus would be increased to compensate for the lack of ability mods.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Dausuul, post: 8455411, member: 58197"] An "aptitude" trait which applies to a group of related skills and provides the following benefits: 1. If you make a skill check from that group, and you [I]aren't [/I]proficient, you get half your proficiency bonus*. 2. When you have the option to gain proficiency in a skill, you can instead gain two skills from that group. This provides the following advantages over ability scores: [LIST] [*]A bunch of number-crunching at the start of chargen is totally eliminated. [*]In play, you only need to know two numbers: Your proficiency bonus, and half your proficiency bonus. I can't tell you how many times I've watched novice players stumble over which numbers to add to a given roll. [*]Independence at chargen. You can pay for aptitude without [I]also[/I] paying for a lot of other stuff you may not want or care about (e.g., saving throws, attack and damage bonuses, the option to multiclass). [*]Related to the previous, choosing a descriptor to flesh out your character concept ("educated/scholarly") no longer requires you to sacrifice combat effectiveness if you don't happen to belong to the right class (wizard). [/LIST] [SIZE=3]*Proficiency bonus would be increased to compensate for the lack of ability mods.[/SIZE] [/QUOTE]

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