Has anyone brought over the Iron Heroes Skill Groups into their games? Was the impact positive or negative? I think it would work very, very well. However, I have some concern that every Rogue will have the same skill ranks, every Ranger the same skill ranks, etc. I don't see it as a problem for the 4 or fewer skill point characters. For the 6+ crowd, I'm just wondering how it works out.
Importing Iron Heroes Skill Groups
- Thread starter Azgulor
- Start date
SteelDraco
First Post
I know when I played IH, my character had way, way more skill points than I could ever use. I was playing an arcanist with an 18 Int, so I had the most skill points in the group by a wide margin. Basically, it got to the point where I was looking around for skills to take. I had to bother the GM for other languages to learn, for example, because I knew all the campaign languages, as well as all the planar languages.
Whether or not you think it's a problem is up to you. If you implement the skill groups, you'll find that just about every character with 6+ skill points per level will max out all their skill groups, and then pick extra stuff up.
You might consider giving them a selection of skill groups, rather than all of them.
Whether or not you think it's a problem is up to you. If you implement the skill groups, you'll find that just about every character with 6+ skill points per level will max out all their skill groups, and then pick extra stuff up.
You might consider giving them a selection of skill groups, rather than all of them.
Thanks for the quick reply! I appreciate the advice. I was planning on going with maybe 1 skill group for the 2-pt classes and no more than 3 or 4 groups for the 8-point classes.
Out of curiosity, at what level did you begin seeing the all-skills factor emerge? I suspect that if it emerged relatively early-on I would have to be pretty stingy with skill groups.
Out of curiosity, at what level did you begin seeing the all-skills factor emerge? I suspect that if it emerged relatively early-on I would have to be pretty stingy with skill groups.
Baron Opal
First Post
It worked very well for my Arcana Evolved game, but...
1. The inexperienced players had no clue how to allocate their skill points.
2. Everyone had points in Search / Spot / Listen.
3. I completely ignored it for NPCs, BBEG, EHP and the like.
Now to be fair, I pretty much ignore skill points for NPCs as it stands. I just figure out what the max skill is and what skills the NPC would have. And, my players have climbed the learning curve. One of the things you have to be aware of is that any character can have any skill, and people will have lots of skills.
Oddly, no one put any points into UMD; this was a party of 8-9 characters too.
1. The inexperienced players had no clue how to allocate their skill points.
2. Everyone had points in Search / Spot / Listen.
3. I completely ignored it for NPCs, BBEG, EHP and the like.
Now to be fair, I pretty much ignore skill points for NPCs as it stands. I just figure out what the max skill is and what skills the NPC would have. And, my players have climbed the learning curve. One of the things you have to be aware of is that any character can have any skill, and people will have lots of skills.
Oddly, no one put any points into UMD; this was a party of 8-9 characters too.
Thanks for the feedback. Regarding the considerations you cited,
1. Not an issue in my instance
2. Everyone had ranks or everyone had max ranks? I would expect adventurers to have ranks in these skills. I don't know that I want everyone to be maxed out in them, however.
3. For major NPCs, I'd stat them. For minor ones I'd ignore them. (This is true in just about any d20 game I play.)
Thanks again!
1. Not an issue in my instance
2. Everyone had ranks or everyone had max ranks? I would expect adventurers to have ranks in these skills. I don't know that I want everyone to be maxed out in them, however.
3. For major NPCs, I'd stat them. For minor ones I'd ignore them. (This is true in just about any d20 game I play.)
Thanks again!
GlassJaw
Hero
I've been looking at similar skill consolidation systems for my Grim Tales homebrew ruleset. I looked heavily at IH but felt that overall, the IH skill groups offered TOO much consolidation.
I think I am leaning more towards a couple of other options:
1. Consolidating 2-3 related skills into a single skill (like Hide and Move Silently, Listen and Spot, etc).
2. Giving the class a couple more skill points.
My skill list is looking like this so far:
The only skill I'm concerned about is Persuasion. Combining Bluff, Diplomacy, and Intimidate seems a bit much.
There's also this thread I started in the OGL forum you might want to check out:
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=207140
I think I am leaning more towards a couple of other options:
1. Consolidating 2-3 related skills into a single skill (like Hide and Move Silently, Listen and Spot, etc).
2. Giving the class a couple more skill points.
My skill list is looking like this so far:
Code:
Acrobatics (Dex) - Balance, Escape Articst, Tumble
Appraise (Int)
Athletics (Str) - Climb, Jump, Swim
Concentration (Con)
Craft (Int)
Decipher Script (Int)
Disable Device (Int) - Open Locks
Disguise (Cha)
Forgery (Int)
Gather Information (Cha)
Handle Animal (Cha) - Ride
Heal (Wis)
Knowledge (Int)
Perception (Wis) - Listen, Spot
Perform (Cha)
Persuasion (Cha) - Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate
Profession (Wis)
Research (Int)
Search (Int)
Sense Motive (Wis)
Sleight Of Hand (Dex)
Speak Language
Spellcraft (Int)
Stealth (Dex) - Hide, Move Silently
Survival (Wis) - Use Rope
Use Magic Device (Cha)The only skill I'm concerned about is Persuasion. Combining Bluff, Diplomacy, and Intimidate seems a bit much.
There's also this thread I started in the OGL forum you might want to check out:
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=207140
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