Intelligence and Level-Based Skills

[Calithena]

I really like these variant rules for skills:

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/buildingCharacters/alternativeSkillSystems.htm#levelBasedSkills

One thing that bugs me a little is that adopting this system nerfs Intelligence a little bit, since you don't get the extra skill points for high Intelligence any more. In this thread I'm looking for house rules for what you might do with Intelligence under this system vis-a-vis skills.

Option 1: Add an additional cross-class skill as a class skill per point of intelligence bonus. I don't like this much; you've got a lot of skills already and intelligence bonuses can get pretty high pretty fast. This option seems to penalize rogues.

Option 2: Have a floating 'skill focus' or 'skill penalty' equal to your intelligence bonus, divided up as you see fit. So an INT 16 character would get a +3 to any one skill: if you wanted your wizard to be good at alchemy or your rogue to be good at disabling traps, you'd add that here. I like this better but it seems a little weak.

Optoin 3: As option 2, but you get it twice. This seems closer to the right value for the attribute score somehow.

These would be marked on the sheet as bonus feats, methinks. "Variable Skill Focus: Disable Device", where the bonus was always equal to the Intelligence bonus.

Superficially I like option 3 pretty well but I just started thinking about this. Any thoughts for other approaches?

 

[eamon]

Why do you like this variant at all? It takes classes that have a lot of "options" and makes them absolutely better, while narfing those that have little "options". Rather, I'd do something like: choose 1+ (your int modifier) + (# normal skill points per level) different skills. These are your skills and if the skill is a class skill make checks as 1d20+class level+modifiers and if it's cross-class, make checks as 1d20+1/2 class level+modifiers.

Or if you really want to make int interesting for skill monkeys:

Choose twice your normal skill points per level in skills from your class skill list. These are your core skills, and you perform checks as 1d20+1/2 class level+modifiers in these skills. Further choose twice your int modifier out of all skills. If you choose one of your "core" skills, the check improves to 1d20+class level+modifiers, and if you choose another, it becomes 1d20+1/2 class level+modifiers. (In this modification, classes like rogues get a truly huge number of skills, but only smart rogues can truly max out a few skills.

You could also allow people to chose they're int score + twice their "base class skill points" in skills which go at half progression, and let them have three of those, which must be class skills, at full progression. Or anything really . It's not hard to make a system better than that variant ;-).