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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Graf" data-source="post: 1146879" data-attributes="member: 3087">Hmm. Looking at the skill I think I see a different set of effects from the rule, maybe I've missed something:1. Raising your base speed is a very valuable thing. In the core books you can basically only do it with items, spells or taking levels in one of two classes.2. Wiht your system for 1 skill point or two, if you're cross-class, you can become trained and raise your speed by 5 at least 55% of the time. (assuming no dex bonus or penalty).I'm assuming that the skill isn't hard to find a teacher in or limited in some sort of roleplaying way.3. Given the importance of movement it seems likely to me that most everyone would get a rank of the skill.4. Since there are no penalties why would anyone trained in it not roll every round that they would want to move more than their base speed?Sorry if this wasn't the response you were expecting.... So long as the DM allows the PCs to take the skill but assumes NPCs won't I could see it being a popular addition to any game. My rule of thumb is generally that if a PC can take something an NPC is about as likely to as well, but I realize that a lot of games don't work like that.Do you have any particular objection to the system that I suggested?Well you seem to have made up your mind.I can't really agree that Dexterity is "the best stat" in D&D. In D&D combat is generally the place where you make most decisions about the power of an ability. I find that in combat Dexterity is often overshadowed by other stats. In general the only characters I see with high dexterity are rogues. The few fighters and monks I've seen who go high-dex seem to spend a lot of time complaining about how hard it is to keep up with their strength based companions.I played a character recently with an extremely high dex (elf with max dex for level) who was built to maximize the advantages of the stat and I found that I would possibly have been better off with a lower dexterity and improved constitution or strength. Unless you're very precise in your planning and feat selection Dexterity lags the other physical stats for utility (rogues excluded).To break out a few commentsA high dexterity doesn't really guarantee you a higher ac than anyone else. It just lets you have a higher score while retaining certain advantages (higher movement, tumble, etc), even then you loose it when you're flat footed, stunned, surprised, grappled, etc.You can achieve the same armor class with mundane armor as you can with a high dex and unless you have very specific magical armor your armor class is unlikely to change significantly because of your dexterity score. Basically so long as you use armor your armor bonus to your AC is limited to around 18 or 19 regardless of your dex score. And you need to have a dexterity score in of 26 before you can reach that naturally. Mage armor, Barkskin and a few other spells mean you can get away with a dex of 18 or 20 and keep pace with the party fighters, but that's an extremely specific build. Example: The best you can do without employing serious magic is having elven chain (AC +4, max dex AC bonus 8). Assuming you're human with a dex 18 that's an AC of 22. A fighter with full plate and a shield has an AC of 21 for basically the same cost and can put that 18 in strength or Con.Certainly something important. Important, I think you'll agree, primarily to avoid damage from traps and from evocation spells. Of course most save or die spells are Fortitude, or Will. Poison, Energy Drain and most of those other really really nasty effects aren't Ref saves. Not that a high reflex save isn't great, but it's not the end-all be-all.Honestly I've never understood the obsession with having a high Init bonus. Everyone gets one action a round. Over the course of my campaigns I noticed a reasonable tenancy for people who move first to manage to get themselves into a bad tactical situation.For a chunk of characters (rogues speicifically) you want to go after the front line troops, using tumble or spring attack to move into a flanking position.As someone who recently played a psion with a bow and a dex of 20 I can tell you that a high dex does not assure you will be a brilliant missile combatant. The vast majority of combats require Precise shot (and it's prequistite point blank shot) to be effective. Otherwise that +4 or +5 to hit from a super high dex doesn't really make you a stellar shot when you've got targets with cover (-4) and you're firing into melee (-4).You could argue that this is more a function of ranged combat than Dex but the fact remains that being a good ranged combatant requires significant outlay of feats just to match the damage output of an average character of your level.Which is how it should be, but I digress.I've seen more than a few characters with weapon finesse. They aren't better combatants than characters with high strengths. They're AC is the same, they have the same ability to hit, their weapon choice is greatly limited, do less damage, AND they're short a feat.Like what?? I would suggest that spot and listen are generally the most rolled, and probably have the biggest overall effect on combat (surprise rounds being what they are).The most important rogue skill is probably search, knowing a trap is there is of paramount importance. Given that most Dungeons are riddled with magical items that can be only discovered by search checks the skill is also essential to getting the treasure.Hide and MS are certainly useful, but that's a rogue function, given the penalties of failure when sneaking around by yourself it's not something non-rogues have the luxury of.Don't mean to sound caustic, but I'm not really sure you have a leg to stand on when you say that Dexterity is "the best stat".</blockquote>

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