Longer lifespan = higher skill limits?

[ciaran00]

I agree with the additional levels giving higher skill points, but I don't think that has to be the case. Say an equivalent pre-teen elf trains with her guitar 8 hours a day, carrying it everywhere with her...

Sure... just be careful of opening the floodgates for PCs. Ie, a guy opts to "use magical devices" for 3 or 4 months continuously to get some free skill points. Isn't that valid? What if all the PCs agree to this downtime? If you tell them to screw off with the unbalancing plan, then yeah... you agree with what I'm saying.

I personally use a feat called "Sage" designed for NPCs only. It has three "levels" determined by roleplaying/nature of NPC's character/NPC's history/etc. It bestows 15/30/45 ranks in a particular skill (ie: a college grad/a master/a doctorate). It has the cost of 1 feat slot which comes out of their initial slot IF they ever gain classes. Since feats are a bit more substantial in my game, this reduces the initial effectiveness of such an NPC in classing.

What does this say? Basically as the DM you can see it fit to grant any sort of ability that "works". If a near-immortal character does spend a good amount of time at something, he could possibly justify getting better at it. I know original D&D's justification as to why not (and this is a good reason that I personally agree with): mortality has an immediacy of consequence (death) that demands adaptability and learning. It's not an intelligence issue, but a "need to know, now" issue. This sort of immediacy is not possessed by something like an elf who knows he will survive for centuries to come; thus, the violent spikes of personality/extreme talent/unique skill is rarer in longer-lived races. Don't you think that such races may value other things? Just a hypothetical question... these things are often left out of rules-heavy considerations, though.

ciaran

 

[Yair]

[Warning: Long and largely obvious. I needed to vent.]

An elf who practiced guitar for 10 years shuld get Expert levels to represent it. That's how it works.

It makes no sense. It also makes no sense that a bard will improve his Perform ranks due to killing off some monsters in melee (yes, I know he can gain XP in other ways - but he can gain it through killing monsters).

I think the problem is not with the experience system, however, but rather with the class system. To be specific, the problem is that not all class improvements are skill-based. If they were, a character could gain skills based on the way he gained XP, or even at individual skills seperately (a la Ars Magica). Using the D&D class system, a bard can improve his Perform when he gained XP from melee, and must improve his BAB and hp when he gained XP through diplomacy.

That is not an accident. It supplies simplicity and game balance. As a game the D&D system is better, as representing a world it is worse. D&D 3E is designed first and foremost as a game, only secondarily as an excercise in simulation.

I think the best compromise is to allow NPCs to gain XP/year in the Expert (or othe NPC) class. It provides very little benefits beside skill points. You may consider using a variant "Life Experience" class granting none, or (equivalently) a template with a Level Adjustment.
You may wish to allow this to PCs as well, but bare in mind the implications it will have on character level and down time.
Making all class benefits skills and orchestrating a methodology to gain XP in them seperately or per class etc. is quite combersome, and is such a huge overhaul it will no longer be D&D.

Increasing maximum skill ranks is just dodging the issue; an elf who is 120 years old just is more experienced than a 16 year old human. I don't see why he would be worse than others in other skills just because he lives longer - he should be better at skills overall, not just in his specialty skill.
I agree with the others that it is problematic mechanically, as a character with the same level (XP total) will have better skills - thus making long-lived races more powerful.
Allowing an Expert (or other) class does not share this problem, as it implies only a different spread of levels for the race, not improving the race per se. Elves slowly gain expert levels over centuries, whereas humans blaze through a life of adventuring and conflict in a few decades.

Personally, I ignore the problem completely and throw realism to the wind.
But it does annoy me, so I needed to vent...