Making player skill choices feel useful

[FireLance]

Balance, Climb, Jump, Tumble - character may have to navigate an obstacle course or fight in an obstacle course.

Escape Artist - character is fighting monstrous spiders and gets entangled in webs. Useful to escape traps involving nets or Entangle spells.

Perform, Sense Motive - diplomacy or negotiation challenge, character needs to find out what an NPC wants or improve the attitude of NPCs before asking a favor.

Sense Motive - character fights a rogue that is fond of using Feint to get sneak attacks.

Handle Animal - useful if the character has a mount or other trained animal, e.g. an attack dog. As written, may also be used to command animals who know the "down" trick to stop attacking the character.

Knowledge - in addition to information about creatures' abilities and weaknesses, knowledge checks may provide clues to the character to help her avoid or prepare for certain dangers.

 

[silentspace]

There are lots of good suggestions here, and you will find many more if you put your mind to it.

Think of the skills your party has as you think of their other abilities and plan adventures accordingly! A 22 point-buy party with 100 gp starting gold is vastly different in capabilities than a 44 point-buy party with 100,000 gp starting gold, and you would plan your adventures with that in mind. It's no different with skills!

 

[Plane Sailing]

My player picked a various number of skills for her character, but during the game, the most commonly made skill checks are Spot, Listen, and Search.

It sounds as if you are the DM. You have the greatest ability to introduce appropriate skill checks by your terrain set up and the type of adventures you run. You call for Spot, Listen and Search checks, you can also call for other skill checks. Make the environment interesting and reward the investment in skills.

Cheers

 

[Steverooo]

Balance (Crossing rubble, narrow ledges, slippery surfaces, etc.)
Climb (Walls, trees, ropes)
Concentration (Not falling when hit)
Escape Artist (Not usually useful, unless captured)
Handle Animal (taking care of the horses)
Heal (Always useful, especially at low levels)
Hide/Move Silently (Sneak in/out)
Jump (Crossing pits, etc.)
Knowledge Religion (Knowing what harms undead, and what they can do to you: DC:15+HD)
Knowledge Arcana (As above, for Dragons and Monstrous Humanoids)
Listen (Hear sneaks, eavesdrop)
Perform (Sing? Play?)
Search (Find secret doors, and stuff)
Sense Motive (Know whether or not a PC is friendly or faking)
Spellcraft (Recognize cast spells, as a free action, if a roll succeeds)
Spot (See sneaks, read lips)
Tumble (Pass through the enemies' ranks, unmolested)