No Smell Skill?

[mmadsen]

I'm not being facetious. Obviously a Smell skill shouldn't be worth much to a human, but monsters and animals with the Scent quasi-Feat should have a Smell skill, shouldn't they? As they stand, the rules ask for a Wis roll to detect something via smell.

 

[Dimwhit]

Interesting. I don't think I'd make it a skill, since characters can't really improve their sense of smell. I'd just make it a Wis check and give those animals or other races a racial bonus to the check (+4 or +8, depending).

 

[kreynolds]

I always figured that you used your sense of smell to aid in Tracking, so unless you have Tracking, well, you can't track. Ever seen someone try to track without the Track feat? They might make an untrained skill check (ie ability check) but it will be much harder for them to track than someone that actually has the feat.

 

[Negative Zero]

isn't that the WIS/wilderness lore check made for creatures with the scent ability?

 

[Kusuf ibn Zaid]

Interesting. I don't think I'd make it a skill, since characters can't really improve their sense of smell.

Why not? Is it really that much different than Spot or Listen? I have always assumed that by putting ranks into Spot, I am not making my vision better, but instead getting better at recognizing what I see. The same should hold for smell. In my campaign, I use a Smell skill. It is a class skill for rangers and barbarians only.

- Kusuf

 

[kreynolds]

isn't that the WIS/wilderness lore check made for creatures with the scent ability?

Yeah, but you make the same check with Track. Wilderness lore doesn't allow you to track. Track allows you to track. Wilderness lore simply allows you to navigate the wilderness, without getting lost, and gather enough food to feed you and your party. If you don't have track, you can't track. Eventually, that Spot DC to find a footprint is gonna creep up there.

 

[whatisitgoodfor]

Dimwhit:

Interesting. I don't think I'd make it a skill, since characters can't really improve their sense of smell. I'd just make it a Wis check and give those animals or other races a racial bonus to the check (+4 or +8, depending).

I whole heartedly disagree with you on that.

A fine wine critic can tell you loads of information about a vintage simply from its smell. An experienced garbage collector could (probably) tell you what neighborhood a truck has just returned from simply by the aroma it carries with it.

While your actual sense of smell doesn't improve, your ability to recognize and discern all of the different odors around you does.

Your sense of smell improves in the same way that a character's eyesight improves after getting a lot of ranks in Spot.

 

[kreynolds]

Dimwhit:


I whole heartedly disagree with you on that.

A fine wine critic

There's already a skill for that, Profession (wine critic).

 

[Sigma]

Whenever there's something to smell, I just have characters make a listen check. Just like in Ghostbusters.

I think a smell skill is reasonable, just like listen is reasonable. It's not that your hearing/sense of smell is getting better, it's that you're getting more adept at interperting the information those senses report.

 

[kreynolds]

I think a smell skill is reasonable, just like listen is reasonable. It's not that your hearing/sense of smell is getting better, it's that you're getting more adept at interperting the information those senses report.

The problem with that is it lessens the value/rarity of the Scent: ability, unless you don't let it apply to tracking, which it would be fine in that case.