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<blockquote data-quote="The Sigil" data-source="post: 9839126" data-attributes="member: 2013">Call me crazy, but I actually prefer the term &quot;proficiencies&quot; to &quot;skills.&quot;To me, &quot;skill&quot; implies &quot;you must be trained to attempt this action&quot; while &quot;proficiency&quot; implies &quot;anyone can attempt this action; you're just better at it than most.&quot;As a very simple example, I consider playing Fur Elise on a piano at a reasonable tempo a &quot;skill&quot; - there is a certain minimal level of training/practice required and you can't just plunk away at it and get it right on any time scale of hours. By contrast, making an NBA-three point shot can be done without training (provided you have the minimum strength required to throw the ball).Scott Joplin was skilled at playing songs on the piano. Steph Curry is proficient at making three-point shots with a basketball.In a typical D&amp;D game, I tend think for the actions skills/proficiencies cover, it is better to encourage players to try any action and allowing those with proficiency to succeed more frequently or to a greater degree than to lock actions behind the purchase of a skill. I think of &quot;Skills&quot; as things like &quot;Wizard spellcasting&quot; where the average person simply cannot do the task without training, while feats of athleticism (like leaping a crevasse) are within the realm of possibility for the average person.But this is entirely a semantic argument. Literally.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="The Sigil, post: 9839126, member: 2013"] Call me crazy, but I actually prefer the term "proficiencies" to "skills." To me, "skill" implies "you must be trained to attempt this action" while "proficiency" implies "anyone can attempt this action; you're just better at it than most." As a very simple example, I consider playing Fur Elise on a piano at a reasonable tempo a "skill" - there is a certain minimal level of training/practice required and you can't just plunk away at it and get it right on any time scale of hours. By contrast, making an NBA-three point shot can be done without training (provided you have the minimum strength required to throw the ball). Scott Joplin was skilled at playing songs on the piano. Steph Curry is proficient at making three-point shots with a basketball. In a typical D&D game, I tend think for the actions skills/proficiencies cover, it is better to encourage players to try any action and allowing those with proficiency to succeed more frequently or to a greater degree than to lock actions behind the purchase of a skill. I think of "Skills" as things like "Wizard spellcasting" where the average person simply cannot do the task without training, while feats of athleticism (like leaping a crevasse) are within the realm of possibility for the average person. But this is entirely a semantic argument. Literally. [/QUOTE]

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