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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rel" data-source="post: 4496754" data-attributes="member: 99">I was just having a conversation about this with Henry over the weekend.Why do I feel a need for Craft and Profession skills in my campaign?  Because they add depth and interest for me and for some (though probably not all) of my players.While I wasn't wild about the system in 3.x, I was a bit disappointed that they weren't included in 4e.  This disappointment quickly vanished however when I realized that this was the easiest house-rule fix I'd ever make.  Here's how the Rel System works:I ask each player two questions.  "What did you do to make a living before you became an adventurer?" and "What do you enjoy doing as a hobby that doesn't involve killing bad guys and taking their stuff?"  Then I say, "You can consider yourself Trained at those two things."That's all there is to it.If they say, "Well, I was a blacksmith.  And for fun, I always enjoyed decorating the stuff I made with engravings," then they write down those as Trained skills.  If we ever come across a situation where they need to make something with blacksmithing or want to engrave it, they can use those skills against whatever DC I assign.  For easy stuff I might not even have them roll.  For very difficult stuff then I at least have a number I can use.Moreover, they have given me a tool to make my adventures more interesting.  When the PC's go searching for the Missing Prince, they may not find him right away.  But the fact that the party blacksmith can tell that the sword the Goblin Slaver was using has a Royal Forgemark on it tells them that they are on the right track.As to the problem of overly broad profession skills, I can see that as a potential issue but not an intractable one.  If somebody wants to have been a Sailor, I'm not going to let them substitute that for all Balance and Climb checks.  But, if they are on a SHIP, then I'd certainly tell them that "Your training as a Sailor gives you a +2 circumstance bonus to your Balance and Climb rolls while you're on the ship."  Would I do that if I was running an entirely nautical campaign?  No.  But I think that if the relatively rare circumstance comes into play where they are having a fight on the deck of a ship then I'm happy to give them the bonus.</blockquote>

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