D&D 5E (2024) Rank 5e skills from most useful (1) to least useful (18)

Thieves Tools were always used for opening locks or disabling traps. 🤷
I go so far as to make thieves tools able to disarm magical traps, using intelligence. Ofc the disarmer doesn't know what they're actually disarming, they're just breaking the runes/inscriptions/wards without setting them off.. knowing what they do is for Arcane (or possibly religion for divine spells).
 

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The problem with the 4E approach is it led to exploits and moreover if there is a hard mechanical number which overrides free will and common sense, why can't NPCs do it to PCs and get them to automatically surrender?
ah yes, the age old double standard of players thinking their own PC's minds are immalleable steel fortresses that can never be swayed while NPC minds should be putty in their hands to the very same techniques.
 

Even when you try to do Intimidate right, it can still cause issues down the road. People remember your bullying and ominousness.

I also had a player do an Intimidation specialist at one point. She avoided many fights, scared off mooks, interrogated for information. But even that bit her in the ass because those monsters didnt just vanish. They were part of a tribe, and many of them were present during the big attack instead of their numbers being whittled down.
You can make the argument that even Persuasion can make someone feel bad later on if there were negative repercussions for them, and they realize that the PC manipulated them into doing what they wanted.
 

You can make the argument that even Persuasion can make someone feel bad later on if there were negative repercussions for them, and they realize that the PC manipulated them into doing what they wanted.
Yeah, consequences are a lot easier to dodge if the party is nomadic, but I've run several location based campaigns, and "the consequences of your behavior" can become a BIG deal in those situations.

Thankfully, my players are very chill and go along with NPCs rolling social skills against them fairly often. Sometimes even voluntarily rolling "decision dice" to see how they react, like:

1d4
Goes Along / Reluctantly Goes Along / Demands More Reward / No.

Decision dice are not even a house rule. Just something they saw me do for my own NPCs and started doing on themselves for fun.
 


Since people don't actually for the Skill with alternative abilities... An Endurance skill would be appreciated and high ranking.
Some of us do. Quite regularly actually. That's one of the better things from 5e. Which ability mod is used depends on the aproach player takes.

Skill ranking: Perception - no 1, across all games i played. It's just so bloody usefull.
Everything else is highly campaign dependent.
 

I have the feeling in most RPGs, Perception is one of the most important stats to have. It might be a bit more important in D&D 5 because usually every player can roll perception, in some games, there might be a group perception type of rule or something. But if you don't see where you're going, if you don't find what you're looking for, you're a bit screwed and will only randomly stumble into things ,including traps and ambushes.

It's probably no accident that Pathfinder 2E removed it from the skill list and made it something seperate, though I don't really feel like it mattered much in the end. (That it is also the base stat for initiative probably did).

I am also thinking of Night's Black Agents or the gumshoe system where you don't need to roll on perception to find clues and the like. You just need to be in the right area to find it and state you're using your ability, and you get the clue. Because it's easy to run a game into a corner if the important clues the party needs to find to solve the mystery are only accessible via Perception, and they miss their rolls -they went to all the right places, talked to all the right people, but the dice say they failed anyway! Instead, they still need to do the legwork, but it's not luck that decides their success.

In Shadowrun, I'd rank Stealth at about the same level, because you really don't want to waltz into every compound and raise the alarms. D&D is a lot more foregiving here, one or two scouts are sufficient most of the time.
 

I wonder with surprise now just granting advantage on initiative rather than a free round of actions if this lessens the importance of perception.

Though I guess any skill with the ability to impact combat at all will rank well. Not to mention being able to find treasure.
 

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