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

[CreamCloud0]

using my survival skill to cheat at cards because i need the money to survive by buying groceries and paying rent

 

[Maxperson]

but if I'm out foraging in the forest then survival is what I use to identify the things I can eat - so sure by raw it might not tell me if an unknown fruit is poisonous but it will tell me if it is not edible, which is all I need to know about it.

Survival is only for the roll to get food. There is plenty that has no risk like mushrooms do. Survival is for that, not which mushrooms are poisonous or not. Per RAW, that requires Nature which is for plant lore.

You don't need to know every possible ill effect from a plant, animal or fungi in order to survive, so Survival doesn't give you the more obscure things.

 

[Maxperson]

using my survival skill to cheat at cards because i need the money to survive by buying groceries and paying rent

Only if you are in the forest.

 

[CreamCloud0]

Only if you are in the forest.

can it work in a city if i'm using my special nature themed deck of cards that use the suits of leaves, berries, raindrops and twigs?

 

[FrogReaver]

Survival is only for the roll to get food. There is plenty that has no risk like mushrooms do. Survival is for that, not which mushrooms are poisonous or not. Per RAW, that requires Nature which is for plant lore.

You don't need to know every possible ill effect from a plant, animal or fungi in order to survive, so Survival doesn't give you the more obscure things.

If it’s beneficial or harmful to survival and in nature a survivalist should know that. He probably doesn’t know herb X can be used to make a magical potion, but if it’s edible or would kill him if he eats it, that he should know. Same for dangerous animals. He may not know everything about them but he will know the things about them relevant to survival. And really, in the typical d&d game, what else is there?

 

[TorgoTheWhite]

I would say that Perception cannot be "circumvented" by clever roleplay. You either notice something or you dont.

Investigation can be worked around.

If there is a secret door under the carpet and someone says I lift the carpet and the door is not expertly hidden they will "find" it.
No need to ask for Investigation.

Investigation is rolled when someone says; I search everywhere in the room and it's without any focus or idea what needs to be searched for.


Similar to some social checks;

if there is some info gathering at the tavern, that roleplay with patrons will usually not require a charisma check as long as questions are somewhat regular. Something more spicy might require a check.

On the other hand, if the players want to skip the "boring" part of taverns(I don't know why they would want that...), and get to the next thing on the list, one can always ask for Persuasion check to see what was found out in a tavern of two.
If they spend few gold on buying they can get an advantage on Persuasion roll for gathering information.

I use investigate differently than this I think... that's ok. Perception is generalized scene info to me. But actually intuiting anything from the descriptors is investigate. So, noticing the immaculate boots on a scorched scene is Perception. Investigating would be to actually figure out that they are untouched by fire and some brainy information therein. Perception often, doesn't run as ubiquitous in my games... or they are often low end Perception situations where I just repeat the same scene description

 

[TorgoTheWhite]

I'm a big fan of intimidate, I will try it out, sacrificing an action after an example is made of some hapless opponent. Sometimes the DM is fine with that and it is super fun. Also have used it to terrify superstitious tribes before... Ewoks

 

[Maxperson]

can it work in a city if i'm using my special nature themed deck of cards that use the suits of leaves, berries, raindrops and twigs?

No, but if you go to a park it can.

 

[Maxperson]

If it’s beneficial or harmful to survival and in nature a survivalist should know that. He probably doesn’t know herb X can be used to make a magical potion, but if it’s edible or would kill him if he eats it, that he should know. Same for dangerous animals. He may not know everything about them but he will know the things about them relevant to survival. And really, in the typical d&d game, what else is there?

I'm not saying that the way you do it doesn't make sense. It does. It just isn't RAW. If you're going to give Survival a bunch of what Nature encompasses, you can't then say that Nature as a skill doesn't have enough. That's an issue you created by ignoring what is written.

It's like if Perception was Spot and Listen again. It's two skills that makes some sense to have as one or mostly one.

 

[Hussar]

You asked for A thing. Identifying which mushroom is poisonous is also something Survival cannot do, but Nature can. Knowledge of plants is by RAW a part of the Nature skill.

That's not true. Knowing if a mushroom is poisonous or not comes under foraging. Obviously. Since if I cannot tell between harmful and beneficial plants, how can I forage for food? Nature tells you exactly what kind of mushroom is and what family it belongs to and all the academic knowledge around that mushroom, but, Survival absolutely will tell you if it's safe to eat.