Rethinking Skills and Ability Modifiers

[Quickleaf]

Another thread got me thinking about an old project I began...

In the core rules, each skill is tied to an ability score. This assumes the most common circumstances, but let's face it, adventurers often get into rare and extraordinary situations. So, as a GM I encourage a PC to apply *any* situation-appropriate ability score to their skill. Here are a few examples of what this looks like...

Awareness (Search, Spot, and Listen combined)
Awareness (Str) = Searching from an awkward position that requires physical exertion in order to maintain
Awareness (Dex) = Aiming at an opponent hidden behind cover while wielding a bow (hand-eye coordination)
Awareness (Con) = Gauging another’s state of health, understanding the nature of an affliction that has you’re subject to, on watch duty for extended hours
Awareness (Int) = Understanding whispered voices, counting the number of people in a group, reading lips, consciously searching for something (a trap, footprint, etc)
Awareness (Wis) = Noticing someone hidden, watch duty
Awareness (Cha) = Getting in touch with a contact who is a spy or otherwise has access to privileged information that you want

Stealth (Hide and Move Silently combined)
Stealth (Str) = Sneaking while dragging a heavy body across the floor
Stealth (Dex) = Sneaking above the guards by rooftop
Stealth (Con) = Sneaking up on someone in the midst of a poison gas cloud
Stealth (Int) = Determining if you know about a particular hiding spot, attempting to sneak in a particularly cunning way
Stealth (Wis) = Choosing the right person in a crowd to sneak up upon
Stealth (Cha) = Getting in touch with a contact who can smuggle you out of the city in the back of his wagon

Survival
Survival (Str) = Pulling yourself out of quicksand
Survival (Dex) = Navigate your way through a bog or other difficult terrain
Survival (Con) = Persevere through a storm, move overland while foraging and hunting, enduring harsh environments
Survival (Int) = knowledge of various shelters, terrain hazards, identifying tracks
Survival (Wis) = Find safe food and water sources in the wild, keep from getting lost, predicting the weather
Survival (Cha) = Getting in touch with a contact who is a tracker, helping allies to survive a difficult environment through force of personality

 

[Tonguez]

The homebrew system I was once working on (pre-3e) used a Skill system basically like this

The Skill resolution system set the Characters Aptitude at Stat mod + skill, there
were no defined 'skills' but players could define what their characters were good at and invest points (ranks) into it - so if Joe the Adventurer was good at bending bars he might decide to get 3 ranks in it so with Str 14 he would have an aptitude of 5 = 2 + 3 ranks) if he was a Sentry and good at Noticing someone hidden he could get ranks in that too. Now Joe might also be good at forcing doors open and so get ranks in that based on Str (rather than pick locks).

Anyway I could see the idea working 'but on the fly' skill checks might result in a bit of argument unless you use a fixed at use type rule (ie from now on whenever you try and pull yourself from quicksand you will use a Str based Survival check - no switching to Dex at the next opportunity)