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<blockquote data-quote="reciprocalzero" data-source="post: 2246864" data-attributes="member: 18616">I'm considering house ruling D&amp;D's skill system to make it more like the skills of Ars Magica. What this would mean is that every rank in a skill, instead of costing one skill point, would cost a number of skill points equal to the rank being purchased--that is to say, the first rank would cost one point, the second rank would cost two points, the third rank would cost three, and so on. The total costs, then, would be one point for one rank, three for two, six for three, and so on. This would do two things, I think: it would keep the differences between PC and NPC skill ranks down far enough that NPCs would have a reasonable chance of doing things such as detecting PCs who are bluffing or hiding, and it would encourage PCs to have a wider variety of skills.However, I do still want it to be possible for PCs to become good at skills, so I would (probably) have the skill point total for PCs at each level multiplied by half the PC's level (except at first, when it would still be a flat x4), and I would periodically award individual skill points in skills that the PCs used frequently. As an additional benefit, this would make it possible for NPCs to have high skill ranks without also having high levels. Also, I would still want characters with higher skill ranks to win consistently, so I might rule that skill rolls are made on 2d10, though that might make things more consistent than I'd like.My question to you is: does this system seem at all workable? Can things be done to make it actually work, or should I abandon this foolishness now and learn to accept the (relatively minor) faults of the skill system as it is?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="reciprocalzero, post: 2246864, member: 18616"] I'm considering house ruling D&D's skill system to make it more like the skills of Ars Magica. What this would mean is that every rank in a skill, instead of costing one skill point, would cost a number of skill points equal to the rank being purchased--that is to say, the first rank would cost one point, the second rank would cost two points, the third rank would cost three, and so on. The total costs, then, would be one point for one rank, three for two, six for three, and so on. This would do two things, I think: it would keep the differences between PC and NPC skill ranks down far enough that NPCs would have a reasonable chance of doing things such as detecting PCs who are bluffing or hiding, and it would encourage PCs to have a wider variety of skills. However, I do still want it to be possible for PCs to become good at skills, so I would (probably) have the skill point total for PCs at each level multiplied by half the PC's level (except at first, when it would still be a flat x4), and I would periodically award individual skill points in skills that the PCs used frequently. As an additional benefit, this would make it possible for NPCs to have high skill ranks without also having high levels. Also, I would still want characters with higher skill ranks to win consistently, so I might rule that skill rolls are made on 2d10, though that might make things more consistent than I'd like. My question to you is: does this system seem at all workable? Can things be done to make it actually work, or should I abandon this foolishness now and learn to accept the (relatively minor) faults of the skill system as it is? [/QUOTE]

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