Rogue: 6 skills or 10?

[Chocobo]

That would have been my reaction. I don't see it as ambiguous at all, just bad editing.

But, I also believe some people are legitimately mis-interpreting it.

Is there anyone who feels it's pretty obviously ten?

I thought for a time that it might be 10, but the builds make it obvious that they meant six. I also thought it's bad editing regardless of which one they meant.

 

[Raduin711]

I thought for a time that it might be 10, but the builds make it obvious that they meant six. I also thought it's bad editing regardless of which one they meant.

Good point about the builds. I am hoping that they were excluding those four free-floating skills from consideration when they made the build, though. Maybe I'm being bullheaded, though.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Even if it is 6 or 10, as I see it your still getting a LOT of bang for your buck.

Since you figure many of those skills are ones that have swallowed old skills:

Athletics (Str): You got Balance, Climb, Jump, Swim all in one.

Thievery (Dex): You got Open Lock, Disable Device, Sleight of Hand.

Also I am hoping that perhaps these skills that have been swallowed are still in the rules but in a different format. As Sub-skills.

Essentially you got your main skill, say Athletics which is strength based, so your Major Skill Modifier is Skill Rank + Ability Modifier.

However when it comes to specific tasks such as Balance, you add in Sub-Skill Modifier (say a Ability Modifier, or Synergy with another Major Skill).

So it becomes for Balance lets say: Major Skill Modifier (Skill Rank + Ability Modifier) + Sub-Skill Modifier (in this case Dex).

So you got all your old Skills more tightly and neatly wrapped, but still all there.

 

[Kwalish Kid]

Seriously, what do you mean? I can see that they are both statements, and that they are both on the same line or paragraph. A sentence is a complete thought. They both belong to the same line because they both belong to the same topic, "skills". It's clear you see something I don't...

Actually, there is one fragment and one sentence. The full sentence is an imperative, not a statement.

Effectively, the passage in question reads, "Trained Skills: 6. Choose 4 from the following." The first fragment after the caption phrase, "Trained Skills," gives the total amount of trained skills. The sentence following this total gives the reader a command.

I disagree... More means, well, more.

And yet you put bold type face on a definition for "more" that is itself a synonym for "others". Very strange.

It appears in this case to be an adjective in this case describing "skills" along with "trained". My question is why is it there? They also could have said "From the list below, choose four trained skills at 1st level." but instead they throw in the word MORE to clarify that they are talking about a new set of four skills.

If there were previously a set of trained skills, then this might be a legitimate interpretation. However, there is not a previous set of trained skills, only two members of such a set and the cardinality of the set is provided.

As I said in my original post, it would have been easier and more natural to say "Stealth, Thievery, plus four trained skills from the list below." It is clear and concise, everything a game designer would want. Instead they seem to be taking special care to separate the two sets of four skills from one another.

I agree that your wording would be better, though it is no more grammatically correct.

 

[Raduin711]

And yet you put bold type face on a definition for "more" that is itself a synonym for "others". Very strange.

Which one?

 

[Raduin711]

If there were previously a set of trained skills, then this might be a legitimate interpretation.

My arguement is that the previous set of skills is all of them. Stealth, Thievery, any four skills, plus four more skills from the list.

 

[Pinotage]

So is this the first entry in the new 4e FAQ?

How many trained skills does a rogue get?

8.



Pinotage

 

[Campbell]

So is this the first entry in the new 4e FAQ?

How many trained skills does a rogue get?

8.



Pinotage

The FAQ isn't a primary source.

 

[Kwalish Kid]

My arguement is that the previous set of skills is all of them. Stealth, Thievery, any four skills, plus four more skills from the list.

That's not an argument, that's simply a statement in contradiction with the available facts.

 

[Colmarr]

Anyway, I agree with the OP: Its 10 skills. It probably isn't meant to be 10 skills but that is what it says.

Actually, no it isn't.

It says "Class Skills: Stealth and Thievery plus four others. From the class skills list below, choose four more trained skills at 1st level."

If we want to nitpick, the second half of the first sentence isn't an enabler at all. The first half of the sentence mandates that Stealth and Thievery are class skills. The second half tells you that you get four more, but gives you no method or means of choosing them, so that half of the sentence is moot without further explanation, which comes in the second sentence.