D&D 3.x SAGA skills for 3.5

[Obsidian Razor]

Fast run down man i'll see about making the skills into something ya can download.
1. Like saga ya get a number of skills at 1st level
*You gain a new skill every even level[2/4/6/8/and so on]
Class Skill Choices
Barbarian 4 + Int modifier
Bard 6 + Int modifier
Cleric 2 + Int modifier
Druid 4 + Int modifier
Fighter 2 + Int modifier
Monk 4 + Int modifier
Paladin 2 + Int modifier
Ranger 6 + Int modifier
Rogue 8 + Int modifier
Sorcerer 2 + Int modifier
Wizard 2 + Int modifier

skill mods
*Untrained 1d20 + Ability modifier +racial modifier
*Trained Class Skill 1d20 + Character level + 3+ ability modifier + racial modifier
*Trained Cross-Class skill 1d20 + 1/2 (character level+3) + ability modifier + racial modifier


Changed skills
Old Skill =New Skill
Balance =Acrobatics
Bluff =Deception
Concentration =Spellcraft
Decipher Script= Linguistics
Forgery= Linguistics
Gather =Information Diplomacy
Hide =Stealth
Jump= Acrobatics
Listen =Perception
Move =Silently Stealth
Open =Lock Theft
Search= Perception
Sense Motive= Deception
Sleight of Hand= Theft
Speak Languages= Linguistics
Spot= Perception
Use Rope —gone

Heh, we pretty much did this, even the fusion of skills is pretty much the same, though we decided not to join skills that depended on different attributes, although I'm starting to think it might be a good idea to ignore that rule.

I like the fact that a skill check is d20+3+character level as the skill "roof" is the same as in the standart rules. Though I don't like that the character level doesn't get added to untrained skills... I don't like my heroes to be completely clueless of some things they should have regularly done at level 20

A rule we did apply, and I think it's a pretty good one, is that the "bonus" skills at level 1 from high intelligence or being human can be used to pick skills that are not in your class list, that way, intelligent fighters know how to do one or two usefull things out of combat.

I'm liking all this feedback, it's being quite positive and it's giving me some good ideas on how to improve the system.

By the way Hunter, this rule has striked me as odd:
*You gain a new skill every even level[2/4/6/8/and so on]

Isn't this a bit overkill? I thought about giving at levels 5/10/15/20 the choice between gaining a new skill or gaining skill focus on one of their trained skills.

 

[Hunter In Darkness]

well the 2/4/6 rule does seem it at frist but gives a fighter at lest 12 skills by 2oth level and a rogue at lest 18 works out ok so far

 

[Obsidian Razor]

Out of how many exactly?

It's not that I don't thrust you, but 20 skills at 20 level sounds totally overkill... even for the, "...look it will take less time If I mark the cross class skills instead of the class ones..." rogue.

 

[Hunter In Darkness]

ok class skill breakdown
Babn:11
Brd:26
Clr :12
Drd:14
Ftr:10
Mnk:12
Pal:9
Rgr:15
Rog:21
Sor:9
Wiz:16

total number of skills 36
Under this system I would cut the rouge back to 6 however.

 

[Obsidian Razor]

Mhhhmmm... while I see where are you getting it stills seems wrong that the fighert ends up with more skills trained than class skills it has...

Then again, like I said before, nothing prevents me of reducing it to 1 every 6/5/4 levels or whatever.

By the way, since Jump becames part of acrobatics, would jump-related rolls use DEX instead of STR?

 

[Hunter In Darkness]

yep they use dex now.and i'm fine with fighter having more skills under 3.5 if he had 6 he was thought to be diverging from what he can do to much. and the system is in early alpha stages so it will change.Sad part is it'll prob change back to skill points since most folks think this one is not flexible.I just dont see how its not but ah thats just me.

 

[Obsidian Razor]

I'm with you in that one, Oh sure, you can't place two points in Performance (Ukelele) but hell from a roleplaying perspective I'll never stop a player from doing that without cripling his characters main and class usefull skills...

So to stay in topic, what number of total skills would you suggest?

I would go with enough for every character to do something usefull out of combat and having at least one usefull Knowledge skill...

 

[Hunter In Darkness]

This is how I would do it myself
Babn:4+INT mod
Brd:6+INT mod
Clr :4+INT mod
Drd:4+INT mod
Ftr:4+INT mod
Mnk:4+INT mod
Pal:4+INT mod
Rgr:6+INT mod
Rog:6+INT mod
Sor:4+INT mod
Wiz:4+INT mod

That would make non-humans haveing 14+INT mod or 16+INT mod. most would be very divers with cross-skills but thats not a bad thing at all.
you can also leave the rogue at 8 but with many of his normal skills now combines not a point really .6 puts him on par with the bard and ranger. thats my thoughts anyhow.

 

[Obsidian Razor]

I like it... gives more options, and with most of the worthless skills fusing with usefull ones the rogue doesn't come up very bad...

However, I think that one of the "good points" that makes a player choose, for example, Barbarian over Fighter is that the Barb has more skills, and this might keep people from using that class or others in the same situation. Maybe 2+INT classes could became 3+INT clasess and that would be a good middle point, but it still seems to few skills...

Then again, I've noticed that people feel that with this system they have LESS skills, when in reality the have the SAME skill points if they had maximized them (and frankly, not doing so is a bad idea considering most of the DC's).

I'm taking notes of all this thread actually... I'm gonna tell my players everything this weekend and see if we can improve the experiment.

 

[Hunter In Darkness]

cool man most folks dont seem to like my ideals lol. anyhow I liked the system over all been thinking of maybe adding hobby skills at first but that didn't go over well either. as for picking the barbarian over the fighter well there is rage and such going for it. let me know how your players liked the ideals . and keep us updated .