Skill Focus making skill a class skill

[BryonD]

Would it bother you to have a human fighter take SF: Use Magic and then crank a steady supply of excess skill points into Use Magic?

If I can be a full fighter and then whip out a wand of fireball or scroll of whatever anytime I need it, then I take a lot of shine away from the wizard.

Not saying that is a big problem. Just pointing out that it is a concept thing that could be jarring to stereotype and/or disruptive to players who want to play class concepts that may get overshadowed.

If you are mainly interested in helping multiclass chars out, then just say that you also gain permanent class skill status IF you have 5 ranks. So the rogue/fighter that already has UMD can keep taking fighter levels without falling behind. But if the pure fighter wants to use wands (or hide, or anything else that treads on another class territory) then he has to pay some price along the way.

If I were a Rogue10 then I be annoyed if the Fighter10 could hide just as good as me.

 

[Cyberzombie]

Would it bother you to have a human fighter take SF: Use Magic and then crank a steady supply of excess skill points into Use Magic?

If I can be a full fighter and then whip out a wand of fireball or scroll of whatever anytime I need it, then I take a lot of shine away from the wizard.

Not saying that is a big problem. Just pointing out that it is a concept thing that could be jarring to stereotype and/or disruptive to players who want to play class concepts that may get overshadowed.

That would be a fine scenario by me. I've been playing for over 20 years. I find the stereotype roles boring at this point. Anything that frees things up is fine by me.

 

[Dimwhit]

To clarify, the revised feat would make a skill always be a class skill for you. If it's already a class skill, obviously, that's not really a benefit.

How about for cross-class skills, the feat gives you a +2 bonus and makes it a class skill. For class skills, you get a +3 bonus (or even +4). Gets sticky for multiclass characters at times, though.

 

[IndyPendant]

I like the idea of making Skill Focus on one skill make it a class skill for the char, Cyberzombie. In fact, I'll probably add it to my own Feats file. As to the +2/+2 skill thing, this is what I use.

Skill Focus, Paired [General]
You choose any two skills, such as Listen and Spot. You have a special knack with those skills.
Source: Adapted from thousands.
Benefit: Choose any two skills. You get a +2 bonus on all skill checks with the chosen skills.
Special: You can gain this feat multiple times. Its effects do not stack. Each time you take the feat, it applies to two new skills.
Note: This feat is designed to replace the five million individually-named feats out there that each serve exactly the same function, and does not stack with any such feat. This Feat does stack with the feats Allure, Combat Casting, Skill Boost, Skill Focus, and similar feats. If you are uncertain about whether another feat stacks with this one, check with me.

Slightly more powerful, in that the char can choose any two skills; they don't need to stick to a theme. But, since you can use flavour text to justify anything and everything...*shrug*. So far, it's rarely been used.

 

[Cyberzombie]

Heh. I LOVE your editorial commentary on the endless string of +2/+2 skills. So many of them just seem like a way to pad the page count.

 

[geezerjoe]

I've also seen another custom feat that might very well be overpowered, but I like. It's called Skill Prodigy. Effect: There is no level cap on this skill.
Meaning that at first level you could effectively put ALL your skill points into that skill. For those uberfocused players.

I've implemented something like this that is toned down slightly that I like. I've house ruled that Skill Focus (only) provides the normal +2 bonus and raises the skill level cap by 2 (1 for cross class). I like this since it's not too much for me to worry about with my players (and I've seen "no skill cap games" go bad), but provides something of a boon beyond the very modest bonus that the feat usually provides. I might start allowing the players to remove the skill cap bonus for cross class skills and just make the focused skill a class skill to boot.

 

[S'mon]

It seems a bit overpowered to me; I'd recommend 1 cosmpolitan-type feat that makes 1 skill a class skill, then other feat that gives the +3 bonus. Otherwise you may get a lot of human Fighters with brilliant Spot skills.

 

[Cyberzombie]

It seems a bit overpowered to me; I'd recommend 1 cosmpolitan-type feat that makes 1 skill a class skill, then other feat that gives the +3 bonus. Otherwise you may get a lot of human Fighters with brilliant Spot skills.

I'm not seeing a problem there. Really, if the main argument is that it breaks the stereotypes of D&D, there is no problem. I played straight out-of-the-box 3e for an entire year, and exhausted its unmodified potential. After that, it's time to tinker.

 

[Kerrick]

I think it's an excellent idea. It enables the low-skill classes, like fighter, to gain a few extra class skills so that they don't have to waste what few skill points they get in skills they need(Spot, Listen, etc.). Now, I'm not saying the fighter would (or should) be on a par with the rogue; if it were me, I'd just dump an extra point or two in here and there, so that I could make those checks when it was really important (like when he's on guard duty).

How about for cross-class skills, the feat gives you a +2 bonus and makes it a class skill. For class skills, you get a +3 bonus (or even +4). Gets sticky for multiclass characters at times, though.

That's what I was going to suggest. I like this idea - I think I'll run by my DM. I'd stick with +3, personally.

I like the idea of Paired Skill Focus (I've thought about that a bit before too), but I've got my own twist on those paired skill feats (which might not work with this one): You can choose a +2 bonus with both skills, or +3 with one. I hate those feats that give a bonus to one skill that I need, and one that I never use (like Spellcraft and UMD). Paired Skill Focus effectively gets rid of this, though, so it's a much better choice.

 

[ThirdWizard]

I do something like this. It gives +3 and makes it a class skill (for all classes you take), but you have to have at least 2 ranks in the skill as a prerequisite. You can take it at first level, but you have to buy the skill cross class for that level before taking the feat (can't remember if this is the proper order or not, but that's how we do it).

So far, no takers, though I have used it for some NPCs.