D&D 3E/3.5 Skill point adjustments to 3.5 D&D

[ARandomGod]

It doesnt decrease their effectiveness. They still have just as many skill points as they did before.

Rogues are hard not to impinge on a bit because everything they do and have is stuff anyone should be able to do via skills and/or feats


Bards and Rangers have all sorts of other class features anyway.

Its really more realstic for everyone to have more skill points, because most people have what would be at least a few ranks in a freak of a lot of skills.

*Relative* effectiveness. It definitely does decrease the relative effectiveness of any class when another class gets something that it does not.

I meantioned Rangers and Rogues specifically because those are a couple of classes that I've known people to take just for the skill points, and the class features are just nice boons that were extra.

If you give the fighter two extra skill points per level, that makes a ranger less better than the fighter when it comes to skill points. And you can't argue that skill points don't matter that much effectively in a thread about giving classes more!

Giving *everyone* two more skill points would be good... Perhaps making a minimum of four would be acceptable, but then I'd think that to be fair you should give the skill point intensive classes two more per level as well.

As for rogues... Sure, they get eight, but to be effective as a rogue you have to spend a lot of those points in rogue specific skills... IE things that you are "expected" to do. Sure, you don't have to, but then you're not really the party rogue.

Which is where my suggestion to blend some of the skills together came from. If you put Disable and Open locks together, that helps enormously. You still have to search seperately. Putting Hide and MS together is good, and partially equalled by putting spot and listen together. Putting a group in "athletics" gives the ftr more skill points virtually, and ... for that matter, spot/listen together as one makes them as if they were class skills but still seperate (And, as anyone with one on their list gets the new one, it actually IS a class skill for many).

But I digress...
What I meant to say was yes, giving some more skill points does not make others less effective, but it DOES make them relatively less...

OR to say, if you gave barbarians a bonus 2 strength and constitution even when not in a rage, and stacks with their rage... well, that doesn't make any of the other classes less effective.. But it does have an effect on the relative power levels.

 

[S'mon]

The only problem I see is that it makes Rogues, already IMO a weak class, relatively weaker. Give Rogues d8 hit dice and I think it evens out.

 

[Khaalis]

Just a late contribution here.

In our system we have increased all classes by 2 skill points per level and most classes have gotten revamped skill lists. For example the Fighter who should be one of the best at Feinting in combat doesnt get Bluff as a class skill, who train and fight on the battle field and are most often some form of soldier yet they dont gain Heal (first-aid) as a class skill. Things like that.

JMQHO. YMMV.

 

[Merlion]

I dont think giving everbody minimum 4 is going to have any negative effect on the skill intensive classes. They are still going to have way more skills, and more class skills.


I can go either way with combining...it depends on the combination too. Hide and Move Silently are probably logical to combine. I dont know about Spot and Listen...someone can have good eyes and poor hearing or vice versa.


The Rogue class just has issues. Its very balanced in terms of combat, but it has archtype problems and things.

 

[Aaron2]

Give a small number of free skill points per level that everyone can in less potent skills(knowledge (history) or profession ).
That way you can add flavor to the characters without unbalancing the game by decreasing the efectiveness of classes as rogue or bard.

I give 2 ranks to Knowledge skills based on the character's background. 1 is Knowledge (local) the other varies:

Villager, Farmer: Knowledge (myths and legends)
Townsman: Knowledge (history)
Noble: Knowledge (nobility and royalty)
Slave, Urchin, Outcase: Knowledge (criminal underworld)
Wildman: Knowledge (nature)
etc.


Aaron

 

[Li Shenron]

I would like to increase the number of skills offered to certain classes so that players have the opportunity to make more interesting characters.

IMO it's not very nice if you give more skill points to some classes but not all of them. On the other hand, if you give +2 sp to each and every class, the Rogue and the Ranger are probably not going to find those extra points very useful compared to the other classes, since they already have plenty of them.

Have you thought about giving the players the choice between +2 skill points or increased HD? You could give this bonus on a class basis, so that once you choose to get +2 sp to your Fighter or d8 for your Bard, that's it for future levels as well. Or otherwise you could be flexible to the extreme and let the player choose every level.

 

[Staffan]

IMO it's not very nice if you give more skill points to some classes but not all of them. On the other hand, if you give +2 sp to each and every class, the Rogue and the Ranger are probably not going to find those extra points very useful compared to the other classes, since they already have plenty of them.

I'm playing a rogue/fighter in a 3.0 campaign at the moment, and despite having Int 16 I've never ever thought "Hey, I have way too many skill points. I sure wouldn't want any more of them."

8 skill points don't go that far. Hide, Move Silently, Open Locks, Disable Device, Search, Spot, Listen - that's 7 points per level already for the "basics" of the adventuring rogue, and to that one should add "electives" like Bluff, Sense Motive, Climb, Jump, Balance, Appraise, Gather Information, and so on.