Skill Tricks; good or bad?

[blargney the second]

They're interesting and highly situational. In the game I DM, the swordsage has the really cool Twisted Charge trick and the archivist has the +5 knowledge trick.
-blarg

 

[Felix]

I like the flavor, dislike the added complexity.

I'd rather they had a set of DCs to accomplish the tasks with the skills as written. Maybe you have to simultaneously successfully roll two skills - Jump and Climb for example - to do a particular task.

 

[Tumbler]

If you want a more cinematic game, they are great. The are roughly equivalent in complexity to using tactical feats. Each trick is like one part of a tactical feat, situational and cool.

I love them. Most things they do are reasonable uses of skills with a high bonus, but they let you do things more reliably or a lower levels. They really help to focus character's abilities.

I like the complexity (though it is mostly complexity for the player involved, and certainly not more complex than spellcasters). It keeps encounters different. I haven't found that every encounter players try to use the same thing.

 

[pawsplay]

Put me down for "meh" plus too much effort.

 

[Glyfair]

I don't understand that attitude at all. Neither reserve feats nor skill tricks are that complicated. Isn't it easier to introduce a coherent system into a game, than a whole bunch of new feats and spells, each of which have different mechanics?

One system, yes. Many, no. There reaches a saturation point.

A feat that has special rules is self contained. A sub-system has interactions with the system. I don't just have to worry about the one thing the player took, but other potential interactions.

Most of them work fine if you make them into feats. I really dont like the skill-trick system in itself.

I think all of them are so situational that no one will waste a feat on them,. In fact, I think that's the point. They are abilities that aren't "feat worthy."

In fact...I believe there is a feat in the book that grants more skill tricks.

I think they only give you 2 tricks (each feat affects one of the 4 types), plus increase your maximum number of tricks.

 

[Li Shenron]

I dislike them intensely. They add another mechanic to the game which already has two seperate distinct mechanics to achieve this (skills on one hand, feats on the other), yet they just muddle things up, and create a logistical nightmare for little to no real benefit.

I second the opinion.

There is enough mechanics to achieve that. Create feats or new "rogue's special abilities" if the benefit is significant enough. Otherwise just incorporate the trick into the skill itself as a "new use for this skill".

 

[ShadowChemosh]

Skill Tricks take their ideas from Iron Heroes Skill Challenges and anyone use to or who really like IH Skill Challenges will love Skill Tricks. Our group just finished a year long IH Campaign and are moving back to a 3.5 version of Savage Tide. Upon finding skill tricks we added them as it adds a fun IH skill challenge feel to the game, but is more balanced than just allowing skills to do everything they can in IH.

Complete Scoundrel is worth getting if for no other reason then for the Skill Tricks themselves.

 

[Keldryn]

Plus it's yet another book to add to the stack of books required at each game session, and another book to keep switching to and looking up stuff in during play. The table is already crowded enough with piles of books as it is.

 

[blargney the second]

I write out each my character's tricks on a card with the full text. When he uses a trick for the encounter, I just flip the card. No books required at the table.

 

[Darklone]

I concur they should have been normal skill uses, available if you meet the requirement of one or two skills at a certain rank.