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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kerrick" data-source="post: 5038420" data-attributes="member: 4722">This is another odd idea I came up with. It sprang from the question: "Where do NPCs get their levels?" The answer: Crafting. Well, not ALL of it is crafting, but a good portion - that's where Experts get their levels, at least.Crafting represents learning - the first time you make something, you gain experience. The second time you make it, you might do something differently (which could be good or bad), learn a quicker/easier way to do it, or learn a different way to achieve the same end - all of those gain experience. After awhile, of course, there are no further things you can learn from making that item, so you gain no further experience from it.What's my point, you ask? Well, this system can be applied to PCs just as easily. No longer do they have to rely on killing monsters to gain the lion's share of their XP - if someone wants to RP being a smith or an artificing (making magic items) or a jeweller, he can.How it works: Every item is assigned a Craft DC. Simply compare the DC to the character's Craft score + 10 (this system assumes the PC is taking 10 on his checks). A successful check means the character gains XP as noted on the table below:Score -9 or below: 0 XPScore -8: 1 XPScore -7: 2 XPScore -6: 3 XPScore -5: 5 XPScore -4: 7 XPScore -3: 10 XPScore -2: 15 XPScore -1: 20 XPScore +0: 30 XPScore +1: 40 XPScore +2: 60 XPScore +3: 80 XPScore +4: 100 XP(These numbers are based on the encounter charts, using a single PC vs. an EL equivalent to the DC. I took 2.5% of the XP gained from such an encounter, so it requires 33 items of equal DC to advance 1 level.)This system can be applied to other skills, as well - in effect, almost any skill that requires a check against a static DC can gain the PC XP: Appraise, Climb, Craft (any), Decipher Script, Diplomacy (some uses), Disable Device, Forgery, Gather Information, Handle Animal, Heal, Open Lock, Perform*, Spellcraft (anything that's 15 + spell level), Survival (mostly tracking), and UMD.*These skills require a bit of tweaking; Perform needs DCs for different performances - doing a particularly complicated song well, for example gains XP.You can even do it for skills that require opposed checks (Hide, MS, and Sleight of Hand), though I'm not sure how to work it. Being able to hone your talents against targets with greater skills than your own is the best way to advance your skillset, obviously; maybe the EL would be equal to the difference between your score and the opponent's, and the roll just determines random chance, like in combat.----I mentioned in another thread that I had an idea on how to cap rampant skill/ability bonuses. This is very simple: a scaling cap. At each increment of character level, you simply have a maximum allowed skill/ability bonus (this is from all sources except ability bonus and circumstance). Any bonus past the maximum is simply not applied. Note that while the bonuses seem low, you also add: base ranks, ability bonus, and the die roll. A L5 character with max ranks, a +2 stat bonus, and +5 on top of that has a +15 bonus, without even rolling the die!Skill bonusesL1-5: +5L6-15: +10L16-20: +20L21-30: +30L31-40: +40Ability bonusesL1-5: +4 (each ability, not all abilities total)L6-15: +6L16-20: +8L21-30: +12L31-40: +16</blockquote>

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