D&D 2E Skills - Take a step forward by taking a step backward to 2e

[airwalkrr]

After taking a look at some of the feats that grant bonuses to skills, I thought maybe some other pairing might be interesting. Suppose the skills were arranged this way instead. Not saying that is the way I would do it, but there might be some good ideas here. Note, I didn't make ALL such feats into skills as I didn't think it would be appropriate. Also, I switched Search to Wisdom-based. Just a thought...

Acrobatics (Dex) => Jump, Tumble
Agility (Dex) => Balance, Escape Artist
Alertness (Wis) => Listen, Spot
Athletics (Str) => Climb, Swim
Concentration (Con) (unchanged)
Chicanery (Int) => Disguise, Forgery
Craft (Int) => Craft (All skills in one group)
Diligence (Int) => Appraise, Decipher Script
Disable Device (Int) => Disable Device, Open Locks
Gather Information (Cha) (unchanged)
Handle Animal (Cha) => Handle Animal, Ride
Heal (Wis) (unchanged)
Influence (Cha) => Bluff, Diplomacy, and Initimidate
Lore (Int) => Knowledge (All skills, taken individually)
Perform (Cha) => (All skills, taken individually)
Search (Wis) (unchanged)
Sleight of Hand (Dex) => Sleight of Hand, Use Rope
Sense Motive (Wis) (unchanged)
Stealth (Dex) => Hide, Move Silently
Spellcraft (Int) (unchanged)
Survival (Wis) (unchanged)
Use Magic Device (Cha) (unchanged)

 

[airwalkrr]

Here is yet another iteration. (I can't stop thinking about this for some reason.) Here, Influence merges Diplomacy with Gather Information, while Bluff and Intimidate come together to form Persuasion.

Acrobatics (Dex) => Jump, Tumble
Agility (Dex) => Balance, Escape Artist
Alertness (Wis) => Listen, Spot
Athletics (Str) => Climb, Swim
Concentration (Con) (unchanged)
Chicanery (Int) => Disguise, Forgery
Craft (Int) => Craft (All skills in one group)
Diligence (Int) => Appraise, Decipher Script
Disable Device (Int) => Disable Device, Open Locks
Handle Animal (Cha) => Handle Animal, Ride
Heal (Wis) (unchanged)
Influence (Cha) => Diplomacy and Gather Information
Lore (Int) => Knowledge (All skills, taken individually)
Perform (Cha) => (All skills, taken individually)
Persuasion (Cha) => Bluff and Intimidate
Search (Wis) (unchanged)
Sleight of Hand (Dex) => Sleight of Hand, Use Rope
Sense Motive (Wis) (unchanged)
Stealth (Dex) => Hide, Move Silently
Spellcraft (Int) (unchanged)
Survival (Wis) (unchanged)
Use Magic Device (Cha) (unchanged)

 

[Bayonet_Chris]

Specialties

As far as the specialties inherent to skills such as lore and craft, you could always make each mastery be for a separate specialty. This way a bard can be a general performer (trained in perform), but a master in singing and stringed instruments (or however you wanted to break it down). You would have to increase the skill progression a little bit to handle this, of course.