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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ptolemy18" data-source="post: 3726942" data-attributes="member: 24970">I can understand the desire to simplify skill points. It certainly is one of the most number-crunchy and time-consuming aspects of D&D. Although I do hope that skills will remain really something that is player-customizable, i.e., you CAN play a 20th level fighter without any Spellcraft if you want to. (To quote from everyone's Conan example.) If skills are merely hardwired into your character's class and level without any choice element, that's lame and boring. I'd frankly rather have skills vanish and become feats if this is the case. ("Hmm... I'm 3rd level... shall I take the Athletics feat or the Perception feat?")And speaking of customized skills... I'd like to wave a lighter for the much-maligned Knowledge and Profession (and even Craft) skills! Even though Profession and Craft hardly ever have any actual play effect, I hope the core rulebook includes at least an offhanded comment about how, if you choose, you CAN spend skill points to make your character an expert in Cooking, Gambling, Astrology, Tailoring, Flower Arranging, Blacksmithing, Swordsmithing, Boat Piloting, etc. etc. yadda yadda. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> (I'm thinking now of 2nd edition's lengthy and silly skill list...) Why, I've played plenty of characters who had an extra couple of skill points spent on some bizarre-ass made-up skill. The inclusion of these useless-in-combat skills is good for the following reasons:(1) The core rulebook is gonna be read by a lot of newbies, and even a brief mention that your character can spend points on (relatively) useless skills of your own invention sets a good example that role-playing can be about ROLE-playing, not roll-playing.(2) These kinds of Profession, Craft and Knowledge skills are good general categories which lend themselves to lots of applications in 3rd party supplements, i.e, in "Skull and Bones" there's a lot of applications for the made-up "Knowledge (sea lore)". It opens up the game for customization.So, fight the good fight, Profession, Craft and Knowledge. And if you're not in that D&D4E Player's Handbook in some form -- all I ask is the slightest mention "you are welcome to invent new skills if you think they will be useful in your campaign or if you feel like using them to customize your character" -- then I will be sorely annoyed.</blockquote>

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