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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 6575097" data-attributes="member: 82106">The simplest example is Musical Instrument proficiency (a type of tool proficiency) vs Perform. Which one applies? This same thing can happen with ANY tool proficiency, if it is used in the context of a skill, do you get some additional bonus, do you use which one? Why does Musical Instrument even EXIST? Thieves are in a very weird situation as there are several classic thief 'skills' that simply don't exist in 5e. Its an open question, can you pick a lock with a lockpick (thieves tools) if you aren't proficient, or not even try? There are just a ton of holes like this which never existed in 4e's skill system. Its just kinda pretty confusing. Then there are other things, like skills which don't have any clear mapping to any action at all, like most famously 'Investigation'. If I'm investigating then what am I doing? Aren't I questioning people, looking at evidence, perhaps doing some sort of research, maybe observing or tailing someone, etc. Each and every one of these is covered by another existing skill, and there's no clear reason to imagine that when the PC goes to do those things they won't be invoking a check in that particular skill. If Investigation covers all this then when is it that I'm 'Investigating' and thus able to subsume all these things into that skill vs all the other skills they would normally fall under? I mean, I can kinda see it as "familiarity with police procedure" if you wish, but then its really more like "Law Enforcement", or it could be just limited to research, but then isn't it covered by the requisite knowledge skill (and again the same questions arise vis-a-vis THOSE skills). It just wasn't thought out very well IMHO. Again, contrast this with the 4e system where it is very agenda-driven and its quite clear what skill you use in a given situation. There are very few corner cases and which skills a character has generally speaks to his MO and personality more than anything else. In fact Investigation makes MORE sense in 4e than it does in 5e, though it still seems pretty murky either way. While I don't think 5e's skill system is objectively 'terrible' its most certainly NOT any sort of improvement over 4e's, quite the contrary.</blockquote>

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