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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DEFCON 1" data-source="post: 6036793" data-attributes="member: 7006">My personal opinion is the Knowledge "skills" should not exist for one simple reason-- they are all tied to a single Attribute (INT).The way the game is supposed to work is that your six Attributes are your "skills".  Those are what you roll with.  You aren't making a Diplomacy check... you are making a CHA check to speak eloquently.  You aren't Climbing, you are making a STR check to climb.It's these six Attributes that give you the depth of your ability.  If you want to be able to speak convincingly to everybody across the board... you want a high CHA.  That gives you the "diplomacy" ability to everyone you come across.  So why in the world would we want to create a skill list that doubles up on that depth?  By having an actual Diplomacy skill... it basically duplicates what CHA is doing-- giving you across-the-board ability in one attribute check in every situation.  But why would we do that?  The Diplomacy skill basically replaces what your CHA should be doing.   Instead... I think your Backgrounds should be giving you a width of applicable knowledge and skill where you get a +3 bonus on ANY of your skill (Attribute) checks in a very few specific situations.  To me... any "Skill" that a Background grants, should be a situation that is applicable enough to at least three of your Attribute checks in various forms.  And any skill that can logically only apply to one or two of your Attribute checks should be removed from the game.So for example... Diplomacy is bad as a skill, because it ONLY ever affects your CHA checks.  Thus it is trying to REPLACE what your CHA is trying to do.  Instead... High Society would be a fantastic skill.  Because that could apply a +3 to your CHA checks for speaking diplomatically to kings and lords... it could apply a +3 to your INT checks to know the history of a barony's lords... it could apply to CON checks to stay awake through a boring string quartet performance... it could apply to DEX checks for a ballroom dance to try and impress a lady-in-waiting.  Any situation of High Society could and should grant the PC the +3 to layer on top of his Attribute checks... BUT ONLY in the specific situation of dealing with nobles and lords.  So we avoid the current situation where your Background is Knight... and yet somehow get a +3 bonus to your Diplomacy even when trying to talk to that fence in the back alley (who by rights should never WANT to talk to you, cause you're a freaking KNIGHT.)As another example... Commerce is fantastic.  A +3 to CHA for negotiation, a +3 to STR for stopping a runaway horse-drawn cart, a +3 to INT for appraising the worth of something, a +3 to WIS to finding your way through the backstreets of a city because you know how most cities get laid out.  Or any other situation where the DM thinks your skill in Commerce might apply.  It won't happen ALL the time... but it will be very applicable to a whole host of different checks when it does.High SocietyLow SocietyCommerceBurglaryPiracyMilitaryArtistryGamblingWildernessSeafaringDungeoneeringetc. etc.</blockquote>

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