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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Windjammer" data-source="post: 4490336" data-attributes="member: 60075">Hi everyone,It's been my experience with Skill Challenges that I'd like my players to have more of a variety of skills at their disposal. Like, you know, when we had 3rd edition. Now I totally understand that you may well not share this concern or desire. But on the supposition that you did (or do) share it, could you please help me with working out this proposal?My basic premises are as follows.1. Familiarity. I'm gaming with 3rd Edition gamers more often than complete D&D newcomers or old schoolers. So familiarity with 3rd edition helps a great deal. For instance, I'd like to keep old names for skills to trade on that familiarity. That's a reason why I'd stick with "Sense Motive" (for Insight) and "Gather Information" (for Streetwise). Also, I'd like to prefix "Knowledge" to skills which are knowledge-oriented (such as Arcana and History). The main point is not that these names are objectively better - it's just a point about 3rd edition familiarity.2. Diversity. I love playing rogues. So I totally hate the idea that all I do at the table revolves around a single skill - Thievery. Also, regardless of whether I play rogues or bards, I'd like to have a variety of skills which revolve around the basic idea of getting your way around NPCs. "Bluff" covers too much ground of that for my likes. Finally, I am happy to leave out 3.5 skills whose mechanical rationale is largely gone in 4E - I consider "Concentration" to be an instance of this.Again, you need not share these premises. My hope is rather that I can come up with something that fits these premises, and I hope to attract constructive criticism from you.Ok, with preliminaries out of the way, here's my first draft. COMMENTS WELCOME!!!1) List of SkillsAcrobatics (DEX)Appraise (INT)Athletics (STR)  Bluff (CHA)  Craft (INT)  Disable device (INT)  Diplomacy (WIS)  Disguise (CHA)  Forgery (INT)  Gather Information (WIS)  Heal (WIS)  Hide/Move Silently (Dex)  Intimidate (CHA)  Knowledge (Arcana)   Knowledge (Dungeoneering)  Knowledge (Religion)  Knowledge (Nature)  Open lock (DEX)  Perform (CHA)  Perception (WIS)  Sense Motive (WIS)  Sleight of Hand (DEX)  Survival (WIS)     2) Skill Descriptions and 3.5 Convertions     Acrobatics (DEX) and Athletics (STR)   ...cover physical skills exhaustively and in an intuitive manner. They subsume all Dex- and Str-based 3.5 physical skills respectively, these being Balance (dex), Ride (dex), Escape artist (dex), Tumble (dex), Use Rope (dex) on the one hand, and Climb (str), Jump (str), Swim (str) on the other.     Appraise (INT) and Sense Motive (WIS)...replace "Insight". A character is trained in Appraise and Sense Motive if and only if he is trained in Insight. Alternatively, provided a character is trained in Insight his player may distribute a net total of +10 among Appraise and Sense Motive (using at least 2 points but not more than 8 on each). (This simulates 3.5 skill ranks.)Bluff (CHA)   ...has remained in name, but its function is narrowed down to 3.5 standards. Disguise and Forgery are back as entries in their own right. A character has them trained if and only if he has Bluff trained. Alternatively, provided a character is trained in Bluff his player may distribute a net total of +15 among Bluff, Disguise, and Forgery (using at least 2 points but not more than 8 on each). (This simulates 3.5 skill ranks.)      Craft (INT)   This entry is new. A character has it trained if (he can convince his DM that) this makes sense according to his character background.     Disable device (int), Open lock (DEX), and Sleight of Hand (DEX)   ...replace the umbrella skill "Thievery". Their names are pretty self explanatory. A character has them trained if and only if he has Thievery trained. Alternatively, provided a character is trained in Thievery his player may distribute a net total of +15 among Disable device , Open lock, and Sleight of Hand (using at least 2 points but not more than 8 on each).      Diplomacy (WIS) remains unchanged  Heal (WIS) remains unchanged  Disguise (CHA) see Bluff.  Forgery (INT) see Bluff.    Gather Information (WIS)   ...is Streetwise by another name. A character has Gather Information trained if and only if he has Streetwise named.     Heal (WIS) remains unchanged.    Hide/Move Silently (Dex)   ...is Stealth by another name. A character has Hide/Move Silently trained if and only if he has Stealth named.     Intimidate (CHA) remains unchanged.     Knowledge (Arcana), Knowledge (Dungeoneering), Knowledge (Religion), Knowledge (Nature)  ...are Arcana, Dungeoneering, Religion, Nature by other names and function identical to them.    Perform (CHA)   This entry is new. A character has it trained if (he can convince his DM that) this makes sense according to his character background.     Perception (WIS) remains unchanged. It covers Listen and Search checks in 3.5. For Spot checks apply Passive Perception.     Sense Motive (WIS) see Appraise.   Survival (WIS)   ...replaces Endurance. A character has it trained if and only if he has Endurance trained. Where Survival is not synonymous to Endurance, call for CON-checks.        NB. I use the nonidiomatic locution "a character has skill x trained" as shorthand for "a character is trained in skill x and gets the concomitant +5 bonus on checks involving skill x."NB 2. I will keep editing this post to integrate your feedback.</blockquote>

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