Variant: Skills, Backgrounds and Specialties

[Animal]

Been reading the "skill list gone in wrong direction" thread and it gave me some very sound ideas.
What if instead of a default list of skills, backgrounds would rather encompass your area of expertise.

If a skill check is connected to character's area of expertise, he rolls d20+ability mod as usual, but task's DC is lowered one step (From Hard to Moderate). Maybe double this effect for rogues (From Hard to Easy), instead of their "take 10" mechanics.
That would also allow for not only including bonuses in the backgrounds but penalties as well. For example, a character with "Nomad" background would have reduced DCs on riding or survival in a desert checks, but increased DCs on swimming and heraldic lore checks, etc.

Some skills should be left "trained only" though. For example, only rogues (or those who took a certain rogue-ish specialty) will be able to roll for disabling traps and opening locks.

To sum it up: Backgrounds will modify DCs, while specialties will unlock certain unique skills.

Thoughts?

 

[kerleth]

Lowering the DC for a specific character is effectively the same as granting a bonus to their check. It just changes who does the math. It really doesn't solve the issue mentioned in the other thread, which has more to do with the breadth and applicability of any given skill or background. As an independent idea it has merit, though, since from my experience the DM is generally the best with dealing with numbers. The main issue would be that Hard, Easy, Formbidable, and the like aren't actually set DC's but ranges. While the granularity of the game could certainly work at Hard=DC 17 (or whatever the number is), and in many cases will, the corner cases where there might be a slightly harder task at DC 18 or 19 in the current setup wouldn't mesh well with your idea.

 

[bbjore]

I'm a big fan of the move towards abilities as the primary skill system, but I think the system needs work as well. I like your idea of pretty much considering any check related to the character's background as skilled. I had a similar house rule in 4E where characters had a profession and were considered trained on any check related to the profession.

I say try it out and see how it works. Broad skills are good. And by changing DCs your helping to differentiate PCs a little more. Right now, especially with such narrow skills, success really isn't about whether or not your PC is supposedly skilled or good at something most of the time, it's all about whether or not you can roll above a 10 on your D20.

Me, I fixed the problem by letting every player pick two abilities and always granting them advantage on checks with those abilities. Now the fighter really feels stronger than the wizard and the wizard is much smarter. The 10-15% difference a +2 or 3 ability modifier made on a check never really did that before hand.

 

[Yora]

The greatest thing d20 ever did to us is making the math intuitive. Which often gets people to debate the meaning of the word, but what I mean is that you apply all modifications to the source of the modification.

When a task is easier because the obstacle is less dificult, you lower the DC.
When a task gets easier, because the character has something that helps him, he gains a bonus to the roll.

The wall is covered in thick wines: The DC for climb checks is reduced. The wall is the obstacle and this obstacle is easier than the average wall.
The character has special climbing gear: He gets a bonus to his climb check. But only he gets the bonus because only he has the gear. For everyone else, it's still the same wall, so the difficulty of the obstacle remains the same.

It's amazing how long it took for this to become a standard mechanic. I think it's extremely important to stick to it, because when you follow this rule all the time, you always know when to modify DCs and circumstance modifiers and what characters are affected and what are not. Once you start making exceptions, you have to memorize the special rules for every single possible situation.