What are the least-used skills in D&D?

[Dagger75]

D&D game I'm in

Used all the time
Spot
Search
Listen
USE ROPE!! (All the characters have this skill)
Climb
Balance
Tumble
(Then again we are exploring some mountains)

Regulary
Knowledge Arcana
Spellcraft
Concentration
Survival
Handle Animal (Stupid wolf still won't follow me around)
Jump

Seldomly
Disable Device (Well we could have used it if the rogue put a point in it)
Open Locks
Heal
Other Knowledges
Bluff
Diplomacy
Intimidate
Swim

Rarely if ever
Forgery
Diguise
Use Device
Slieght of Hand


Whats funny in the Star Wars game I am running
Forgery is a very handy and useful skill. When you are smuggling goods you didn't buy to a place that is illeagal to sell them having a cargo manifest that looks real and says those crates of guns are really crates of tools and you bought them fair and square really is helpful.

 

[Prince of Happiness]

I'm running a sea-based campaign. Use Rope's going to come in real handy!

 

[Mighty Halfling]

The best way to use Profession is to use it between adventures. When you're stuck waiting 2 weeks for your wizard (or a hireling) to whip up some magic items, you tell the DM, "I'm going to use my Profession (Teamster) skill for these two weeks, and work at the local docks." You make a roll and you (usually) get a little money.
The key to using any skill is telling your DM that you want to use it.

• "Hey, DM, I want to figure out how much the lantern on the wall is worth." (Appraise. He might decide that since you checked, it'll have a nice silver plating on it.)
• "Hey, DM, you know that note the king gave us, I want to try to copy it." (Forgery. If you get it right, you can make create an authorization to do anything.)
• "Hey, DM, my elf is gonna climb that tree and see if he can get a better vantage point." (Climb. The DM might say "Since, he looked, I'll tell him he sees an encampment 400 yards into the forest.)
• "Hey, DM, I want to see if I know what type of monster that is." (Knowledge -- Any. If you have the appropriate skill, he might tip you off -- "Don't look the snake-haired lady in the eyes.)
• "Hey, DM, I wanna see if the serving woman will give me an extra cup of soup." (Diplomacy. Not only might she give you the soup, but she might start gabbing about "This strange fella who came in last week" who turns out to be the guy you're chasing after.)

Most importanly, using your skills can provide you with a lot of cool roleplaying opportunities.
Even if you have spells to cover skill checks, it won't mean that you should waste your spells to avoid them. "Should I climb up this cliff or should I fly up it. Well, I'm gonna climb up it and be ready to cast fly when I have to get back down in a hurry."

 

[velm]

The best way to use Profession is to use it between adventures. When you're stuck waiting 2 weeks for your wizard (or a hireling) to whip up some magic items, you tell the DM, "I'm going to use my Profession (Teamster) skill for these two weeks, and work at the local docks." You make a roll and you (usually) get a little money.
The key to using any skill is telling your DM that you want to use it.

• "Hey, DM, I want to figure out how much the lantern on the wall is worth." (Appraise. He might decide that since you checked, it'll have a nice silver plating on it.)
• "Hey, DM, you know that note the king gave us, I want to try to copy it." (Forgery. If you get it right, you can make create an authorization to do anything.)
• "Hey, DM, my elf is gonna climb that tree and see if he can get a better vantage point." (Climb. The DM might say "Since, he looked, I'll tell him he sees an encampment 400 yards into the forest.)
• "Hey, DM, I want to see if I know what type of monster that is." (Knowledge -- Any. If you have the appropriate skill, he might tip you off -- "Don't look the snake-haired lady in the eyes.)
• "Hey, DM, I wanna see if the serving woman will give me an extra cup of soup." (Diplomacy. Not only might she give you the soup, but she might start gabbing about "This strange fella who came in last week" who turns out to be the guy you're chasing after.)

Most importanly, using your skills can provide you with a lot of cool roleplaying opportunities.
Even if you have spells to cover skill checks, it won't mean that you should waste your spells to avoid them. "Should I climb up this cliff or should I fly up it. Well, I'm gonna climb up it and be ready to cast fly when I have to get back down in a hurry."

I gotta agree here. It can add a TON of roleplaying capability. Not all the skills get used. Why do not all the skills get used? The players and the DM. If the players don't ever WANT to use them, why should they? It also might be the characters the Players are running. If the DM has a certain game style that limits some of it as well.
I know a rogue could do some interesting things with forgery and appraise. I have used appraise many times as a rogue, how else do you know what items are valued at, to a degree, of course? You could lay so many cons with appraise, if done right. Forgery goes the same way, combine forgery with say, disguise, and you probably walk right into a counting room. Just forge the right papers, and dress the right part, and you are in.
I have seen so many times when skills were not used by people or just not taken. Some people just think 'differently' it is not bad that they look at some skills as being useless, I just try to find value in them. I have gotten into friendly debats with a buddy of mine over some of the uses of ones that at first appearance would seem useless.
Yes, when the characters get higher in lvl, some of the skills fall off in the wayside, but what happens if that magic fails? what happens if all of a sudden the pcs find themselves in a magic dead zone or a wild magic zone? or what if they are in an area where there is a penalty for using magic? It is at these points where having some of those skills can come in really handy.

 

[Greylock]

Man, I think more than a few of you are disregarding Ride. It is a handy skill [says the guy with 12 points in it at 4th level]. Survival rates medium to low on some of those lists as well. My party specialises in overland routes, and kinda suck at dungeon crawls, but still, it comes into play often. As do Spot and Listen.

 

[arche]

There is a point that's been coming up. The DM can't think of everything and if the players don't ask to use any of the skills, then they won't get used. Some of the skills that don't get used often require that you take initiative.

Chalk another one up for cooperative role playing between DM & Players.

 

[Whimsical]

I have used the Disguise skill as a Style and Wardrobe skill. Basically I was able to have the party dress appropriately before approaching and interacting with nobles so that what we were wearing didn't detract or penalize our socializing. Then we went to a different area of the world that is based on middle eastern culture. The first thing I did was select appropriate outfits for all of us so that we didn't look like outsiders and we looked a cut above the commoners that lived here.

In a game I ran, I put in a Forgery opportunity for the party. After beating the bad guy who scared away a PCs aunt and uncle into selling their "haunted" property low to the bad guy, they came across a chest that contained...

(24,400 gp) Deeds to three properties, including this house: 6,900 gp (this house), 10,500 gp (southern ward), 7,000 gp (dock ward). These are currently signed over to Toral, and would need Toral's signature (or his will) for another person to claim them.
•Note: The Waterdeep courthouse clerk responsible for handling these moderatly priced properties is trained and experienced with detecting forgeries. He uses a magnifying glass to check documents and signatures and also has Toral's signature on file. Since he normally takes 10 when checking signatures, any forger would have to make a Forgery check of DC 26 to fool the courthouse clerk. If the claiments look or act suspicious, then he will take 20 (Forgery DC 36).

So, there was a big opportunity for the players to get some bonus treasure if they could dare a Forgery check. They also had to deal with the moral issue of claiming property that was essentially robbed from the previous owners.

 

[Whimsical]

One thing that I was going to define for Appraise is that an appraiser would have a chance to determine the true value of a magic item, but not it's functions. I base this on the idea that the crafter has to spend half of the magic item's value on special materials and an appraiser could see how many hundreds or thousands of GPs of special materials are infused into the item itself. So based on the traces of rare gem dust and extraplaner metals that are part of a certain masterwork sword, the appraiser could determine that this is no mere masterwork sword but a magical sword that is worth 32,310 GP based on the trace evidence of it's arcane crafting. What does the magic of the sword do? He doesn't know, but he was able to discern the value of the magic item.

 

[arche]

I'd probably tone down the appraise to a lesser value only because it does not have the magical portion. The appraise skill could certainly show how much the item is worth if it was melted down for it's individual parts or based on it's asthetic value, but not necessarily on the magical abilities where most of the value is from. So, I may adopt this in my games, but rather than whole value, only half would be determined. The rest would be best guess.

 

[Lord Rasputin]

Every session
Concentration
Hide
Jump
Knowledge (arcana)
Knowledge (religion)
Listen
Move Silently
Search
Sense Motive
Speak Language
Spellcraft
Spot
Survival
Tumble

Used regularily
Bluff (always for BSing ... feinting should be tied to BAB, not to a Cha skill)
Craft (alchemy)
Heal
Knowledge (nature)
Ride

Used occasionally
Appraise
Balance
Craft (weaponsmith) (the party elemental savant can forge swords and stuff)
Decipher Script (but the party elemental savant now has almost every language in the book so he rarely uses it)
Diplomacy (we're playing Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, and one of the players is playing a particularily kill-happy monk/paladin, and everyone they meet down there is evil ...)
Escape Artist
Knowledge (all others) (mostly to identify monsters)
Swim

Used once or twice
Climb
Disable Device
Gather Information
Handle Animal (party ranger has departed)
Intimidate (once, right before a TPK, the party sorcerer was down on spells and the only one left, and desperate to escape, he cast prestidigitation on himself to make him grow horns and his eyes glow red and then Intimidated the fiendish dire ape who was pursuing him -- and it WORKED, but the enemy wizard polished him off anyways)
Open Lock (haven't had a full-time rogue in the party for ages)
Perform (party bard has departed)

Never used
Disguise
Forgery
Profession
Sleight of Hand
Use Magic Device (and I've never had someone take a rank in this either)
Use Rope

I am designing an NPC with a bunch of ranks in Disguise and Forgery for higher level play (the charming rogue type), so I'm kinda hoping these are used some.