D&D 4E What differentiates class skills from other skills in 4E?

[protomech]

The PHB and DMG have little to say on the subject of class skills, other than that you select your trained skills from the appropriate list of class skills at character creation and/or when selecting a multiclass feat.

Are there any other instances in which class skills are distinguished from non-class skills - eg, do players get a 1/2 level bonus to ALL skills?

This seems a bit counterintuitive to me, coming from 3.5E. For example, I would expect a high level rogue to be significantly more acrobatic than a high level cleric, assuming both were trained and were similarly dextrous.

 

[Andor]

The PHB and DMG have little to say on the subject of class skills, other than that you select your trained skills from the appropriate list of class skills at character creation and/or when selecting a multiclass feat.

Are there any other instances in which class skills are distinguished from non-class skills - eg, do players get a 1/2 level bonus to ALL skills?

This seems a bit counterintuitive to me, coming from 3.5E. For example, I would expect a high level rogue to be significantly more acrobatic than a high level cleric, assuming both were trained and were similarly dextrous.

If they are both trained, experienced, and dexterous why should there be a difference?

Class skill lists come into play only during skill selection and with some of the multi-classing feats. In play there is no distinction between an class skill and a non-class skill, only between trained and untrained.

 

[protomech]

The intuitive response is that their experience in their adventures has shaped their skills in different ways, and that they will have developed their core set of class skills in preference to skills used less often. In 3.5E this was represented by allowing the cap on class skills to advance more quickly than on cross-class skills; in 4E this distinction has seemingly disappeared.

My reading of the rules agrees with what your reply. It doesn't give me grief either way, I was just curious if I had missed something.

 

[Cadfan]

The PHB and DMG have little to say on the subject of class skills, other than that you select your trained skills from the appropriate list of class skills at character creation and/or when selecting a multiclass feat.

That's all there are to class skills.

Are there any other instances in which class skills are distinguished from non-class skills - eg, do players get a 1/2 level bonus to ALL skills?

There are no other meaningful instances in which class skills are distinguished from non-class skills. There's like one feat that refers to a class skill list. I don't think there are more. If there are, its not a big deal.

This seems a bit counterintuitive to me, coming from 3.5E. For example, I would expect a high level rogue to be significantly more acrobatic than a high level cleric, assuming both were trained and were similarly dextrous.

Well, the high level rogue uses dexterity as a primary statistic, so he's going to have a dex bonus. The cleric doesn't use dexterity for much of anything. The rogue can also choose to be trained in Acrobatics at level 1, and the cleric has to spend a feat to be trained in Acrobatics. The rogue uses leather armor, which has no skill penalty, while the cleric uses chain armor which has a skill penalty of -1. Finally, the rogue has Utility powers in his class power list that, if he chooses them, grant him special acrobatic tricks. The cleric cannot access these powers without multiclassing into rogue.

 

[protomech]

Well, the high level rogue uses dexterity as a primary statistic, so he's going to have a dex bonus. The cleric doesn't use dexterity for much of anything. The rogue can also choose to be trained in Acrobatics at level 1, and the cleric has to spend a feat to be trained in Acrobatics. The rogue uses leather armor, which has no skill penalty, while the cleric uses chain armor which has a skill penalty of -1. Finally, the rogue has Utility powers in his class power list that, if he chooses them, grant him special acrobatic tricks. The cleric cannot access these powers without multiclassing into rogue.

Fair enough.