What skills that EVERY character should have a few ranks in ?

[Raylis]

Swim.

Our party has been killed more times by the environment then by monsters. Also this helps off set the armor check penalties/encumberence penalities that can make the difference between sinking and swiming.

 

[Vorput]

Open Lock.

ooo, and forgery.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

Sense Motive. Appraise.

It's no good killing monsters and taking their stuff if you don't get a good price for it back at the town.

 

[Na'ali]

No love for search?

I'm suprised nobody has mentioned search yet. How else are you going to find that super-hidden latch that opens the evil guy's treasure trove?

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Spot/Listen are pretty much worthless unless they're maxed out. A party facing a sneaky NPC or monster of an appropriate CR will only detect it with maxed out spot/listen.

This is true against the super-sneaky NPC, but most monsters (and especially monster groups) will lack in this area, so you gain a signficant advantage against them if you hear them a lot earlier than they hear you.
Still, I think one character with a good Spot and Listen check is sufficient, as is one with a good Search skill. Not everybody needs this skill, but someone should better have it.

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Climb, Jump and Swim (and to some extend Balance and Escape Artist) are a diffierent matter - you will need this skills to cover obstacles, and it usually doesn't help if only one can do it. But I don't think it is practical for everyone to have significant points in this skill.
Others must learn (and prepare) to help themselves with spells, magic items or by clever teamwork.
A Ring of Jump or Gloves of Swimming and Climbing might be useful in that regard - they can be shared by multiple characters (if at least one can clear the obstacle without it).


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In the end, I think no skill is neccessary for EVERY character (useful, yes, but not critical), but many skills are neccessary to EVERY group.

 

[FalcWP]

Open Lock.

ooo, and forgery.

Sense Motive. Appraise.

It's no good killing monsters and taking their stuff if you don't get a good price for it back at the town.

I'm suprised nobody has mentioned search yet. How else are you going to find that super-hidden latch that opens the evil guy's treasure trove?

I don't think any of these are big for every *character*. In fact, I don't think these are big for the majority of characters. Groups, yes. But when is the last time your fighter was trying to open a lock, your paladin was attempting a forgery, your sorcerer was appraising something, or your cleric was making a lot of high DC search checks? You would want one, possibly two people in your group to have these skills, but not everyone. Sense Motive, possibly, but even that would be a stretch, since most NPCs who are attempting a major bluff will be good at it.

I think there are two reasons a skill would be on this list:

1) Its a check that the majority of the party has to make often. Listen and Spot have been the common picks here, and their counterparts (Hide and Move Silently) could be on there as well.

2) Its a useful skill, often with a static or low DC or a free check, that greatly benefits from a single rank. These would include Knowledge skills and Tumble, as well as Jump, for the reason I gave earlier. A lot of times, these can be taken care of with magic or magic items. And you'll often have one character who places many ranks into one or more of these skills (often bards and rogues, as well as wizards for knowledge), to take care of the high DC stuff. But that single rank is enough to provide either a major boost, or the ability to try at all.

 

[Qvintus]

Well im a fan of survival that as far as i can get it allso covers allmost all find your way... and darn nice to know how to put up and tent and a camp fire (but only if it a none city campain)

 

[Kaodi]

Well...

I was thinking that a thread like this really highlights some of the deficiences of how many skill points you get most classes. The system works, sort of, but it is one of those things that could use a little improvement. While it is true that not everyone has to be a skill monkey, that fact that you have to take a level of rogue or bard (or expert) and/or have a good intelligence in order to just get a few ranks in heroic staples. I wonder if the system would really be broken if all skills were bought at one rank per skill point, but with the current limit on the ranks you could purchase for cross-class skills.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

If I were redesigning the system, no Core PC class would have fewer than 4 skill points per level. Give them some points to buy skills cross class, which is otherwise extremely painful.

 

[Votan]

I'm suprised nobody has mentioned search yet. How else are you going to find that super-hidden latch that opens the evil guy's treasure trove?

While true, the "rogue only" aspects for very high DC traps make this a hard skill to invest in because the party rogue may be a "super expert" and everybody else might be wasting their time rolling if they are not eligible to find the trap!