What useful skills do players most neglect?

[Gnimish88]

Question for the GMs out there:

What useful skills do players most neglect? Not really talking about campaign specific instances, so much as in general. My own 2 cp would probably be neglecting to cover as many of the knowledge skills as they can. What are your thoughts?

 

[Crothian]

Knowleges, profesions, and crafts. Very useful skills that can help out out in many instances.

 

[pogre]

I agree, especially crafts.

 

[Wormwood]

Knowleges

 

[Felon]

Let's see, in my campaign the overly-neglected skills would be: Appraise, Balance, Climb, Decipher Script, Disguise, Gather Information, Sense Motive, Speak Language, and Use Magic Device.

The most common skills on players' must-have lists: Concentration, Disable Device, Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Ride, Search, Spot, Survival, Tumble.

Skills that generally aren't worth the skill point investment, either because they're too rarely used or the DC's are usually too high to make even when skill points are invested: Forgery, Heal, Jump, Escape Artist, Swim, Use Rope.

 

[Gnimish88]

Let's see, in my campaign the overly-neglected skills would be: Appraise, Balance, Climb, Decipher Script, Disguise, Gather Information, Sense Motive, Speak Language, and Use Magic Device.

The most common skills on players' must-have lists: Concentration, Disable Device, Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Ride, Search, Spot, Survival, Tumble.

Skills that generally aren't worth the skill point investment, either because they're too rarely used or the DC's are usually too high to make even when skill points are invested: Forgery, Heal, Jump, Escape Artist, Swim, Use Rope.

Obviously, you have never had a character nearly drown due to not being able to make 10 while taking 10 on swim checks.

 

[Cor Azer]

Skills that generally aren't worth the skill point investment, either because they're too rarely used or the DC's are usually too high to make even when skill points are invested: Forgery, Heal, Jump, Escape Artist, Swim, Use Rope.

Heal isn't used often in your games? Do you have a lot of low level healing or something? It may not happen some much now, but when my games are low level, Heal checks are made rather frequently to stablize fallen allies (and those few foes the party wanted to take captive).

As for the topic on-hand. Just the athletic skills - Climb, Jump, Swim, Balance. My players know I love information, so they usually have well rounded knowledges, and many have more fun with concepts than powergaming, so plenty of crafts and professions are used too. But the athletic skills? Not many.

A few characters here and there put rank in them (particularly to offset any penalties so they can still reliably take 10), but not much more than that. Of course, that's why in this campaign I've actively tried to throw more obstacles at them that require the forementioned skills.

 

[Wombat]

Use Rope is rarely used, but then again I have always wondered why this is a separate skill -- shouldn't it be tied into various Professions, like Sailor, rather than made into a skill on it's own?

But as for useful, neglected skills, I did have a party once who had no one with Heal.

Boy, did they found out the hard way how useful that skill is...

 

[Arnwyn]

My players seem to ignore Balance and Sense Motive more often than they should, and keep getting burned by this neglect... but they still ignore them.