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ShortQuests -- Pocket Sized Adventures! An all-new collection of digest-sized D&D adventures designed for 1-2 game sessions.

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Al" data-source="post: 1691077" data-attributes="member: 2486">The problem with Skill Focus is that it is extremely useful for NPCs, and of limited usage for PCs.  The reason is that many PCs will have to be broadly versatile, whilst NPCs can perform the same actions over and over.  Elder_Basilisk has constructed a very good case for Skill Focus, but the outstanding point that he has made is the one concerning NPCs.  If a particular skill is your life's work and livelihood, it is definitely worthwhile taking a feat to boost your aptitude, and by extension, earning capacity and hence standard of living.  Moreover, for non-adventuring NPCs, most core feats are broadly useless.  Why does a gemcutter need Weapon Focus?  Is the town clerk really going to derive much use from Improved Initiative?  Or a magistrate from Point Blank Shot?  No.  They benefit most greatly from skill boosting items, as they use skills the most.  They rely most on their skills, not their combat ability or their magical prowess.The usefulness of Skill Focus is, needless to say, contingent on the frequency of the use of the skill.  Unfortunately, most archetypal adventurers do not rely on a single skill enough to warrant burning a feat on Skill Focus.   Martial classes will be best to boost their fighting prowess, magic-users their spellcasting and there are a slew of useful feats for all (most notably Improved Initiative).  The only PC adventuring archetypes who are primarily reliant on their skills are the rogue and the bard, and even here there are exception (e.g. the highly effective dual-wielding combat rogue or the archer rogue).  Yet they rely on such a broad swathe of skills that to emphasise just one is perhaps foolish: they are better placed to take a +2/+2 feat.The irony is that whilst my PCs almost never take skill-boosting feats, a good proportion of my NPCs take as many as they can.  Particularly for those involved in intrigue, Skill Focus can give you the edge over your opponents.  This strange polarity exists due to the nature of their role: whilst NPCs emphasise a narrow set of skills, PCs need either a broad range of skills, or are not dependent primarily on skills.  As such, for a PC, Skill Focus is nigh useless.</blockquote>

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