Jamini
2011-03-10, 02:27 AM
Hallo folks!
I've recently been pondering some of the rule systems in 3.5e, especially the ones that make little/no sense. Today I was considering the 3e/3.5e skill system, it's idiosyncrasies, and how to possibly improve it. What is most striking to me about the 3.5 skill system, is how absolutely poor it is at giving anyone but a character specifically designed to take advantage of it (skillmonkies, as it were) any bit of leeway in character design. Many characters have no knowlage skills, or cannot jump to save their life despite having the body of a world-class olympian athlete. After a bit of thinking, I've developed a potential system rewrite that I'd like to see what you think of it.
Naturally any criticism is welcomed.
**************************
Skill Point Varient System
Overall Base Skill Point Reduction -Skill points by class are reduced to 0 (2-4points/level classes), 2 (6 points/level classes), and 4 per level.(8 points/level classes.)
Ability-Dependent Skill Points - Each level, you get 1 skill point per ability modifier. Each of these goes into a separate pool of skill points based on the related attribute.
Class skills that share the same attribute as the spent skill point grant a rank on a 1 for 1 basis.
Cross-class skills that share the same attribute as the spent skill point rank a rank on a 2 for 1 basis.
Class skills that have a different attribute as the spent skill point grant a rank on a 2 for 1 basis*
Cross-class skills that have a different attribute as the spent skill point grant a rank on a 4 for 1 basis.**
Negative Ability Score Modifier Penalties- Negative skill points deduct 1 per negative ability modifier from your HIGHEST skill point pool. (So an array of 12, 18, 9, 10, 10, 10 would give you 1 strength skill point and 3 dexterity skill points). In the case of a tie, the player selects which score the remove points from.
*MAX ranks are unchanged. A paladin with 4 ride at level 1 going to level 2 may spend 1 strength skill point and 1 constitution skill point to increase his ride by 1 rank.
**For example. A barbarian wishing to pick up a rank in Speak Language without a positive intelligence modifier may spend 4 strength skill points for 1 rank in speak language.
System Example:
So a fighter with an array of 18/14/12/10/10/10 would have a total of 6 skill points to spend when leveling up. 4 of those may be used for a Strength-Based skill, 2 for Dexterity-Related skills, and 1 for Constitution-Related skills.
At second level he spends his Strength points on Jump(Str), Swim (Str), Climb (Str), and Ride (Dex). His dexterity points go to Balance (Dex) and Hide (Dex), and his Constitution point went to Ride (Dex).
Thus at 2 he has gained 1 rank in Jump, Swim, Climb, Ride(Class skill bought with 2 half-points), and Balance. he also has half a rank in Hide (Cross-class)
Predicted Effect:
For skillmonkies, dumping a stat becomes less attractive. Leading to more MAD and more Balanced ability score arrays.
Characters overall have more skills. Front-line combatants tend to benefit the most from this system, followed by full casters (mostly clerics, druids, and sorcerers. However, all full casters are limited by their tendency to maxing their casting stat and dumping other scores), Skillmonkies see some minor changes, but for the most part their skillmonkey abilities (Hide, Move Silently, UMD, Disable Device, Tumble, etc) are untouched. It should be noted that skillmonkies tend to be a little MADder than most anyway.
Characters tend to have skills more closely related to their position in the party. Fighters(or Paladins, Warblades, whatever) don't need to worry about picking climb OR ride OR jump simply because they lack the points to do so.
Less multi-class paperwork. Your attributes matter more than what class you leveled up, making characters much more believable and smoothing out skill progressions.
Magical Skill Augments become less popular. As everyone has more skill points to throw around, spells such as Spider Climb, Invisibility, and Detect X become less viable. Why spend valuable magic resources, if you have the skills to do the same thing indefinitely without magic?
Potential Issues:
a.Constitution becomes a less desirable statistic, thanks to the very few skills that are related to it.
-Rebuttal: The benefits of constitution still far outweigh the losses. HP and fortitude saves are the only thing keeping you up and running.
b.Full Casters get a buff, something they don't need, while T3 classes are getting a nasty slap in the face.
-Rebuttal: EVERYONE is getting a buff. Even skillmonkies generally won't find their niche intruded on too much, since cross-class and non-attribute skills are costly to acquire and maintain. Really, most casters will find themselves picking up useful skills for the entire party (Sense Motive, Search, Knowlage, Profession, Craft) rather than more powerful skills (such as spellcraft and concentration). As it is, the buff to casters is really nothing compared to the buff that frontline combat classes get.
c. Every melee and their dog will have the same skills picked out, because of their small skill list and preferred stats.
-Rubuttal: And this is a problem because...?
Feel free to post any concerns and thoughts you may have. After all, this is merely a small idea from the back corner of my somewhat twisted mind. I'm certain it could be refined to something really worthwhile, if we give it a chance.
I've recently been pondering some of the rule systems in 3.5e, especially the ones that make little/no sense. Today I was considering the 3e/3.5e skill system, it's idiosyncrasies, and how to possibly improve it. What is most striking to me about the 3.5 skill system, is how absolutely poor it is at giving anyone but a character specifically designed to take advantage of it (skillmonkies, as it were) any bit of leeway in character design. Many characters have no knowlage skills, or cannot jump to save their life despite having the body of a world-class olympian athlete. After a bit of thinking, I've developed a potential system rewrite that I'd like to see what you think of it.
Naturally any criticism is welcomed.
**************************
Skill Point Varient System
Overall Base Skill Point Reduction -Skill points by class are reduced to 0 (2-4points/level classes), 2 (6 points/level classes), and 4 per level.(8 points/level classes.)
Ability-Dependent Skill Points - Each level, you get 1 skill point per ability modifier. Each of these goes into a separate pool of skill points based on the related attribute.
Class skills that share the same attribute as the spent skill point grant a rank on a 1 for 1 basis.
Cross-class skills that share the same attribute as the spent skill point rank a rank on a 2 for 1 basis.
Class skills that have a different attribute as the spent skill point grant a rank on a 2 for 1 basis*
Cross-class skills that have a different attribute as the spent skill point grant a rank on a 4 for 1 basis.**
Negative Ability Score Modifier Penalties- Negative skill points deduct 1 per negative ability modifier from your HIGHEST skill point pool. (So an array of 12, 18, 9, 10, 10, 10 would give you 1 strength skill point and 3 dexterity skill points). In the case of a tie, the player selects which score the remove points from.
*MAX ranks are unchanged. A paladin with 4 ride at level 1 going to level 2 may spend 1 strength skill point and 1 constitution skill point to increase his ride by 1 rank.
**For example. A barbarian wishing to pick up a rank in Speak Language without a positive intelligence modifier may spend 4 strength skill points for 1 rank in speak language.
System Example:
So a fighter with an array of 18/14/12/10/10/10 would have a total of 6 skill points to spend when leveling up. 4 of those may be used for a Strength-Based skill, 2 for Dexterity-Related skills, and 1 for Constitution-Related skills.
At second level he spends his Strength points on Jump(Str), Swim (Str), Climb (Str), and Ride (Dex). His dexterity points go to Balance (Dex) and Hide (Dex), and his Constitution point went to Ride (Dex).
Thus at 2 he has gained 1 rank in Jump, Swim, Climb, Ride(Class skill bought with 2 half-points), and Balance. he also has half a rank in Hide (Cross-class)
Predicted Effect:
For skillmonkies, dumping a stat becomes less attractive. Leading to more MAD and more Balanced ability score arrays.
Characters overall have more skills. Front-line combatants tend to benefit the most from this system, followed by full casters (mostly clerics, druids, and sorcerers. However, all full casters are limited by their tendency to maxing their casting stat and dumping other scores), Skillmonkies see some minor changes, but for the most part their skillmonkey abilities (Hide, Move Silently, UMD, Disable Device, Tumble, etc) are untouched. It should be noted that skillmonkies tend to be a little MADder than most anyway.
Characters tend to have skills more closely related to their position in the party. Fighters(or Paladins, Warblades, whatever) don't need to worry about picking climb OR ride OR jump simply because they lack the points to do so.
Less multi-class paperwork. Your attributes matter more than what class you leveled up, making characters much more believable and smoothing out skill progressions.
Magical Skill Augments become less popular. As everyone has more skill points to throw around, spells such as Spider Climb, Invisibility, and Detect X become less viable. Why spend valuable magic resources, if you have the skills to do the same thing indefinitely without magic?
Potential Issues:
a.Constitution becomes a less desirable statistic, thanks to the very few skills that are related to it.
-Rebuttal: The benefits of constitution still far outweigh the losses. HP and fortitude saves are the only thing keeping you up and running.
b.Full Casters get a buff, something they don't need, while T3 classes are getting a nasty slap in the face.
-Rebuttal: EVERYONE is getting a buff. Even skillmonkies generally won't find their niche intruded on too much, since cross-class and non-attribute skills are costly to acquire and maintain. Really, most casters will find themselves picking up useful skills for the entire party (Sense Motive, Search, Knowlage, Profession, Craft) rather than more powerful skills (such as spellcraft and concentration). As it is, the buff to casters is really nothing compared to the buff that frontline combat classes get.
c. Every melee and their dog will have the same skills picked out, because of their small skill list and preferred stats.
-Rubuttal: And this is a problem because...?
Feel free to post any concerns and thoughts you may have. After all, this is merely a small idea from the back corner of my somewhat twisted mind. I'm certain it could be refined to something really worthwhile, if we give it a chance.