Grod_The_Giant
2013-02-28, 10:41 PM
In the words of Granny Weatherwax, "I ain't dead."
In any case, skills. More specifically, skills with enough detail to use in an actual game. And an important decision: to heck with skill tricks. I couldn't come up with any kind of reasonably consistent distinction between what would be a feat and what would be a skill trick. And I foresaw massive proliferation of options such that even experienced players would get confused, yea, and it would take DMs many an hour to build even a simple NPC. Also a massive exercise in homebrewing material-- material such as would have an immense effect on the nature of the game-- without any sort of benchmark for balance.
tl;dr: Skill tricks and feats and class abilities add up to too much complexity and change.
So then. Skills. Significantly, there are no longer class skills. All classes have access to all skills.
Normal Skill Rank Cap— equal to the Medium progression (3/4 level + 3).
Specializations: Characters may specialize in one of the subcategories listed above, or a new subcategory, if the DM approves it. Doing so costs 1 skill point, and grants a bonus to the skill when used in the appropriate manner equal to 2+1/4 character level.
{table=head]Level|Skill Cap|Specialization Bonus|Total Bonus Cap
1|3|2|5
2|4|2|6
3|5|2|7
4|6|3|9
5|6|3|9
6|7|3|10
7|8|3|11
8|9|4|13
9|9|4|13
10|10|4|14
11|11|4|15
12|12|5|17
13|12|5|17
14|13|5|18
15|14|5|19
16|15|6|21
17|15|6|21
18|16|6|22
19|17|6|23
20|18|7|25[/table]
Speak Language: Learning a new language costs 1 skill point.
A note on Knowledge skills— There’s no special DC for information on monsters— instead, the DCs are based on the ease of the question (and, hence, rarity/obscurity of monster), just like other uses of the skill.
A note on synergy-- what's skill synergy? Rules removed for now-- stacking synergies was one of the big ways for skills in 3.5 to get out of control... as well as a rule that (in my experience) no-one really ever remembered. Besides, grouping formerly-related skills should help with that.
Another relevant note: All progressions are being equalized-- BAB, skills, saves, DCs and suchlike will all scale at the same rate, rather than some (BAB, skills) scaling at a 1:1 rate, while others (saves, DCs) scaled at a 1:2 rate. Thus, "skill or save" options are roughly equal.
Acrobatics (Dex)
Balance (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/balance.htm)
Tumble (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/tumble.htm)
Animals (Cha)
Handle Animal (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/handleAnimal.htm)
Ride (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/ride.htm)
Animal Diplomacy— Works as the Socialize skill for animals and vermin with intelligence scores of 1 or 2.
Knowledge (Animals)—Specifically for answering questions about animals.
Athletics (Str)
Climb (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/climb.htm)
Jump (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/jump.htm)
Swim (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/swim.htm)
Discipline
Autohypnosis (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/skills/autohypnosis.htm)
Concentration (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/concentration.htm)
Social Defense— You may use Discipline in place of a Will save when defending against Intimidate, Persuasion, and Socialize attempts.
Deception
Bluff (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/bluff.htm)
Disguise (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/disguise.htm)
Devices
Craft (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/craft.htm)
Disable Device (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/disableDevice.htm)
Open Lock (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/openLock.htm)
Expertise
Knowledge (Local) (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/knowledge.htm)
Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/knowledge.htm)
Heal
Knowledge (Medicine) (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/knowledge.htm)— Medical techniques, diseases,
Heal (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/heal.htm)— First aid restores 1 hit point per every 5 points your Heal check exceeds 10. You may not use this option again on the same target until after they are injured a second time.
Long-term care restores 1 additional hit point for every two points by which your check beats the DC, and 1 additional ability point for every 5 points by which your check beats the DC.
First-degree conditions can be removed with 15 minutes of rest and a successful Heal check. Second-degree conditions can be removed with an hour of rest and a successful Heal check. In both cases, the DC is equal to that of the effect that inflicted the condition.
In addition, a Heal check (DC equal to current damage) can eliminate the penalty for being Bloodied or Injured. A Heal check (DC 10 + the absolute value of your negative hit points) will removed the Maimed condition, raising the target's HP to one. A Heal check (DC 10 + the absolute value of your negative hit points) will also improve a Dying condition to Maimed.
Insight
Sense Motive (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/senseMotive.htm) (Hunch and Sense Enchantment)
(Defense against Deceit checks) (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/senseMotive.htm)
(Discern Secret Message) (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/senseMotive.htm)
Intimidation
Intimidate (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/intimidate.htm)— “changing behavior” is opposed by a Will save or Discipline check. The target gets a +1 bonus for every level or HD more than you he has. In addition, make heavy use of circumstance modifiers— number of characters on a side, relative combat advantage, and so on. (+- 2 or 5).
Investigation
Search (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/search.htm). A note: Trapfinding is defunct. Anyone with enough ranks of Search can find traps.
Analyze Evidence— You may attempt to extract meaning from minor clues you find using the Search aspect of this skill. The base DC to do so is 15, +2 for every day since the time of the event, +2 if the scene has been disturbed, and +5 if it has been highly disturbed. If the person leaving the clues took care not to leave any traces, the base DC is instead the result of his Stealth check.
Surveillance— You may use Investigation instead of Perception when standing guard or otherwise keeping watch from a stationary location.
Urban Tracking (http://dndtools.eu/feats/cityscape--53/urban-tracking--3037/)— As the feats; now part of the skill; only applies in urban areas. (Using Investigate instead of Gather Information, natch).
Linguistics
Decipher Script (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/decipherScript.htm)
Forgery (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/forgery.htm)
Speak Language— You may attempt to communicate with another being, even if you do not speak the same language. The base DC is 30, -2 if the target is attempting to help, -5 if the target is attempting to help and has a Linguistics modifier of more than +5, +2 if the target speaks no related languages, and +2 if they are a different type than you. A successful check communicates one sentence. In addition, each successful check made by either party reduces the DC by 1 (to a minimum of a -10 adjustment). A target may aid this attempt, using either Insight or Linguistics with an Aid Another action.
Lore
Knowledge (History) (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/knowledge.htm)
Knowledge (Religion) (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/knowledge.htm)
Nature
Knowledge (Dungeoneering) (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/knowledge.htm)
Knowledge (Geography) (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/knowledge.htm)
Knowledge (Nature) (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/knowledge.htm)
Survival (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/survival.htm)
Wilderness Tracking (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/feats.htm#track)— As the feat; now part of the skill; only applies in non-urban areas.
Occult
Knowledge (Arcana) (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/knowledge.htm)
Knowledge (The Planes) (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/knowledge.htm)
Spellcraft
Perception
Listen (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/listen.htm)
Spot (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/spot.htm)
Defeat Illusion— You may roll Perception in place of a Will save to recognize something as an illusion.
Persuasion
The basic action for persuasion is making a deal. You roll Persuasion, opposed by your opponent’s Discipline check or Will save.
The target receives a modifier to their roll based on their initial attitude: +10 if Hostile, +5 if Unfriendly, -5 if Friendly, and -10 if Helpful. In addition, they get a +5 bonus if their dislike is personal— ‘you killed my father’ as opposed to ‘we are at war.’ Finally, there’s a second modifier based on how appealing the deal is from the target’s point of view: +10 if the deal is horrible, +5 if it’s unfavorable, -5 if it’s favorable, and -10 if it’s fantastic.
If your roll succeeds, the target accepts the deal mostly as-is. If you fail by 5 or less, the target rejects the deal, but may make a counter-offer to improve the deal from his point-of-view. You may try again if you alter the terms of the deal.
Sleight of Hand
Sleight of Hand (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/sleightOfHand.htm)
Socialization
Diplomacy (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/diplomacy.htm)— Changing another character’s attitude is opposed by a Will save or Discipline check. The target receives a modifier to their roll based on their initial attitude: +10 if Hostile, +5 if Unfriendly, and -5 if Friendly. You may only shift a target’s attitude by one step with a given check.
Making a Socialization check usually requires several minutes to hours, depending on the target and situation. You may not attempt to make a new check against the same target until your conversation with the target is over and some time has passed— usually upwards of several hours.
Gather Information (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/gatherInformation.htm)
Stealth
Hide (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/hide.htm)
Move Silently (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/moveSilently.htm)
Hide Evidence— If attempting to avoid leaving evidence of your passage— footprints and so on— you may make a Stealth check. This sets the base DC to find and analyze evidence of your presence.
In any case, skills. More specifically, skills with enough detail to use in an actual game. And an important decision: to heck with skill tricks. I couldn't come up with any kind of reasonably consistent distinction between what would be a feat and what would be a skill trick. And I foresaw massive proliferation of options such that even experienced players would get confused, yea, and it would take DMs many an hour to build even a simple NPC. Also a massive exercise in homebrewing material-- material such as would have an immense effect on the nature of the game-- without any sort of benchmark for balance.
tl;dr: Skill tricks and feats and class abilities add up to too much complexity and change.
So then. Skills. Significantly, there are no longer class skills. All classes have access to all skills.
Normal Skill Rank Cap— equal to the Medium progression (3/4 level + 3).
Specializations: Characters may specialize in one of the subcategories listed above, or a new subcategory, if the DM approves it. Doing so costs 1 skill point, and grants a bonus to the skill when used in the appropriate manner equal to 2+1/4 character level.
{table=head]Level|Skill Cap|Specialization Bonus|Total Bonus Cap
1|3|2|5
2|4|2|6
3|5|2|7
4|6|3|9
5|6|3|9
6|7|3|10
7|8|3|11
8|9|4|13
9|9|4|13
10|10|4|14
11|11|4|15
12|12|5|17
13|12|5|17
14|13|5|18
15|14|5|19
16|15|6|21
17|15|6|21
18|16|6|22
19|17|6|23
20|18|7|25[/table]
Speak Language: Learning a new language costs 1 skill point.
A note on Knowledge skills— There’s no special DC for information on monsters— instead, the DCs are based on the ease of the question (and, hence, rarity/obscurity of monster), just like other uses of the skill.
A note on synergy-- what's skill synergy? Rules removed for now-- stacking synergies was one of the big ways for skills in 3.5 to get out of control... as well as a rule that (in my experience) no-one really ever remembered. Besides, grouping formerly-related skills should help with that.
Another relevant note: All progressions are being equalized-- BAB, skills, saves, DCs and suchlike will all scale at the same rate, rather than some (BAB, skills) scaling at a 1:1 rate, while others (saves, DCs) scaled at a 1:2 rate. Thus, "skill or save" options are roughly equal.
Acrobatics (Dex)
Balance (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/balance.htm)
Tumble (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/tumble.htm)
Animals (Cha)
Handle Animal (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/handleAnimal.htm)
Ride (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/ride.htm)
Animal Diplomacy— Works as the Socialize skill for animals and vermin with intelligence scores of 1 or 2.
Knowledge (Animals)—Specifically for answering questions about animals.
Athletics (Str)
Climb (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/climb.htm)
Jump (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/jump.htm)
Swim (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/swim.htm)
Discipline
Autohypnosis (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/skills/autohypnosis.htm)
Concentration (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/concentration.htm)
Social Defense— You may use Discipline in place of a Will save when defending against Intimidate, Persuasion, and Socialize attempts.
Deception
Bluff (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/bluff.htm)
Disguise (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/disguise.htm)
Devices
Craft (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/craft.htm)
Disable Device (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/disableDevice.htm)
Open Lock (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/openLock.htm)
Expertise
Knowledge (Local) (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/knowledge.htm)
Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/knowledge.htm)
Heal
Knowledge (Medicine) (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/knowledge.htm)— Medical techniques, diseases,
Heal (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/heal.htm)— First aid restores 1 hit point per every 5 points your Heal check exceeds 10. You may not use this option again on the same target until after they are injured a second time.
Long-term care restores 1 additional hit point for every two points by which your check beats the DC, and 1 additional ability point for every 5 points by which your check beats the DC.
First-degree conditions can be removed with 15 minutes of rest and a successful Heal check. Second-degree conditions can be removed with an hour of rest and a successful Heal check. In both cases, the DC is equal to that of the effect that inflicted the condition.
In addition, a Heal check (DC equal to current damage) can eliminate the penalty for being Bloodied or Injured. A Heal check (DC 10 + the absolute value of your negative hit points) will removed the Maimed condition, raising the target's HP to one. A Heal check (DC 10 + the absolute value of your negative hit points) will also improve a Dying condition to Maimed.
Insight
Sense Motive (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/senseMotive.htm) (Hunch and Sense Enchantment)
(Defense against Deceit checks) (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/senseMotive.htm)
(Discern Secret Message) (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/senseMotive.htm)
Intimidation
Intimidate (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/intimidate.htm)— “changing behavior” is opposed by a Will save or Discipline check. The target gets a +1 bonus for every level or HD more than you he has. In addition, make heavy use of circumstance modifiers— number of characters on a side, relative combat advantage, and so on. (+- 2 or 5).
Investigation
Search (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/search.htm). A note: Trapfinding is defunct. Anyone with enough ranks of Search can find traps.
Analyze Evidence— You may attempt to extract meaning from minor clues you find using the Search aspect of this skill. The base DC to do so is 15, +2 for every day since the time of the event, +2 if the scene has been disturbed, and +5 if it has been highly disturbed. If the person leaving the clues took care not to leave any traces, the base DC is instead the result of his Stealth check.
Surveillance— You may use Investigation instead of Perception when standing guard or otherwise keeping watch from a stationary location.
Urban Tracking (http://dndtools.eu/feats/cityscape--53/urban-tracking--3037/)— As the feats; now part of the skill; only applies in urban areas. (Using Investigate instead of Gather Information, natch).
Linguistics
Decipher Script (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/decipherScript.htm)
Forgery (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/forgery.htm)
Speak Language— You may attempt to communicate with another being, even if you do not speak the same language. The base DC is 30, -2 if the target is attempting to help, -5 if the target is attempting to help and has a Linguistics modifier of more than +5, +2 if the target speaks no related languages, and +2 if they are a different type than you. A successful check communicates one sentence. In addition, each successful check made by either party reduces the DC by 1 (to a minimum of a -10 adjustment). A target may aid this attempt, using either Insight or Linguistics with an Aid Another action.
Lore
Knowledge (History) (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/knowledge.htm)
Knowledge (Religion) (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/knowledge.htm)
Nature
Knowledge (Dungeoneering) (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/knowledge.htm)
Knowledge (Geography) (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/knowledge.htm)
Knowledge (Nature) (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/knowledge.htm)
Survival (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/survival.htm)
Wilderness Tracking (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/feats.htm#track)— As the feat; now part of the skill; only applies in non-urban areas.
Occult
Knowledge (Arcana) (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/knowledge.htm)
Knowledge (The Planes) (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/knowledge.htm)
Spellcraft
Perception
Listen (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/listen.htm)
Spot (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/spot.htm)
Defeat Illusion— You may roll Perception in place of a Will save to recognize something as an illusion.
Persuasion
The basic action for persuasion is making a deal. You roll Persuasion, opposed by your opponent’s Discipline check or Will save.
The target receives a modifier to their roll based on their initial attitude: +10 if Hostile, +5 if Unfriendly, -5 if Friendly, and -10 if Helpful. In addition, they get a +5 bonus if their dislike is personal— ‘you killed my father’ as opposed to ‘we are at war.’ Finally, there’s a second modifier based on how appealing the deal is from the target’s point of view: +10 if the deal is horrible, +5 if it’s unfavorable, -5 if it’s favorable, and -10 if it’s fantastic.
If your roll succeeds, the target accepts the deal mostly as-is. If you fail by 5 or less, the target rejects the deal, but may make a counter-offer to improve the deal from his point-of-view. You may try again if you alter the terms of the deal.
Sleight of Hand
Sleight of Hand (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/sleightOfHand.htm)
Socialization
Diplomacy (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/diplomacy.htm)— Changing another character’s attitude is opposed by a Will save or Discipline check. The target receives a modifier to their roll based on their initial attitude: +10 if Hostile, +5 if Unfriendly, and -5 if Friendly. You may only shift a target’s attitude by one step with a given check.
Making a Socialization check usually requires several minutes to hours, depending on the target and situation. You may not attempt to make a new check against the same target until your conversation with the target is over and some time has passed— usually upwards of several hours.
Gather Information (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/gatherInformation.htm)
Stealth
Hide (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/hide.htm)
Move Silently (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/moveSilently.htm)
Hide Evidence— If attempting to avoid leaving evidence of your passage— footprints and so on— you may make a Stealth check. This sets the base DC to find and analyze evidence of your presence.