Quick house rule to expand characters scope

[TheOOB]

I've been playing D&D for a long time, and while I like the idea of trained skills rather than the skill points of old, I miss the idea of characters learning new things over time and compensating for party weakness. The training rules in the book are a start, but don't really cover what I'm looking for, and I think feats are too dear a cost just for a little verisility, so here's a house rule that should help your character grow over time.

*At 4th, 12th, and 20th level characters gain a new language or tool proficiency of their choice.
*At 8th and 16th level characters gain a new language, tool proficiency, or skill proficiency of their choice.

That's pretty much it. I don't think tool or language proficiencies unbalance the game really at all, you can earn them with the training rules, this just allows for characters to grow in those areas if the campaign style doesn't allow for training. The skills I feel are few and far between enough to not break anything. I got the idea from seeing my players make constant nature and history checks when no one was proficient, and it just felt like one of the characters would have eventually learned those skills.

[hymer]

I'm inclined to agree with your feelings on the lack of skill development. Yes, you can take a feat and get some skills, but it's a heavy price to pay. Most PCs have more attractive things to do with their feats.
I've been toying with the idea of partial proficiencies (+1), which can be added together to give full proficiency. I might think about giving PCs a partial proficiency or two of the profs you can learn, maybe one each time proficiency bonus goes up and once more. I'm not sure how it should interact with bards, though. And it's also a departure from the simplicity, which bothers me.

[Kurald Galain]

I agree as well. Besides, if all the PCs get the same thing, then it's not unbalancing.

I'd simply give a free skill every 4th level.

[Kryx]

This is really nice and adds some versatility!

[Rowan Wolf]

Are you including downtime in between adventure if so that is good place to encourage additional skill growth?

As for you houserule I certain won't break anything. I would say go with the only question that needs to asked: Does this change make the game more fun/engaging for your players and yourself?

[TheOOB]

Are you including downtime in between adventure if so that is good place to encourage additional skill growth?

As for you houserule I certain won't break anything. I would say go with the only question that needs to asked: Does this change make the game more fun/engaging for your players and yourself?

The current campaign I'm running has little downtime unfortunately.

I personally like the change, I just figured I'd throw it out here in case other people like it/have better ideas.


I agree as well. Besides, if all the PCs get the same thing, then it's not unbalancing.

I'd simply give a free skill every 4th level.

There's not a ton of skill, and with that many free ones I'm worried that characters will have every skill that will every be relevant to them, and that most players skill lists will look very similar. I also don't want to make the rogue/bard feel less special by getting extra skills.

[Rowan Wolf]

Well you could try to adjust the learning skills/languages/tools/feats rules a bit to have it fit into your campaigns pace and lack of downtime. For a visual example (if you've seen it) the film the Thirteenth Warrior the learning the language sequence could be a representation of the feel I am interpreting as what you are wanting. I could be misunderstanding though.

[Shining Wrath]

This is not bad - but it does weaken the relative strength of the bard and the rogue. As class features they get more skill proficiencies, if everyone gets more including them their ratio drops.

I've been toying with the idea that natural ability makes learning a skill or a tool easier - so if you have a high ability score in the ability related to the proficiency, you can learn it more quickly.

[FightStyles]

This is not bad - but it does weaken the relative strength of the bard and the rogue. As class features they get more skill proficiencies, if everyone gets more including them their ratio drops.

I've been toying with the idea that natural ability makes learning a skill or a tool easier - so if you have a high ability score in the ability related to the proficiency, you can learn it more quickly.

To keep the balance, maybe those two classes should be treated differently.

Maybe the Bard has the choice of skill prof. at 4, 12, and 20 unlike other classes (including the rogue).

Maybe the Rogue can choose to expertise in a skill they are proficient in already at 8 and 16.

Not sure what class abilities they have so these might be redundant. But they will keep up with the general themes of the classes while providing the growth that people are wanting on here.

I think these ideas are great and will implement them next session since I have a couple PCs leveling up to level 4. They will probably be happily suprised.

[Kurald Galain]

This is not bad - but it does weaken the relative strength of the bard and the rogue.

Not really. The strength of the rogue and bard is not that they have slightly more skills than anyone else: the strength of the rogue is e.g. backstabbing, and the strength of the bard is the bard song and his spellcasting ability.

The system really isn't so fragile that you can break it by giving a handful of skills to all PCs over their level range.