Alternate uses for skill points

[Vhaidara]

What are some alternative ways to spend skill points people have thought of? I'm thinking of things like 3.5's skill tricks.

One that I recently encountered is weapon proficiency. 1 point reduces the penalty to -2, 2 points removes it, 3 gets you full proficiency (so you meet prereqs and the like). I expanded this to Nonlethal Training, which is a 1 to 1 buyoff of the penalty, capping at 4.

[Lalliman]

Spending skill points to get weapon proficiency, I love that! I've always disliked that you need to spend one of your precious few feats to get proficiency with a weapon. I'm not sure how many skill points I'd ask for it. Only 3 seems it might be too low a price for any class with more than 4 skill points per level. Then again, we want fighters to benefit from it too, so I suppose 3 is fine.

Not sure how I feel about the non-lethal training, considering the thematic silliness of dealing non-lethal damage with a sword. But since the bludgeoner feat exists anyways, why not?

[Vhaidara]

Spending skill points to get weapon proficiency, I love that! I've always disliked that you need to spend one of your precious few feats to get proficiency with a weapon. I'm not sure how many skill points I'd ask for it. Only 3 seems it might be too low a price for any class with more than 4 skill points per level. Then again, we want fighters to benefit from it too, so I suppose 3 is fine.

My view on it is that weapon proficiency is generally fluff. I might extend it to take 4 or 5 for exotics, if it weren't for the fact that most exotic weapons are terrible.


Not sure how I feel about the non-lethal training, considering the thematic silliness of dealing non-lethal damage with a sword. But since the bludgeoner feat exists anyways, why not?

The way I view it, nonlethal damage with a sword doesn't mean you aren't cutting them. It means you aren't aiming for vitals or kill shots. You want to wound, to disable, but not kill.

Or maybe you're just well trained in sparring combat with real blades. The reason I thought of that was because I have a character who likes to duel people, but taking -4 to hit to not kill your opponent is a bit absurd.

[LudicSavant]

One I've considered was turning "your skill bonus applies to a new subtype of this skill" as a skill trick (or possibly even cheaper in some cases). So, instead of getting Perform to full ranks for every instrument you want to play, you just pay 1 point to pick up a new instrument. Same could go for stuff like Craft or Knowledge.


What are some alternative ways to spend skill points people have thought of? I'm thinking of things like 3.5's skill tricks.

One that I recently encountered is weapon proficiency. 1 point reduces the penalty to -2, 2 points removes it, 3 gets you full proficiency (so you meet prereqs and the like). I expanded this to Nonlethal Training, which is a 1 to 1 buyoff of the penalty, capping at 4.

What about differentiating different kinds of proficiencies? e.g. An Exotic Weapon Proficiency should probably cost more than a Martial one.

[Vhaidara]

One I've considered was turning "your skill bonus applies to a new subtype of this skill" as a skill trick (or possibly even cheaper in some cases). So, instead of getting Perform to full ranks for every instrument you want to play, you just pay 1 point to pick up a new instrument. Same could go for stuff like Craft or Knowledge.

I can agree for Craft, Perform, and Profession, but knowledge skills are actually useful :P


What about differentiating different kinds of proficiencies? e.g. An Exotic Weapon Proficiency should probably cost more than a Martial one.

Why? What counts as exotic is pretty arbitrary, to be completely honest. It more or less can be summed up as "not western medieval" in most cases, and a lot of them are TERRIBLE.

[LudicSavant]

I can agree for Craft, Perform, and Profession, but knowledge skills are actually useful :P Well, yeah, with Knowledge Devotion and the like.


Why? What counts as exotic is pretty arbitrary, to be completely honest. It more or less can be summed up as "not western medieval" in most cases, and a lot of them are TERRIBLE.

Some aren't though. Things like Jovar or Great Falchion or Elven Courtblade or Spiked Chain are just superior to their competitors. Not to mention making everything out of Kaorti Resin.

[Vhaidara]

Some aren't though. Things like Jovar or Great Falchion or Elven Courtblade or Spiked Chain are just superior to their competitors.

Pathfinder tag. And even with that, the best Exotic Weapons are generally considered to rarely be worth the feat if you have a reasonable selection of sources (core only, sure, spiked chain is probably worth in 3.5). 3 points is a little over half a feat (Open Minded 1 feat = 5 skill points), which is usually around the value I see EWP given.

[Aleolus]

You could also allow skill "specializations." Pick a specific way to use a given skill (eg: Climb (Trees), or Bluff (Feint)), and gain an extra bonus when using the skill in that way. You can pick a specialization when you first put ranks in a skill for free, or spend one skill point for one you already had ranks in. And it gives an extra +2 or 3.