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View Full Version : Combat as a Skill Check? {3.P}



Dr_Dinosaur
2016-03-25, 04:04 PM
Forgive me (and post a link!) if someone has already done this. A Google search turned up nothing useful.

Reading through one of the many arguments over whether the knowledge skills hurt roleplay, I noticed someone saying that if a character could "just roll to be good at everything else," why not make combat a skill? Kind of a non-sequitur, but it got me thinking. If we were to replace BAB with a 'Combat' skill, would it cause problems?

The way I see it working is that Combat is a Str skill by default, modified by things such as wielding finessable weapons to use other attributes. It is either only a class skill for full-BAB classes or both them and the 3/4 crowd but possibly do iteratives the way 5e handles it, just increasing the number of attacks possible at appropriate levels. Rolling to-hit works pretty much the same, but CMD is now 10+your total Combat bonus, making high level monsters a bit easier to use them on.

This is still just a rough idea, but I'd like to hear your thoughts.

Edit: Was thinking about 3.5's class skills when I use Pathfinder's skills.

Gnorman
2016-03-25, 04:33 PM
Low level combat would be deadlier than it is now, what with slightly higher attack values and the ease with which one can get skill-boosting equipment. 100 gp for +2 base attack bonus, yes please. Guidance of the Avatar would wreck faces with iterative attacks.

Basically, it doesn't really do anything meaningful, it messes up the expected curve, and the right builds can break it over their knee even worse than they can do now.

Dr_Dinosaur
2016-03-25, 04:53 PM
Low level combat would be deadlier than it is now, what with slightly higher attack values and the ease with which one can get skill-boosting equipment. 100 gp for +2 base attack bonus, yes please. Guidance of the Avatar would wreck faces with iterative attacks.

Basically, it doesn't really do anything meaningful, it messes up the expected curve, and the right builds can break it over their knee even worse than they can do now.

Hmm, what if combat skill items were explicitly called out to still work the same way in regards to cost? The +1 sword is basically just a masterwork tool anyway. I edited in some changes to the iterative idea since yeah that would be crazy. Maybe just have it so every 6 ranks gets you another attack at -5? So the main change is that anyone can be good at combat if they're willing to invest points, and former full-BAB classes need to invest 3 fewer points to be equal to everyone else and can surpass them.

Durzan
2016-03-25, 07:03 PM
In the D20 system I am working on, making combat skill-based was a core design philosophy.

Basically, I folded major combat items (Offensive and Defensive) into skills. For offensive skills I had Melee (Melee Attacks) and Brawl (Unarmed Strikes/Natural Weapons/CMB) as strength based skills, with Ranged and Initiative as Dexterity based skills.

For defensive I took the 3 saves (Fortitude, Reflex, and Will), and treated them as skills as well. Because of how I treat skills in this system, the saves function as both defenses (10 + Skill) and skills/saves (d20 + Skill). AC was folded into defenses, with Reflex taking the place of AC.

So, I imagine you could do it in pathfinder with just a bit of tinkering, if you really wanted too.