Switching ability scores for skill proficiencies?

[MrFahrenheit]

So the idea struck me in another thread, when I was talking about my house rules standard human: would it be balanced if any given race were allowed to drop one or more of their ability boosts, and get a skill proficiency instead?

I see there being two options:

A. Swap out any of the +1s and/or 2s. For each one point swapped, gain a skill proficiency of choice (+2s could grant expertise, or two separate proficiencies)

B. As A, but you have to choose a skill proficiency based off the stat that was swapped out (a hill dwarf could lose the +1 wis but gain any of the five wis-based skills). Swapping con bumps = unrestricted skill proficiency/expertise, as the case may be.

[Kryx]

I wouldn't allow swapping, myself. I do run human as follows:

+1 all ability scores
Determined: "When you make an attack roll, an ability check, or a saving throw, you can do so with advantage. Once you use this ability, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest."
1 skill
1 trait: lesser feats like actor (no +1 cha), athlete (no +1 str/dex), dungeon delver (remove secret doors part), keen mind (no +1 int), linguist (no +1 int), skulker (remove 2nd bullet), cantrip part of magic initiate, 1 skill, or 1 weapon.
Common + 1 language

[qube]

So the idea struck me in another thread, when I was talking about my house rules standard human: would it be balanced if any given race were allowed to drop one or more of their ability boosts, and get a skill proficiency instead?sure.
a '+1/+2' race with a useless +1 turning it into a skill ... might maybe (though unlikely) get more out of it then picking a more optimal race (a.k.a. one with a useful +1).
a race with a useless +2 turning it into a skill ... deserves all the help he can get :)
(though I would go for 2 separate proficiencies; an expertise seems a very big deal*)
a non-variant human that boosts up to 4 skills ... becomes nothing more then the variant human (a.k.a. two +1 stats, one skill, and one "feat" (the feat that gives you proficiency into 3 skills) )


*: I have a tabaxi grappler called cuddles. I took a level rogue, because expertise on althletics is a very big deal for me. Same thing for stealth warlocks & rangers, etc ...


---- then again, I have a habbit of not making my homebrew overly strong, as to prevent using it to abuse the system (opposite to using it for the flavor & such)

[mephnick]

I allow up to 3 +1's to be swapped for a tool, skill or language proficiency. Usually this results in players taking 4 +1's and 2 proficiencies. Hardly anyone ever takes languages of course, so I'm thinking of just adding additional languages.

I like Kryx's version as well, using the racial feat and a bullet point from a lesser feat.

[rollingForInit]

I don't think it'd work very well for the standard human. For other races it feels a bit weak. The reason it feels strong for the standard human is that you typically don't need to get +1 to all 6 ability scores. You can do optimal builds with just +1 to 2. Having a few extra is nice, but then virtually everyone would take at least a couple of free skill proficiencies.

It would even make building a standard human easier, because you wouldn't feel that a +1 was wasted on going from 10 to 11, for instance. You could just leave it at 10 and take a proficiency.

[MrFahrenheit]

I don't think it'd work very well for the standard human. For other races it feels a bit weak. The reason it feels strong for the standard human is that you typically don't need to get +1 to all 6 ability scores. You can do optimal builds with just +1 to 2. Having a few extra is nice, but then virtually everyone would take at least a couple of free skill proficiencies.

It would even make building a standard human easier, because you wouldn't feel that a +1 was wasted on going from 10 to 11, for instance. You could just leave it at 10 and take a proficiency.

I already do it on the standard human actually, and it works very well. The only thing is, I let the +1/skill swap apply to any skill, not just one that had a related ability bump swapped out.

But for other races, I'm feeling more like this is an idea which shan't leave the drawing board. For good reason.