Simple Change to Make Skill Feats Worthwhile (PEACH)

[Halrax]

Skill feats: specifically all the +2/+2 feats plus Skill Focus, are incredibly underused in 3.5 despite being in the Player's Handbook (and actually making up a decent percentage of the feats in the PHB), with the exception of Alertness when gained from a familiar or psicrystal or as a default feats for many creatures. They're considered a waste of precious feat slots unless you're abusing the Diplomacy RAW or your entire build otherwise focuses on a single Skill (looking at you, Truenamer). But no build trying to be stealthy would ever use the feat Stealthy or Skill Focus (Hide or Move Silently) since they don't compare at all to feats like Darkstalker or Shape Soulmeld (Kruthik Claws).

I've seen attempts to fix it by having them give the relevant skill(s) as class skills in addition to the bonus and/or having Skill Focus giving advantage (effectively), but a much simpler solution seems obvious to me: just double the bonuses. So all the +2/+2 feats are now +4/+4 to their respective skills, and Skill Focus is +6.

Would the average PC ever take a PHB feat like Self Sufficient (+2 to Heal and Survival) now that the bonus is +4? Probably not, but some builds might at least consider the possibility, especially if Heal has more mid-level uses instead of the gap between DC 15 and epic level stuff, though Survival at least has tracking and other scaling DCs. Animal Affinity (+4 to Handle Animal and Ride) now helps with those skills at a level that horses are actually useful and remains useful for Mounted Combat (both the feat and in general) at higher levels.

Obviously not all of these feats suddenly become good, but I think having +4/+4 (or +6 with Skill Focus) allows them to at least be marginally useful. Do they stack up to Power Attack, Knowledge Devotion, Quicken Spell, Improved Trip, or Shock Trooper? No, but they might stand up to Rapid Reload, Improved Shield Bash, Two Weapon Fighting, Spell Focus, Heighten Spell, or even Improved Initiative in certain builds.

Thoughts? Would you as a player ever take any of these feats with this rule in place? Note that the benefit from a familiar or psicrystal is +2/+2 to Listen/Spot instead of the +4/+4 of Alertness and still +3 to whatever skill it gives a bonus to (if applicable). The idea is for PCs to actually consider the feats as a low level character (since they have no prerequisites) and still gain a significant benefit from them at higher levels.

[DracoDei]

For reference here is how Pathfinder handles it. Use it or ignore it, I'm just providing what comes to mine.
For the +2/+2 feats:
Benefit: You get a +2 bonus on all __________ checks and __________ checks. If you have 10 (this would be 13 in 3.x) or more ranks in one of these skills, the bonus increases to +4 for that skill.

Skill Focus:
Benefit: You get a +3 bonus on all checks involving the chosen skill. If you have 10 or more ranks in that skill, this bonus increases to +6.

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So basically this would come down to delaying the increased benefits you suggest until 10th level, and requiring actual investment in the skill (max ranks for 10th level) to reap them. Maybe you could have them start at +4/4 and +6 and then scale from there based on ranks???

[Silva Stormrage]

I would prefer that they grant something other than just basic bonuses rather than just increase the numeric bonuses multiple times. Something similar to granting custom skill tricks for both of the skills or maybe something like how tactical feats work, where it gives the player multiple new ways of using the skill.

Obviously though that would be a bit of work compared to just increasing the bonuses though.

[Sire Pepe]

Hi Halrax,

I've had a similar dilema a while back, and people suggested two things:

1- Use the PF method (as DracoDei suggested).

2- Every new character gains one skill-enhancing feat (except skill focus) for free, provided that at least one of the two affected skills is a class skill. This provides opportunities for more character customization, while valuing these underpowered feats. Moreover, it saves you the trouble of adjusting skills for all monsters who possess these feats.

I personally added several other modifications to PHB feats, but I found that method #2 works pretty well.

Cheers!

[Glimbur]

You can also have the feat add the skills to your class skill list for all your classes. Might need an exception for UMD, but there are lots of Iron Chef and similar builds which would appreciate more class skills. Still doesn't make them good feats, but they have a use then.

[DigoDragon]

Another idea for when you reach 13 ranks in the skill is to allow the character to take 10 even in dangerous/threatened situations.