Skill Tricks for Martials

[strangebloke]

IMO, Noncasters could use more options . Lets give them some! I am a fan of skill checks from 3.5 but obviously they don't make sense in a 5e paradigm unaltered, but here's how I think a system inspired by them could work.

Spoiler: general thoughts

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The first issue is that the Monster Manual is designed under the assumption that athletics/acrobatics and stealth/perception/sleight of hand are going to be the only relevant opposed checks, and so if suddenly Insight is a key means of defending against some kind of really powerful skill trick or something, well. Adult Red Dragons are straight out of luck. But if you're careful you can avoid doing anything too insane.

The second issue question is how to put them in the game as an option. There are frankly infinite options here, but for the sake of simplicity, why not simply give them to martials at certain levels? Something like " You may select two skill tricks at 4th, 8th, 12th, and 16th level" added to the barbarian/rogue/fighter/monk class. I could see there being an argument that in order to free up design space these 'tricks' should be treated as ACFs instead of free features, but I started with this idea for now.

Regardless, I think we should know well enough by now that picking from the same list over and over again makes for dull options at level-up because functionally you're picking options that weren't exciting enough last time.

Finally, there's the question of what these abilities are supposed to be used for. What I would like to avoid at all costs are abilities that are always useful in combat and part of a stable "loop," something that can be used every turn.

With all that out of the way I'd like to propose a few ideas and I hope others will jump in as well.

Skill Tricks:You may select two skill tricks at 4th, 8th, 12th, and 16th level.

• Back on your Feet [level 4, acrobatics] If you fall prone, you can stand up without expending movement.
• Resourceful Thief [level 4, thieves tools] You can disable traps and unlock doors without requiring thieve's tools.
• Healing Hands [level 4, medicine] If you stabilize a dying creature with a healers kit you can also heal them for 1d8 hit points]
• Expert Appraisal[level 4, arcana] you can spend 1 minute interacting with an item to learn its properties as if you had cast identify.
• No Chains For Me[level 4, acrobatics or athletics] When you would normally be able to make an action to attempt to escape being restrained or to escape a grapple, you can do so as a bonus action and you have advantage on the check
• Calming Presence [level 4, handle animal] As an action, you make a handle animal check opposed by the a beast's insight. If the beast fails, it is charmed by you for an hour.
• Clarity of Vision [level 8, perception] As a bonus action, you focus your attention on a creature you cannot see but know the location of. Until the end of your next turn,
• Combat Patrol [level 8, acrobatics or athletics] As a bonus action, you adopt a stance that allows you to threaten a wide area on the battlefield. From the end of your current turn until the start of your next turn, your reach increases by 5 feet.
• Make an Example [level 8, intimidate] When you reduce an enemy to zero hit points, you can make attempt to frighten another enemy within ten feet of you as a bonus action. They must roll a wisdom save against your charisma(intimidation) check result or be frightened of you for one minute.
• Piledriver [level 8, athletics] As an action, you can slam a grappled enemy into the ground. This make them prone and deals bludgeoning damage to them equal to 1d8 per character level. You can also wield a grappled opponent as an improvised greatclub. Any damage you deal with this improvised greatclub is also dealt to the grappled creature.
• Mosquito's Bite [level 12, sleight of hand] As an action, make a sleight of hand check while holding a finesse weapon, opposed by the passive perception of the target. If you fail this check, nothing happens. If you succeed, you may make an attack with advantage against the target with your finesse weapon, and the target will not notice any damage they have taken until an hour later.
• Dauntless [level 12, insight] When you would otherwise become frightened as a result of failing a saving throw, you can expend a hit dice as a reaction and add the result of your hit dice to the saving throw, potentially turning it from a failure to a success.

I'd ultimately like a few 16th level tricks as well as more tricks for skills that haven't yet been covered like survival or nature but I do think this is a fun list of enumerated powers.