Quote Originally Posted by Satinavian View Post
Every single version of D&D has an utterly horrible skill system. Yes, 3.x+Pf are bad with making DCs and giving meaning to those rising skill level. And that is without considering nonsense like "average humans have only one level and thus only 1-4 skill points". But 5E basically gave up and uses lolrandom for everything with the DM supposed to restrict rolling to cases where randomness makes sense. It's only slightly better than one of those cointoss systems.

Nearly every RPG system with a heavy skill systems does it better. Splittermond, TDE, SR (barely), Gurps, SIFRP ...
I think it’s hyperbolic to call any of the 3e and later D&D skill systems terrible. They can break down at many points, but they do an adequate job of providing mechanics for the characters being skilled at various tasks related to adventuring beyond their natural talent.

I won’t argue if you’re saying they’re terrible because they misrepresent things by appearing to provide more crunch for non-combat resolution than they actually deliver. I personally would prefer an entirely fiction-first system like 13th Age or Whitehack use.