Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Flapjack 09-18-06, 06:00 AM	A few of the threads have got me thinking about skill points and how you get them and how wonky it actually is. As a result, my sleep deprived self has come up with an alternative which may or may not make sense. I'll find out in the morning. As for the system, and it may be initially complicated, you get a number of skill points based each of your attributes. Also, skills are divided up based on their appropriate abilities. The class you choose still determines a large number of your skill points but, the ability modifier plays an important role as well. At first level, you gain a number of skill points equal to your class's normal number gained plus each of your ability score modifiers. These points may only be used in the correlated group. Strength based skills can only have strength based skill points spent in them. Let's say you are a fighter with a 16 in strength. This means you get 2(base) plus 3(ability) skill points for your strength skills. So five points to spend on climb, jump and swim. Your strength modifier still applies to the checks involved. A couple of the limitations I see with this is that too few skills are in some of the groups (especially constitution!) and others have way too many (dexterity). Levels after first are also a bit of a mystery to me right now, as I am fairly sleepy. This does greatly increase the number of skill points people get, but I find that ok. Class skills could be changed so that you get a number of them equal to the score's modifier. I'm interested in what some others will have to say about this and maybe I can think more clearly on the subject later today. A test I came up with using the stats 13, 15, 10, 18, 14, 17 in all their respective places and a class with a base of 4 skill points, yields a total of 36 skill points. With the standard system, the 18 intelligence individual would have 32 skill points. Not a huge difference, but if we switched the intelligence and wisdom scores... still 36 for my system, but 24 standard. I think this system can better illustrate certain aspects of characters. Someone with a high dex score should have more natural ability to put towards things like balance and move silently. I'm looking forward to hearing what you all have to say about this.
rydi123 09-19-06, 07:37 PM	if you intend to do something like this, i would advise using only the mental stats to determine bonus skill points. and here is why. lets take climbing. being strong can certainly make one a better climber, but it in no way aids in ones knowledge of how to climb. the climb skill is all about knowing where to place your hands and feet, how to hold yourself, and how to balance your body wieght. the mental stats all help up the actual skill. int helps one learn the rules of climbing and remember the necessary small details. wisdom helps one percieve the right course of actions in a given activity, correct mistakes, and stay calm (more is learned when calm than adgitated. charisma gives the force of will to keep throwing oneself at a challenge until it is mastered (perseverence and drive are required to master new skills) what i would suggest is this: 1st lvl skills = (class+int+wis+cha)*2, 2nd lvl-> =(class+int+wis+cha) this gives roughly the same, to a few less, skills on average at first level, but at all other lvls the average skill points should be much higher than the normal rules. this allows for more skills for characters, but does not result in the huge overabundance of skills, or the inevitable pc overlap in skills that would have been the result of using all the attribute bonuses.