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Do class skills seem right to you?


wahmann1

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I can't help but think the Cipher should have Stealth instead of Mechanics. There is nothing particularly mechanical about Ciphers, but they do feel like they could be sneaky. It also seems kind of lame that they can work a crowd (Sleight of Hand) and deal with traps, but aren't stealthy. They're just cooler if they can sneak and sleight.

 

Mostly because that would leave only the Rogue with Mechanics, I would give that to the Wizard instead of explosives. The only explosive angle for Wizards in my mind is the fireworks of Gandalf, but there is no reason for Wizards to be that. The traps always look a little bit magical anyway, so it wouldn't take me out of the game at all for Wizards to be masters of runes and clockwork gadgets.

 

The Barbarian passive skill (History) just seems way off. I'd swap that for Streetwise. I realize Barbarians are supposed to be wilderness warriors, but I'm perfectly alright with a more civilized berserker angle, and it seems like learning the streets would be easier for a brute than hitting the books to get a degree in History.

 

I'd change the Priest background to something that is not also a class, like minister or cleric or something.

 

I'd balance the background skills (as in the skills are evenly represented across the backgrounds), like this (and keep the ones not listed the same):

Artist                    Mechanics; History, Insight             à Sleight of Hand; History, Insight

Dissident              Stealth; History, Intimidate              à Explosives, Stealth; Intimidate

Drifter                  Bluff, Insight, Streetwise                  à Sleight of Hand; Bluff, Streetwise

Hunter                  Alchemy, Mechanics; Survival        à Alchemy, Stealth; Survival

Laborer                Athletics 2                                         à Athletics, Mechanics; Streetwise

Mercenary           Athletics; Intimidate, Streetwise      à Athletics, Explosives; Intimidate

Philosopher         Insight 2                                             à Insight, Metaphysics, Religion

Priest (Minister)  Religion 2                                          à Arcana; Insight, Religion

Scientist               Arcana, Explosives; Metaphysics    à Alchemy, Explosives, Mechanics

Slave                    Athletics; Streetwise, Survival         à Mechanics, Sleight of Hand, Stealth 

 

I think Slave is the weirdest, but streetwise and survival don't really make sense for a person who is kept in chains, and to the extent a slave does hard labor, we already have a laborer background, so I wanted to go with something more like a slave that needs to procure what he/she can to survive (sleight of hand/stealth) and also works on escaping (mechanics/stealth).

 

Finally, I would add a skill proficiency that allows you to increase each of the background skills by 1 for each of three proficiency slots.

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Skills shouldn't be tied to background/class/culture at all. 

 

This is an Obsidian RPG, let the player build the character as they want with appropriate tradeoffs. 

Actually, I would like that, too. Just let the player pick 3 "background" skills. Class skills seem OK, though, with the exception of the few I mentioned above.

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Skills shouldn't be tied to background/class/culture at all. 

 

This is an Obsidian RPG, let the player build the character as they want with appropriate tradeoffs. 

Actually, I would like that, too. Just let the player pick 3 "background" skills. Class skills seem OK, though, with the exception of the few I mentioned above.

 

I take back what I just said. There are 16 skills and 16 backgrounds, so one skill per background, a limited choice based on background, and any other skill you want. I know this is no longer in the realm of a change prior to release, but here goes:

 

Aristocrat: Diplomacy + [bluff or Intimidate] + any other

Artist: Sleight of Hand + [History or Insight] + any other

Colonist: Alchemy + [Athletics or Survival] + any other

Dissident: Explosives + [stealth or Intimidate] + any other

Drifter: Streetwise + [sleight of Hand or Bluff] + any other

Explorer: History + [Diplomacy or Survival] + any other

Hunter: Survival + [Alchemy or Stealth] + any other

Laborer: Athletics + [Mechanics or Streetwise] + any other

Mercenary: Intimidate + [Athletics or Explosives] + any other

Merchant: Bluff + [Diplomacy or Streetwise] + any other

Mystic: Metaphysics + [Arcana or Religion] + any other

Philosopher: Insight + [Metaphysics or Religion] + any other

Priest (Minister): Religion + [Arcana or Insight] + any other

Scholar: Arcana + [History or Metaphysics] + any other

Scientist: Mechanics + [Alchemy or Explosives] + any other

Slave: Stealth + [Mechanics or Sleight of Hand] + any other

 

I think it would also be cool to change "any other" for the middle choice you didn't take and something tied to your background. For example a Drifter from the Living Lands who took Sleight of Hand as a second choice might have a choice of [bluff(the option not taken as a second choice) or Survival (the option for a Drifter from the Living Lands)].

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I think my favourite was of doing is assigning what abilities can be upgraded with given class (for example arcana, alchemy, explosives, metaphysics, history for a wizard) and allow players to distribute skill points among those on their own. Same with backgrounds.

 

Some choices make more sense to me than others, even though between different people I seem to disagree which ones should change. <shrug> I allow bonuses dictate my background and culture for the most part, so whatever.

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Personally, I don't like statistical bonuses being tied to roleplaying choices at all. They've made such tremendous strides forward in this department with the new split skills system, I don't know why they're so committed to retaining this particular element. I'd rather just have the points to distribute the way I want to.

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