Skill Bonus

[Matthew Trent]

The skill and feat ability skill bonus seems just ludicrously overpriced. First it assumes that all skills are created equal. 2 RP for a +2 to perception seems fine, but 2 RP for +2 to ride checks is just silly.

If the trait gave +2 to any two skills for 1 RP then I think it might be worth taking. As a side note its telling just how few times this ability gets used in player created races in the sample race thread vs how frequently its used in core races.

[Yebng]

I don't necessarily see a problem with "Skill Bonus" costing what it does, though I wouldn't see anything wrong with it costing only 1 RP either. Either way it is clearly what all other "skill" abilities are based on. Look at sneaky(4 RP), sure it's goblinoid only but in truth it's just 2 skill bonuses(2 RP x2) stacked on top of each other (+2 Stealth, +2 stealth), same for most of the other named skill abilities. What I'd really like to see is a more open Skill Bonus where you could perhaps lessen the cost of the bonus in exchange for a restriction being placed upon it. Example:

Craftsman would be a 4 RP skill based on the skill bonus ability except for the limitation of just metal or stone objects, which is appearantly worth a -3 RP

Rodent Empathy is again a 4 RP skill but with the limitation to a single type of animal it again seems to receive a -3 RP to cost

Greed should cost 2 RP but as it only applies the bonus to one aspect of the Appraise skill it's cost appears to be reduced by 1 RP

Really as I review this the most glaring thing I see is the adaptability ability 1 RP for a +3 to +6 for any skill, holy cow right off the bat that's 150% the skill boost at half the cost and with a few levels that will become 300% the skill boost for still only half the cost of "skill bonus"

[Suzaku]

Matthew Trent wrote:

The skill and feat ability skill bonus seems just ludicrously overpriced. First it assumes that all skills are created equal. 2 RP for a +2 to perception seems fine, but 2 RP for +2 to ride checks is just silly.

If the trait gave +2 to any two skills for 1 RP then I think it might be worth taking. As a side note its telling just how few times this ability gets used in player created races in the sample race thread vs how frequently its used in core races.

I disagree, I feel all skill bonus should be 1 rp, aside for UMD. UMD is the only skill correctly placed for 2 rp.

[CharlieIV]

I think Darkholme has the right idea to price features as compared to what you'd get with a feat. If a free feat is worth 4 points, with that feat you could choose thinks like 'Stealty' or 'Alertness' which at their best* give you +4 in two different skills. Thus each +2 is worth about a point each. I think all the abilities that grant skill bonuses should be priced with this in mind.

*Yes, it's true that with the skill bonus ability you get the full bonus right away where as with these types of feats you don't get the full bonus until later on and only if you invest in those skills. However, a character who actually spends their feat on a skill boost is probably focusing on that skill such that they will ultimately get to the +4 level. I personally think the skill boosting feats (for most skills) generally aren't as strong as compared to other feats available, so I'd make the baseline for comparison be the upper limit of their power.

I also think the 1 RP per +2 skill bonus is reflected in the cost of traits. The general pattern (aside from campaign traits) is to give a +1 bonus and make a skill a class skill. This results in a total bonus of +4 (assuming you optimized the benefits to your character), and a trait is worth half a feat, which is approximately 2 RP. And this bonus does apply right away.