skill points


Rules Questions


When creating our brand new characters our GM gave us 84 skill points to apply to our skills. I told him I thought a skill couldn't go past our HD. He said that wouldn't make any sense. Am I wrong?


You are correct.


In DnD 3.5 skills were done differently. He may be referring to those rules.

According to PF rules you are correct. The ranks you put into a skill are limited by your HD (assuming that you are a PC and your HD is tied into your leveling as a player... creatures are not bound SO stringently, but they often don't have class levels).

That being said if he is giving you 84 skill points in addition to(or in lieu of) those gained by your class levels there is no reason you couldn't put them into OTHER skills to supplement or add flavor to your PC.

All of this with the additional disclaimer that a GM has final decision on rules. Literally the ability to change even RAW or RAI... so... if he wants your skills to be higher than your HD... There may be a reason for it.

Hope that helps.


Pathfinder Maps, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

Your GM is creating a house rule. It may be best to ask what the reasoning is behind 84 skill points, there may be a plan or experiment behind it.

You might also want to know if there will be skill points gained in your campaign for levelling? That might influence your decision.


KestrelZ wrote:

Your GM is creating a house rule. It may be best to ask what the reasoning is behind 84 skill points, there may be a plan or experiment behind it.

You might also want to know if there will be skill points gained in your campaign for levelling? That might influence your decision.

this....find out if he thinks this is the actual rule or if he is just doing his own thing. He may be confused., but maybe he has his own ideas and you just have to go with it if you want to play his game.

Grand Lodge

Does he know how skills work at all?

Seriously, I think he is confused.


1st level characters?

Grand Lodge

84 skill points. Wow, I would love to have that many at first level.

Even the human rogue with 20 INT and Favored Class +1 SP wont get that many. (capping at 15 per level)

I would go with asking the GM why they want everyone to have so many skills.

Point out that the CRB limits your ranks in any skill to max your HD. Page 86, its in the first paragraph under "Acquiring Skills." It may help to point out, the average player will have 4-7 skill points PER level.

If the GM wants you to all flesh out your backgrounds, I suggest instead 1 bonus SP per level that must be placed in craft/perform/profession and 1 SP for a KN skill.


Pathfinder Maps Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Backgrounds are best handled by a combination of traits (2 traits, or 3 traits + 1 drawback, possibly including an extra campaign trait) and a very small number of non-combat skill points (as suggested by Dafydd).

84 points would be huge even in DD3.5, where you could sink 3+lvl in ranks into each skill.

As it stands, the only way to allocate 84 skill points at 1st level would be to have several dozen craft or profession skills in addition to having all of the standard skills, since you can only have one rank per level.

Shadow Lodge

DiscipleofAslan wrote:
I told him I thought a skill couldn't go past our HD.

Your skill ranks in any single skill cannot exceed your HD.

Your total skill ranks (points) can and usually do exceed your HD. For example, a first level human fighter with Int 10 has 3 skill points.

Your skill modifier in any single skill can and often does exceed your HD. For example, if you have ranks equal to your HD in stealth, stealth is a class skill, and you have a 14 Dex (+2 mod) then your stealth modifer = your HD + 5.

If you are starting at level 7, 12 or 14, then 84 skill points might make sense depending on your character (6-12 skill points per level are possible). However it doesn't sound like your group has a firm enough grasp on the rules to be starting at level 7 or above.

Also if all characters are getting 84 skill points something weird is going on since most of the time characters in a party will have different numbers of skill points based on their class and intelligence modifier and whether they are human.


Dude that could be awesome. Play a 2 skill character and dump the int for 1 skill point a level. Then take the 84 and have more skills than a fighter ever dreamed of having.


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Okay, so, you know what 84 is?

6*14.

What if what the GM meant was that you get 84 points to allocate to your 6 stats, and they're doing a sort of linear-only point buy with a pretty high average?


Wow. I really hope you're wrong about it being a custom ability score point buy system. 84 is also three 10s and three 18s.


Ciaran Barnes wrote:
Wow. I really hope you're wrong about it being a custom ability score point buy system. 84 is also three 10s and three 18s.

Meh, 4d6 drop low gives an average of 13 points in each stat, (obvious oversimplifying). Bumping that up 1 point each isn't that big a deal, and I have never really liked the point buy systems that punish you for one particularly high score.

Yes, it's clearly all high-power and munchkiny, but epic heroes with epic stats going all muchkin is a perfectly valid play style.

Anyway, 84 SKILL points in a 3.5 game would be effectively +21 skill points per level, or 12 per level for a character starting at level 3. But this and every other permutation assumes things DiscipleofAslan didn't mention, so the baseline answer is, "no, your DM is wrong or you misunderstood something."

As a tangent, if I had 84 skill points at first level, I would get all the knowledge skills and profession: Barrister. You never know when you'll need to outwit and out-argue a contract demon or craft an incorruptible wish that gives you god-like power as well as numerous escape clauses.

edit: Checking OP's only other post on the board, the GM and the player are new to the game, so mistakes and miscommunications are likely inevitable.

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